The Wide World of Coconut Products

The tropical plant yields mellow, refreshing coconut water, and its fatty meat is used to make velvety, nutty-sweet coconut milk and coconut cream in various forms, as well as further-processed products such as cream of coconut. 

Those products are foundational in cuisines around the globe—as the basis for curries, soups, rice dishes, beverages, desserts, and more. And they’re increasingly popular as dairy alternatives in everything from ice cream to smoothies to vegan whipped toppings.

But all that adds up to a tremendous range of products that can be confusing to sort through when shopping. Here’s a rundown of what to know about each one.

If you crack open a coconut, the thin liquid that pours out is mellow, lightly sweet coconut water. This nutrient-rich liquid is typically tapped from young coconuts, which have more plentiful stores than the fully mature fruit.

What to Use It For: Fresh coconut water has long been enjoyed as a cooling drink in tropical regions. Thanks to the liquid’s abundance of electrolytes, the packaged product has become hugely popular as a sports drink in this country. But its subtle flavor is also lovely in cooking. Use it as a base for cocktails or smoothies, to cook rice, or as a poaching liquid for anything from vegetables to fish (in which cases it’s best to use a coconut water without added sugar).

Coconut milk is made by shredding fresh coconut meat and pressing it to extract liquid (sometimes adding a small amount of water). Commercial products are heat-treated and contain more added water to adjust consistency. All are unsweetened, and many contain emulsifiers and stabilizers. 

What to Use It For: Canned coconut milk’s creamy richness and tropical sweetness are used in countless applications, savory and sweet alike. It browns into an unctuous paste in Indonesia’s beef rendang. It adds silky body to Thailand’s massaman curry, and makes the grains of rice rich and fragrant in Colombia’s arroz con titoté. It can lend creaminess to smoothies and makes a great base for vegan ice cream. 

This product is made the same way as full-fat coconut milk but is diluted with more water, giving it significantly less fat and only a thin layer of cream on top. Because fat is where the coconut’s flavor is, light coconut milk’s taste pales in comparison to the regular stuff. 

What to Use it For: You can sub this product for full-fat coconut milk in recipes like soups and stews, but know that the consistency will be thinner and so will the coconut flavor. Avoid such substitutions in applications where fat is essential to the results, including puddings and custards. 

Coconut cream is thicker than coconut milk, with a higher fat and carbohydrate content. Depending on the brand, the cream can be gray to snowy white, as heavy and dense as Crisco or looser. You can buy just the coconut cream, but depending on how much you need, you can also simply scoop it from the top of a can of coconut milk. To make that separation distinct, refrigerate the coconut milk for 24 hours, which allows you to skim away the thick cream more easily. 

What to Use It For: Coconut cream can be used in savory dishes for an extra-rich, thick consistency or whipped into a plant-based whipped cream substitute. If you skim your coconut cream from the top of a can of coconut milk and don’t want to waste the remaining thin liquid in the can, try using it in place of water in hot breakfast cereals or adding it to smoothies.

Cream of coconut starts as coconut cream, but it is sweetened and contains additional thickeners and emulsifiers. 

What to Use It For: This product is often used to make cocktails, perhaps most famously piña coladas. It’s also used in baked goods including coconut macaroons. When cooking, be sure not to confuse it with coconut cream or the flavor profile of your dish will be thrown off.

These products are far more diluted than canned coconut milk (both full-fat and light) and have a smooth, fully emulsified consistency. Many have added sugar, thickeners such as gellan gum, and added vitamins and minerals. They are sold both in shelf stable and refrigerated forms. 

What to Use It For: These products are not interchangeable with canned coconut milk or canned coconut cream. They are intended to be consumed as drinks, to be used as nondairy creamers in coffee and tea, and to replace dairy milk in both savory and sweet recipes. That said, we’ve found that some brands of coconut milk beverages can lead to pale and gummy results in baked goods.