From Butter, to Flour, and Beyond! – One Green Planet

When you’re a coconut fan like myself, then you definately in all probability already know all of the wondrous well being advantages this one meals holds. It’s significantly useful for bettering power ranges, digestion, and boosting immunity. You may also use it in some ways within the kitchen since coconut’s distinctive fat and fiber have particular binding properties. As an illustration, coconut butter and oil stay stable at room temperature, in order that they’re nice to make use of instead of butter. When melted, they’ll soften up or liquify for straightforward mixing and mixing, after which after your dish cools, they’ll assist harden it up so all of it sticks collectively. These fat in coconut can even assist your physique take up vitamins out of your meals, and they don’t contribute to excessive ldl cholesterol like animal-based fat do. Coconut shreds can be utilized in power balls, to make coconut butter, or added to oatmeal for extra fiber and texture.

However past the well being advantages and extra well-known methods to make use of coconut, attempt a few of these different ideas you should utilize with coconut merchandise, whether or not it’s butter, flour, oil or the contemporary coconut meat itself. Who wants dairy with coconut by your aspect?

1. Use the Meat to Make Uncooked Yogurt

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You need to use coconut meat from a complete, white younger coconut discovered within the produce part to make your individual yogurt (you’ll must crack it open and scoop out the meat first). For an excellent simpler choice, purchase uncooked coconut meat within the freezer part at specialty well being meals shops. (It’s usually discovered with the opposite specialty frozen fruits like acai puree.) When you use uncooked frozen coconut meat, you’ll must thaw it to room temperature first. Whether or not you utilize uncooked frozen or contemporary meat, they’re each nice to make uncooked coconut yogurt with. Puree the meat it in a blender with the contents of a veg-friendly probiotic capsule for not less than 2 minutes to let it heat up a bit with out overheating it.

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Pour this combination right into a bowl. Cowl and wrap with a towel (which incubates it), be sure that your oven is totally cool, and place the bowl inside your oven (which can hold air drafts out.) Simply don’t flip your oven on! Test the combination after 24 hours. It ought to scent like yogurt and be barely thicker. You may also drain it to make it thicker should you like through the use of a cheesecloth or nut milk bag. Preserve the yogurt in a well-sealed container in your fridge (ideally away from gentle or wrapped in a towel) and use inside per week or two.

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In case your yogurt doesn’t scent like yogurt after a day, then put it again into the oven (be sure that it’s fully cool in there!) for 12 extra hours and scent once more. You may also make coconut kefir as an alternative choice, however you would wish kefir grains (the tradition) or a coconut water kefir to get it began instead of the probiotic capsules. You will discover coconut water kefir within the part with probiotics at specialty well being meals shops should you wan to go this route. Strive your coconut yogurt out in Papaya and Coconut Yogurt Breakfast, or combine it with oats in a single day to make uncooked, soaked oatmeal.

2. Make a Uncooked Cake

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One among my favourite methods to make use of coconut, is to make use of the numerous types of it to make a uncooked cake. As an illustration, ½ cup of uncooked coconut flour can change 1 cup of white flour because it’s naturally fibrous and binding, ¼ cup coconut shreds could be added to assist help in binding the combo collectively much more and provides it texture, and you’ll add 2 tbsp. uncooked coconut butter (warmed) to assist all of it meld collectively. Put this into your blender with 1 cup water or coconut milk, together with any sweeteners of your alternative, reminiscent of stevia, or perhaps a little uncooked coconut nectar (a really low glycemic alternative). Mix, pour right into a small mini loaf pan, prime with extra coconut shreds and even chopped uncooked nuts should you like. Let it freeze for 1 hour, and you’ve got a scrumptious wholesome cake you possibly can slice up for a day snack or dessert. You may also use coconut in a scrumptious uncooked fruit and coconut cake as an alternative choice, or go for uncooked coconut pie should you’re not feeling cake.

3. Use the Flour to Make Grain-Free Oatmeal

When you’re not a fan of oatmeal, don’t tolerate grains, otherwise you simply love coconut, then attempt making your individual grain-free porridge. All you want is ¼ – 1/3 cup coconut flour, 2-3 tbsp. uncooked coconut shreds, and you’ll add in floor chia or flax for a nutty taste and ma ore filling and nutritious meal. Simply toss all of those collectively in a bowl with some cinnamon, ginger, perhaps just a little cardamom, and add ¼ cup non-dairy milk and sufficient water to thicken it right into a porridge-like consistency. You may also add a sweetener of alternative like stevia, coconut nectar, or should you get pleasure from maple syrup, that will work too. One quarter cup of coconut flour has 9 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber, and could be very low-carb, however extremely nutritious. It’s a beautiful meals for therapeutic the intestine attributable to its anti-microbial properties, and provides you extra fiber than oats and even most bran cereals per serving. Select uncooked and natural coconut flour for a greater taste and high quality when doable.

4. Make Cheater’s Coconut Milk

Retailer-bought coconut milks are very simple and handy, however most all have components that may be laborious to digest. These embrace gums (emulsifiers that trigger digestive upset), carrageenan, and a few even have added sugars from evaporated cane syrup or cane juice (mainly white sugar that’s much less processed). They’re additionally extremely heated in the course of the pasteurization course of, which prevents you from benefiting from a lot of the vitamins discovered abundantly in uncooked coconut.

So, as an alternative, simply make your individual coconut milk at house utilizing ½ cup uncooked coconut butter and mixing in a high-speed blender (or family blender) with 3 cups water for not less than 2 full minutes (you need it to run longer so it has time to totally break down). You may also mix in just a little sweetener should you want it, reminiscent of a soaked date, fig, some stevia, or coconut nectar. I discover this model of coconut milk is creamier than making the milk with uncooked coconut shreds and straining by way of a nut milk bag. Uncooked coconut butter is likely one of the most nutritionally dense meals to maintain in your kitchen, so why not use it to make home made milk in simply minutes? So straining wanted!

5. To Make Wholesome White Chocolate

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White chocolate was at all times one among my favourite meals. It’s the fatty a part of the cacao bean, often called cacao butter, blended with sugar and milk. Giving up white chocolate wasn’t laborious, however discovering a solution to get pleasure from it once more with out these elements was definitely a plus.

To make your individual white chocolate at house, all you must do is mix ½ cup uncooked coconut butter with ½ cup uncooked cacao butter and just a little sweetener of your alternative. You’ll wish to heat them just a little earlier than mixing, and I discover a ramekin on a scorching espresso plate works nice for this to stop burning. Simply put the ramekin on the espresso maker’s plate, activate the machine, and let the new plate heat for about 5 minutes till the combination begins to melt. As soon as it does, put it within the blender, mix and pour into an ice dice tray. Put this within the freezer to set for 30-45 minutes, take away, and you’ve got your individual home made white chocolate! It’s going to keep laborious at room temp, however I prefer to hold it within the fridge so it stays good and chilly.  When you don’t have cacao butter (or don’t wish to pay for it because it’s expensive), you possibly can simply mix uncooked coconut butter with just a little cacao powder and make it the identical method. It’s going to have just a little completely different taste and shade, however will nonetheless be uncooked and extremely scrumptious.

For extra on utilizing coconut in your house, see our ideas for baking with coconut butter and tips on how to use coconut oil in a pure skincare routine. Let coconut nourish you on as many ranges as doable; it’s actually a miraculous meals!

Extra Coconut Recipe