This luscious ingredient deserves a prime spot in your pantry. Here’s everything to know when shopping for it and using it in the kitchen. Olga Gagarova / Getty Images Canned coconut milk is one of our favorite pantry staples.
While it’s most famously used in , it upgrades everything from to and with its dairy-free lusciousness and slightly sweet flavor. Here’s everything you need to know when using canned coconut milk in your cooking. Related: Canned coconut milk is shredded or grated coconut flesh from mature coconuts (aka brown ones) that gets pureed with water for a creamy yet liquidy texture.
It’s different from cartons of coconut milk, which are typically sold as dairy milk alternatives for adding to coffee and baked goods. The carton variety is usually watered down considerably and might include stabilizers, so it’s not a good substitute for canned coconut milk. The biggest difference between coconut milk and cream is the fat content.
is also shredded and pressed coconut flesh, but it’s made from the first press of the coconut, whereas coconut milk is pressed additional times and combined with water, yielding less fat. A can of coconut milk will usually have a thick layer of coconut cream at the top due to the fat that naturally separates, unless your can includes a lot of stabilizers like guar gum. Keep in mind that coconut cream is different from cream of coconut, a syrupy product that’s artificially sweetened and used for cocktails or desserts like pin.
