Kitchen Adventures; Coconut Milk

I rarely post on here anymore. I posted on instagram asking if you wanted to see a post on homemade coconut milk. Responses were a yes, so here it is.

I'm the worst. My goal has been to get on here more... but we all know how that's going.

ANYWAY! If you know me at all - and you probably do a little bit since not a ton of people look at my blog anymore and those that do have likely been around for a while - then you know that I'm a little bit crunchy. I'm a little into DIY and a little all natural... but I won't go all preachy or judgey on you because I'm not all gung ho crunchy mama 100% of the time either, frankly.


But when and where I can, I like to provide better options for myself and my family, so as soon as I learned that making my own coconut milk was not only a way healthier option than store-bought, but also insanely easy, I knew I had to give it a shot.

I've been making my own coconut milk for the little man and myself for about 6 months now. I usually put it in smoothies or popsicles for him, but sometimes it makes a really lovely latte for mama... and I'm also pretty heavily into coffee...so...that's important.

So, if you're also a little (or a lot) crunchy and a little into DIY, then here is the legit easiest DIY you will ever tackle.

Coconut Milk

You will need:
4 cups water
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
1 nut milk bag (I use this one)
a blender
a large pot to heat water
and a large bowl (I was regifted one like this from pampered chef, but I know Pyrex makes them too)

Heat your water to just below boiling. While it heats, get out your blender and toss the shredded coconut in there. Then pour the hot water over the coconut and just leave it there for a bit. I will leave it for a few hours to really give the coconut a chance to sop up the water, and also give the water a chance to cool down a bit. You will want the water to cool down enough that you don't burn your hands when you start squeezing it through the nut milk bag. There's a bit of flexibility here.

Blend. For several minutes. In our household, blenders are a bit scary, so little man needs to be held if he's anywhere nearby when a blender is on. Mama hugs make the scary time much more tolerable, so we'll do a little hugging dance around the kitchen and go see that the blender is not a scary monster and is, in fact, helping us make something we love.

Then put your nut milk bag inside the bowl, open it up and pour your blended coconut and water into the bag. The bag will catch the chunks of coconut, so slowly lift the nut milk bag out of the now filled coconut milk bowl, and continue to squeeze the milk out of the bag until you are satisfied. It can be a bit of a workout, depending on how much you want to put into it.

I'll let it sit (covered) for a few minutes before pouring it into a bottle for storage. The ones I use used to have Trader Joe's tart cherry juice in them. You can drink it right away or put in the fridge to store. It's best if used within a week. If you're storing in the fridge, the "cream" will rise to the top and solidify. Kind of a bummer if you wanted to drink that, but you can break up that cream and spread it on toast and it is dang delicious. I put it on a corn muffin with a touch of honey over the weekend and it was all I wanted to eat for the rest of the day. Good thing that was the last corn muffin.

Enjoy!