Hey,
I have been using lots more coconut milk and cream to replace
dairy products since I started the Neanderthin WOE. I saw on a
cooking show once how to make it yourself, so I tried it, and it worked!

Take the meat from a fresh coconut, chop it up into smallish pieces,
put it in the blender, add some water (the richer you like it, add less water)
Blend/puree for a while, the longer you blend it, the richer it is.
Strain the puree through cheese cloth or a clean tea towel.
Squeeze all the moisture out of it that you can. I got about 16oz of
milk from the last coconut that I did.

The liquid is coconut milk. If you add no water before you blend it,
it is coconut cream. The 'cream' will also rise to the top.

I save the leftover dry bits, toast them, and use them for breading
on fish and such.

Down here in Florida, coconuts are often much less expensive than
cans of coconut milk, and are available pretty much year round, so
it is a cost savings for me. Hope it helps you.

thank you for the GREAT recipie! i've been meaning to replace my very high dairy intake with coconut milk - do you think it helps? i've got yeast issues too so i'm thinking it might be beneficial to make the switch? now one of my big weaknesses is a heavy cream 'pudding' i make (stevia+heavy cream whipped with a bit of cocoa if i feel like it sprinkled with toasted almonds) do you think this would work with coconut cream?

Hi dasanipure, I think eating more coconut products would help given what I have read on the health benefits of coconut oil. It is supposed to have anti-viral properties, and help with yeast infections, plus it's good for your skin and hair. Those are the other reasons I have been using it.

Coconut cream gets nice and thick when its cold, so its great for dipping strawberries, or putting over fruit. Just last night, I mixed some up with DaVinci Gingerbread SF Syrup, it was pretty tasty, so your chocolate pudding should be fine.

I have been thinking about trying to make a custard with it, I'll let you know how that turns out, if I get brave.

thanks for the reply! ginger - now there's a LC flavour ingredient i haven't tried in a while - thanks for the idea!(i'm afraid i've been eating way too much chocolate stuff lately) please do tell me if your custard turns out - i beleive there is an egg-coconut product called 'kaya' that east asians like to eat on toast. (http://www.kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1211)
it seems very similar to custard but made with coconut milk instead of dairy. isn't it interesting how cultures unable to digest lactose have worked their way around it? of course, kaya is tremendously sweet, but i'm sure some AS/stevia could be easily substituted. let me know either way (if i don't try it before you...)!!

On food network they had a howto make coconut milk. Thier version was alot more complicated though and involved roasting the coocnut and using boiling water on the meat. It was a traditional Tai method.

I cheat and buy it in the can in stores, or get coconut cream from www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com

I should note in the instructions:
If the coconut meat has the brown skin on it, you can peel it with a potato peeler before you puree it. It will be a darker color if you don't peel it, but tastes fine. It probably has a bunch more fiber in it if you don't peel it, like mashed potatoes with the peeling left on.

hey batrgirl,
Take a cup of threaded coconut. Crush along with little water and mix,stir
and filter it through cheese cloth or some filter cloth partially(95%) to have the coco instinct.
Then it can be used with milk/water along with sugar for a good breakfast. or as a mixture for sweet items at home.
If u wish add tooo much sugar to have a heavens taste.

feelng hungry while i typed this tip,
karthik bala guru