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| A Lovely Bunch of
Coconut Facts |
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Who can resist a luscious frosted cake
topped with a snowdrift of coconut? But
coconut is more than a tasty decoration.
It adds a sweet moistness to cakes,
pies, cookies and other baked treats.
Coconut is not only one of the earliest
foods identified in history but also one
of the first early explorers brought to
Europe. At the beginning of this
century, coconuts only graced the tables
of the rich and the royal. They were
rare, expensive and tedious to split and
use. That changed in 1896, when Franklin
Baker devised a method for packing
grated coconut that retained its
freshness. Today, coconut is available
fresh, frozen, canned and in bags. It
comes both sweetened and unsweetened in
a variety of forms including flaked,
grated, and in small to wide shreds. It
even comes already tinted in colors from
delicate yellow to bright royal purple.
Did You Know?
Sweetened coconut is used for baking
while unsweetened coconut can be used in
both sweet and savoury dishes.
Coconut Milk
If a recipe calls for coconut milk, be
sure that you're getting the right
product. Coconut milk is not the liquid
drained from a fresh coconut. It is an
unsweetened processed product usually
sold in cans in the exotic food section
of the supermarket. Look for it with
Thai and Asian foods. Coconut milk can
be made at home, but it's a tedious
process that involves soaking fresh or
dried coconut in several changes of hot
water or milk, then straining through
cheesecloth. So, if you can't obtain the
canned product, you can make a quick
substitution by adding 1/2 teaspoon
coconut extract and 1/2 teaspoon sugar
to 1cup heavy or whipping cream. Cream
of coconut cannot be substituted for
coconut milk. It is a thick, sweetened
product developed in the late 1940s for
use in Pina Colada drinks. The most
familiar brand is Coco Lopez®. |
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