🌱 Coconut milk

Coconut milk is not juice from the nut. Under the Codex standard it is a dilute emulsion of comminuted coconut kernel (endosperm) in water: the kernel is expelled with water, most fibres and residues are removed, and the product is heat-treated so that it does not spoil. The standard lists coconut water only as an optional ingredient.

The Codex standard divides these products by fat content: light coconut milk contains at least 5% fat, coconut milk at least 10%, coconut cream at least 20% and coconut cream concentrate at least 29%. Coconut cream is the richer emulsion, extracted from the mature kernel.

The fat in coconut milk comes from the kernel; in one study about 94% of the fatty acids in mature coconut kernel were saturated. WHO recommends that adults and children reduce saturated fat to 10% of total energy intake, because lowering saturated fat lowers LDL cholesterol.

Coconut milk or coconut water? They are not the same: coconut milk is a dilute emulsion of coconut kernel in water, made by expelling the kernel with water and removing most fibres, while coconut water is only an optional ingredient. Coconut milk or coconut cream? Cream is the richer emulsion from the mature kernel, with at least 20% fat against at least 10% for coconut milk. And against cow's milk the difference is the source: here the fat comes from the kernel, and in one study about 94% of the fatty acids in mature kernel were saturated.

Read the name and the fat on the pack: the Codex standard sorts these products into light coconut milk (at least 5% fat), coconut milk (at least 10%), coconut cream (at least 20%) and coconut cream concentrate (at least 29%). You will find them in tins and cartons in the supermarket, often in the world-food aisle or an Asian food shop. In the EU the word “milk” is normally reserved for animal milk, but coconut milk is on the Commission's list of exceptions, so the name is allowed.

In the European Union the word "milk" is reserved for the normal mammary secretion of animals, but coconut milk is on the Commission's list of exceptions, so the name may be used.