Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh coconut
• 4 cups water

Optional:

• 3 dates
• 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation:

• First, we need to break open the coconut and pour out the water. This can be done very simply with a hammer and screwdriver.
• Poke holes into the 3 eyes at the end of the coconut, using a screwdriver and a hammer
• Next, drain the water out into a cup
• Place your empty coconut side down on a folded towel on your counter. With your hammer, bang a circle around the entire circumference of the coconut.
• Depending on how hard you bang around the middle of it, the coconut will eventually crack neatly in half

Ta daaa! 

• You will now be able to scrape the meat out of coconut! Using a knife and spoon, scrape the meat out of the coconut, cut it up and measure out 1 cup. Save the rest for later as a snack or addition to a fruit salad!
• Put the coconut into your high-powered blender, and add the coconut water you drained out of the coconut to it. If it turns out to be less than 4 cups of coconut water, use regular water to make up 4 cups.
• Next, blend, blend blend! Coconut meat is very thick and heavy. You will need to blend for a good minute or so, mixing high and low speeds to get the meant blended.
• If you are wanting to add any of the additional sweeteners, now is the time to do so. Adding a few dates or so coconut sugar really helps to bring out the flavor! You can also add cinnamon and vanilla as well.
• Once it’s blended, pour into a glass and drink! Another option is to strain the coconut milk through a cheese cloth or nutmilk bag, to take out the coconut pulp. For me however, I like to drink it all. It tastes great!

Coconuts are so, so good for you, and this milk is amazing! It’s sweet, thick, delicious, and makes for a great coffee creamer or thick milk substitution.