Cultured Coconut Milk?

I saw this at Whole Foods in Evanston (the one closer to Chicago) and was both frightened and intrigued. Anyone wanna comment?

I saw this at a natural-foods store in Hawaii, and was told by one of the staffers that it's a vegan yogurt substitute. The girl I talked to was a big fan, but she was unable to articulate anything about the flavor (other than "sorta tangy & coconutty").

Jeez.

So help me, all I could think of was a can of coconut milk with a cigarette holder (a la FDR) and a hoity-toity accent.

The tendency to sub coconut milk for milk tickles me: I love the stuff, but it's got about twice the saturated fat of Half & Half...of course it tastes better! (yes, supposedly it's "better" saturated fat, whatever that is...)

Mhays wrote:The tendency to sub coconut milk for milk tickles me: I love the stuff, but it's got about twice the saturated fat of Half & Half...of course it tastes better! (yes, supposedly it's "better" saturated fat, whatever that is...)

I know what you mean. I grabbed a can of "Lite" coconut milk the other day, and not until I got it home did I bother looking at the nutrition facts: 20 of its 25 KCals per 2Tbs serving (of which you'll probably eat 4 in a meal) are from fat. What kind of "Lite" product can get away with that? One where the standard product has 45 of its 50 from fat.

Gypsy Boy wrote: a can of coconut milk with a cigarette holder (a la FDR) and a hoity-toity accent.

Well that's the part that really scared the shit out of me.

JoelF wrote:

Mhays wrote:The tendency to sub coconut milk for milk tickles me: I love the stuff, but it's got about twice the saturated fat of Half & Half...of course it tastes better! (yes, supposedly it's "better" saturated fat, whatever that is...)

I know what you mean. I grabbed a can of "Lite" coconut milk the other day, and not until I got it home did I bother looking at the nutrition facts: 20 of its 25 KCals per 2Tbs serving (of which you'll probably eat 4 in a meal) are from fat. What kind of "Lite" product can get away with that? One where the standard product has 45 of its 50 from fat.

If I recall correctly, I was surprised by the low fat content per serving - something like 4 grams?

I flunked biochem (and etiquette), can you really culture coconut milk?

What exactly is there to culture in coconut milk? Nothing. No lactose any other kind of fermentable sugars in there AFAIK.

If you look at the ingredients list, I'm almost certain it's just fresh coconut milk + some artificial souring agent.

There are actually live, active cultures.

Ah I see. It must be the additional cane juice that's getting fermented, then.

Habibi wrote:If I recall correctly, I was surprised by the low fat content per serving - something like 4 grams?

I flunked biochem (and etiquette), can you really culture coconut milk?

All fats are 9 KCals/gram. The can lists 2 grams fat in those two tablespoons, they're not required to list fractions.
But of course like i said, you're not eating a mere ounce/30ml in a serving of Thai curry, figure it more at a half-cup. Still, only eight grams fat, not bad.

I try to limit my dairy consumption and have tried and enjoyed the cultured coconut milk. My favorite is the plain. It tastes like coconut-flavored yogurt. I especially like it over banana or mango. Sometimes I add a little lime zest. I didn't much care for the fruit flavored varieties.

As for the saturated fat, I remember reading that there is some debate about how bad the saturated fat in coconut milk really is as it's mainly lauric acid, which is supposed to be good for you. As I only have these as an occasional treat, I figure I'm not doing much damage. Plus my cholesterol levels are super-duper, gold star excellent, according to my doc.