Amazing Coconut Cream

Fresh coconut milk is a marvelous thing to experience but it's hard to find good coconuts in the United States. In Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, you can buy an exact amount of shredded or grated coconut for your cooking pleasure.

I mostly use canned coconut milk, exclusively Chao Koh (nice and creamy) or Mae Ploy (extra rich, bordering sour cream texture). The taste has always been good but not exactly quite like the bright, complex flavors of fresh. The reasons are likely the preservatives that are added and the canning process.

The other day, while developing a recipe that required coconut cream, I stumbled across Aroy-D, a Thai brand of coconut milk that packages the milk and cream in UHT boxes -- like giant juice boxes. Per the label, there's nothing but coconut cream. UHT (ultra high-temperature) processing takes foods like milk and flash heats it at super high temps and then quickly cools it down. Some say there's a loss of flavor but I beg to differ when it comes to coconut cream.

The Aroy-D cream was creamy and fresh tasting like freshly grated coconut. It captured the essence of coconut's richness. I opened one of the corners by snipping with scissors and then cut open the entire top of the box. That's the best way to scrape all the coconut cream from the box. There's some thin coconut milk separation but its negligible. I used what I needed and refrigerated the rest. One box cost about $2.50 and there was 1 quart (4 cups). To get that from fresh coconut milk or canned coconut milk would have taken time and/or the same amount of money.

Aroy-D also makes coconut milk in a small UHT boxes and I'll try it out next.

Related information:

Health benefits of coconut milk (read the post if you're afraid of coconut cream!)

Comments

[Tuty]

Thanks for posting this, Andrea. I went to a small Viet market yesterday but didn't see this item. I'll ask the nice owner if he can get the small UHT boxes. I imagine that coconut sorbet or coconut ice cream will taste better with this coconut milk (without the fuss of cracking, prying, grating, and milking the real coconut).

[Rosa]

I have one can of coconut cream that i bought not long ago, but I haven't used it yet... I bet it tastes delicious!

Yes, some coconut milks are better than others.

Cheers,

Rosa

[Nate]

Did you get it at the 99 Ranch in Milpitas? I'll keep an eye out. Thanks for the tip!

[Jude]

I really like Aroy D's products and cook with it frequently. I've never noticed this in our local asian groceries but I'll be sure to keep an eye out for it. Good tips!

[Robyn]

Andrea, I am going to be a contrarian and say that making your own coconut milk and cream is *not* that time-consuming or difficult, if you have a blender and some cheesecloth (5 mins max), and that most pple living anywhere near a SE Asian community probably have access to frozen grated coconut.
However - if I could get my hands on this stuff I would definately keep a couple packs around for emergencies (especially now that I've run out of cheesecloth)!

[Marvin]

Awesome find, thanks for this! Can the Aroy-D cream be swapped out cup-for-cup for chao koh milk? Are the cream and milk the same thing?

[Tu Anh]

I like coconut milk but rarely use it because of the saturated fat content. It's not good for my cholesterol nor my waistline.
Do you know if there's a substitute for coconut milk for a healthier cooking?
Thanks

[Andrea Nguyen]

Guys -- I got the stuff at the gigantic 99 Ranch in Milpitas -- as Nate surmised.

Robyn -- The quality of coconuts in the US is extremely uneven. The frozen stuff isn't bad but to skim off the equivalent of a quart of coconut cream takes a lot of coconut.

Tu Anh - Coconut is not a trans-fat so your body can actually process it. Try enjoying it in moderation and your waistline will stay fine! Here's a posting from last year to give you the skinny on coconut milk:

http://vietworldkitchen.typepad.com/blog/2007/06/coconut_milk.html

[Jaden, Steamy Kitchen]

I can't wait to get to the market and look for this!

[Jeff]

Will this cream separate well when heated? Producing the coconut oil for frying curry pastes etc.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Jeff, if you heat the cream for long enough, it will separate. I've seen coconut oil sold in jars at health food stores so maybe that would suit your needs?

[Josh]

coconut milk/cream that is suitable for thai curry-making is hard to come by in the u.s. usually it is canned with sodium metabysulfate or some other emulsifier, making it hard to split the oil for frying spice pastes. here in thailand, chaokoh is also available in boxes, and the oil splits out so easily that it is apparently common practice to add just water or cow's milk to provide the liquid, because so much oil separates out so nicely.
jeff or andrea, if you find a brand that does well, please let me know so that i can avoid shipping a case of boxed chaokoh back to the states when i return.

[buy kamagra]

So here you have it, a frozen yogurt like recipe using So Delicious Coconut Milk Kefir.
Because coconut milk kefir is so low in fat, I combined it with full fat coconut milk to prevent it from turning out like ice milk and freezing up to an icy block when placed in the freezer. Make sure the coconut milk you buy contains at least 10 grams of fat per 2 ounces, which is per 1/4 cup). You can use Thai Kitchen, Whole Foods Brand, or something from an Asian market.