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Take Two: Coconut Milk   Page 1 | 2 | 3

Coconut milk, the real, extracted stuff, has a totally different composition than "coconut milk", the clear beverage.  One cup can have up to 552 calories and 57 grams of fat, 50 grams of which are saturated!!!     Never the less, you can see why this hunger-satisfying item is scrounged from trash piles of yard clippings or harvested from beaches and public or undeveloped lands by the less fortunate, wherever coconuts grow.  This amount of calories adds greatly to the total meal's calorie count, too.  Real piña coladas are made with coconut milk,  providing a double whammy as far as calories are concerned.  

As Miami grew, more working women needed to take shortcuts when cooking, and lethal yellowing took its toll on the supply, canned coconut milk imported from the tropics became just another grocery staple, as it is in Asian markets.  Canned coconut cream is also available,  which is a more concentrated, extracted without added water.  But for creamy taste and "mouth feel", the real, fresh stuff can't be beat.

Coconuts and coconut cream or milk contain small amounts of a wide range of vitamins and minerals, and are especially high in potassium and folate, vital nutrients.

Coconut doesn't contain any cholesterol;  only animals with livers produce cholesterol.   You are an "animal" with a liver, however, and eating foods high in saturated fat is thought to cause your body to increase its cholesterol production.   Some ready-made foods contain coconut oil, and both this addition and eating of the coconut meat itself has been roundly criticized by many health-conscious organizations and individuals.   This conclusion isn't proven however.  Some researchers suspect the health benefits of coconut may outweigh its high calorie and saturated fat drawbacks.   See this article by  Mary G. Enig, Ph.D., F.A.C.N., entitled  Coconut: In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century, wherein she states that coconuts contain anti-microbial and anti-cancer compounds.  In fact, in tropical countries, extracts of the coconut in all of its stages are used in remedies and medications, as well as in soaps and other products.  See another report from an interview with this same researcher, "Coconut Oil Benefits":

(Enig states:) “Total tissue cholesterol accumulation for animals on the safflower diet was six times greater than for animals fed the [unhydrogenated] coconut oil.  A conclusion that can be drawn from some of the animal research is that feeding hydrogenated coconut oil devoid of essential fatty acids (EFA)...potentiates the formation of atherosclerosis markers.  It is of note that animals fed regular coconut oil have less cholesterol deposited in their livers and other parts of their bodies.”   Enig also referred to epidemiological studies done by Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) on coconut eating societies who found that “available population studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease..” It is noteworthy that hydrogenated coconut oil was not consumed by these coconut eating societies; they only consumed natural coconut oil."

Before you add coconut products to your diet, read that last sentence again.  Most added coconut oil found in supermarket foods has been hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, turning it into a coronary hazard.  Read your labels!

Want to make your own coconut milk?   Here's instructions, Brazilian style, from the Global Gourmet.    On occasions when I had someone here cooking a dish for me that called for coconut milk, I made some coconut milk in a hurry by getting someone to open a mature coconut, prizing out the meat, scraping off some of the worst of the brown skin and throwing the whole thing into my food processor with some very hot water.   The resulting milk I strained out was a slightly darker color due to not removing all the brown part, but was otherwise quite acceptable.

Here's some links to recipes using coconut milk for you to try:

• Thai Sticky Rice Steeped in Coconut Milk, "Khao Neeo
  Moon" (**  Import Food.com)
• Sauté of Chicken Breasts with Coconut Milk and Herbs (** Recipeland)
• Chicken in Coconut Milk (** On Line Cookbook)
• Egg Plant in Coconut Milk (Masak terong santen) (** Frank's Indonesian Cooking)
• Mixed Vegetables in Curry Sauce (Sajur kerrie) (** Frank's Indonesian Cooking)
• Shrimp in Coconut Milk  (** Culinary Cafe)

Happy eating!                                             Page 1 | 2 | 3

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