Second best is aseptic packaged milk, followed or equal to coconut powder from someone like Nestle but there is also S & P from Malaysia and others and a distant fourth would be canned, an altogether inferior product.

Since from the contributors it appears that there are a fair number who are extracting their own fresh milk producing fresh coconut milk, I wonder if anyone has tried to make coconut cheese. People have experimented with this in the past, there was an American expat living in Fiji who was quite prominent in doing so. A soft cheese results which is reputed to be a bit salty. I would love to hear from anyone who has produced cheese and tackled the inevitable problems on the way.

Personally I am pretty sure that there would be major market opporttunities for such a cheese and that is my motive in pursuing the question. I help develop coconut sector strategies and am currently doing so for the Solomon Islands.

If you think they’re funny-looking in the supermarket, you should see them on the tree. (If you haven’t already, that is.) They have a thick green hull on them, sort of the way walnuts and pecans do, and they reminded me of rather large green footballs. We stayed inside whenever it was storming, and not just because of the winds.

I will have to look for frozen coconut at the Asian markets here. But I have to say I may stick with the canned for a while yet because food prep is already interesting with a little one underfoot and hardly any counter space.

Both my mom and my MIL do it in 2 different ways.

1. We break the coconut into 2 halves with a cleaver kind of knife and then grate it. To extract the first thick milk, we then squeeze the coconut with our clean hands into a bowl. Try to do that with the whole batch a few times. This is the first extract. The 2nd and 3rd extracts are done by adding some warm water and then again squeezing with our hands. We usually require atleast 3 extracts for most of our sweet desserts. (This method is done at my MIL house)

2. The simpler method at my mom’s house. Do exactly the same for breaking and grating coconut. Then she would put the coconut in a blender along with water and blend it fine and then strain out the coconut milk.

Also we usually grate it with a rotary coconut grater or a sit down coconut grater.

Some people find that coconut oil will kind of “cleanse” them, which could make you have looser bowl movement for a little while. But, I have read that many people suffering for IBS actually try to eat coconut/coconut oil everyday because they say it really helps them! It’s worth a try!

Nurturing Wisdom,

I would love to have you join us next carnival!

Lac,

I am not sure, but I imagine that your problem was that the coconuts had been in the store a long time. Try to talk to the grocery about when they were ordered and buy them when they first come into the store. That might help.

Daisy,

It seems like it would work to me! Let us know if you try it. Thanks for the tip about the sale! It seems like a wonderful price!

Any thoughts?