This week someone asked me if there was an alternative to getting large quantities of canned coconut milk and cream shipped to them in WA to reduce their freight costs. Despite our coconut milk and coconut cream from Honest To Goodness coming in a bpa free can, they still produce waste, and they're still rather expensive to ship around in bulk. We know that selling health food online isn't always cost effective, especially when we're shipping heavy and low cost items to the other wide of the country. What if you could buy coconut milk or coconut cream in a concentrate? Well, you can, it's called creamed coconut.

What's the difference between coconut milk and coconut cream?

Each of these products is a small amount of coconut flesh that is watered down to a specific consistency to match the traditional 'milk' or 'cream' consistency that you're used to when cooking with dairy products. It is always better value to purchase coconut cream and water it down to milk if that's what you need and then freeze the left overs in ice cube trays to use another day so there's no wastage (we do have a stainless steel ice cube tray available if you're keeping plastic out of your life). While they're very quick and easy to use, there is some waste involved. When a recipe says to add '1 can of coconut cream', you're good to go.

How do I use creamed coconut to replace coconut milk or coconut cream?

The Niulife Creamed Coconut is simply organic coconut meat that has been dried to remove the water content only (it still retains the coconut oil for moisture) and it is ground down to the consistency of a nut butter. It is around 70% fat, and unlike coconut oil, it is not suitable to use as a cooking oil, it will burn if you try to fry with it.

Where the paste comes in to its own is as a concentrate to make your own milk or cream. Simply mix 1 or 2 teaspoons in water until you get the consistency you need. Add a dollop to hot drinks as a non-dairy creamer. Thicken curries or stir-fries, blend it in to smoothies, mix it with melted chocolate for a dipping sauce. There are countless things you can do with creamed coconut besides using it as a concentrate for coconut milk and coconut cream.

Canned coconut milk is usually around 17% fat, the cream around 24% where the creamed coconut is 70% with all the water removed. The creamed coconut keeps the fibre in tact as well, more fibre than oat bran. Depending on the brand, this fibre is generally stripped out of commercial canned coconut products. They can also contain thickeners (usually guar gum) and many contain preservatives and are in cans that have the endocrine disruptor bpa in the lining.

We sell two brands of canned coconut milk and cream. Both are organic, both are in bpa free cans. The Nakula does contain guar gum as a thickener, the Honest To Goodness does not. Guar gum is safe and natural, but it can be a skin irritant to some.

As much as our customers love their organic coconut milk and cream, if you're a frequent user and the shipping charges to get the cans to your location is too dear, think about purchasing 1 jar of creamed coconut to save both money, time and the environment.