Coconut cream vs. Coconut milk page

[afsjesse]

Getting quality coconut anything here in Afghanistan can be tough. Fortunately, I've been lucky with getting by on coconut cream, as it's called. The brand is called 'American Green' and its the best coconut without emulsifiers that I've been able to find. The ingredients are - Coconut cream 20-22% fat, water.

However, after shopping today the store was running out of this brand and replaced it with 'Coconut milk' from the same company. However, the ingredients are listed as - Coconut milk 5-7% fat, water.

The coconut creme has 160 calories and 14g of saturated fat per serving (preferable for me), whereas the coconut milk has only 50 calories and 0g of saturated fat per serving.

What is the difference(s) between these two items. I bought both and am unsure about the 'coconut milk'. Is it more processed so that there is less milk, or is this truly the 'milk' of the coconut?

[zilog]

Neither are literally 'milk' from inside the coconut, that would be coconut water which is naturally fat-free. Coconut cream and milk are made by pureeing the flesh of the coconut with some water - more water in the case of milk and less with cream. That's the only difference AFAIK. I always buy coconut cream as the cans are smaller for storage and you can also just add more water yourself if required. Sometimes (with the milk especially) it can be strained to remove some (all?) of the fat. This is a bad idea because that's where most of the nutrition comes from!

[Barefoot Gentile]

I just bought coconut milker creamer for my coffee. It's not bad, it's made by "so delicious dairy free"

[MissJecka]

If those are the only two ingredients in the stuff, then all it is is that one has more of the coconut meat than it does water.

It'd be different if you got that "so delicious" or "silk" brand coconut milks, because they have barely any coconut in it and are fortified with engineered vitamins and include at least one type of sugar as its second or third ingredient.

[sbhikes]

Yeah, and I'm betting the crap BG just bought for his coffee is like coffeemate or some artificial garbage.

I think there's another difference between some coconut milks and creams. I think there's an age or "first press" vs "second press" or something like that. The cream tends to be sweeter or fruitier than the milk. I think this makes more difference with brands that actually come from Thailand where they know their coconuts. It's probably like Eskimos having 70 words for snow. They probably have as many for coconut milk products.

[tarek]

The coconut milk you're getting might have just been made from blending dessicated coconut with water and straining the result. This is a method I've read about, but I've always wondered if it would produce a more watery, low-fat milk. I could be wrong, though!