How To Make Coconut Butter, Coconut Milk and Coconut Flour

Those who know me well, know that I should have been born somewhere with coconut palms. Not only do I love coconuts, but I also love the tropical climate that coconut palms need to survive. Sadly, while I have moved a bit closer to the tropics than where I was when living in Michigan, I don't live in a climate that allows for coconut palm trees; nor do I live in a place where it is easy to find coconut butter or coconut flour. I can find coconut milk in a can, but it costs an overpriced three and a half euros, and is likely laced with BPA. Why deal with that when it is so easy to make your own for much cheaper?

Ingredients:
-Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
-Water 

You will also need a food processor and/or blender, a cheesecloth or food safe cloth for straining the coconut milk, and an oven for drying out the coconut flour

I have decided to group these together because they are so easy to do.  Plus, you need to make the coconut milk first to be able to make the coconut flour.  The coconut butter is made independently, but I decided to add it in the end anyway because it follows the same theme.

To make it, you only need two ingredients: one part shredded coconut and two parts water.
Decide how much coconut milk you want to make.  I was making some to invent myself a coconut flan recipe, but I made more than I needed for that so that I could use the leftovers for making kefir and smoothies.  (My son loves smoothies, and it's a great way to sneak him foods that he won't normally eat!)

So, to make around 4 cups of coconut milk, I took two cups of shredded, unsweetened coconut and soaked it in 4 cups of warm water for a couple of hours.  I let mine soak in my blender jar because I'll be using it in the next step anyway.

View the original article here