How To Make Your Own Coconut Milk and VCO

Non-dairy milk is in huge demand these days after learning about the awful pesticides, hormones and antibiotics found in dairy milk! Read Dr. Hyman's 6 reasons why you should avoid dairy at all cost here. 

With that being said, I've gone the extra mile by making my own coconut milk at home for my kids to drink. It's really easy and very cheap to make! You can purchase mature coconut strips or gata from your local market in the Philippines for only 30 pesos (less than a dollar!) per bag.

On our first attempt, we tried doing it on my Hurom juicer but after about 25 minutes it stopped working. I doubt it is meant to juice grated coconut so we had to switch to manual hand labor instead!

You will need:

1 bag of grated coconut

Cheese cloth or katcha or I used my daughter's clean lampin /cloth

Hot water

A bowl to catch the milk

After boiling water, place the grated coconut inside the cloth and make a pouch and start to milk it. Warning: this is scalding hot so wait awhile before you start milking the bag!

Viola! Here's your freshly pressed coconut milk which your kids will loooove! No sweetener needed :) 

Now, if you wanted to make VCO (virgin coconut oil) you would do the same thing except wait for the oil to settle in the middle layer after a day then find a way to extract it. I made the mistake of using this container because it is very hard to skim the top layer. 

 So, I had to transfer to a bowl and then refrigerate. The oil will harden and then you will have to remelt.

I must tell you how awesome the VCO home production of my good friend, Ana (of Body Food All Natural) is in her home! You may follow her on Instagram @anagutch for inspirations like this!