My Experience of Coconut Milk

I hated being force fed milk when I was at school. As a result I have never really liked milk in my adult years. I never really understood the attraction of the liquid – high in fat and from a cow’s udders. To me it sounds disgusting. It was thus some surprise that I took my first holiday to Thailand recently and discovered that I really loved the taste of coconut milk.

While I was visiting the paradise islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Tao in the deep south of Thailand I found myself eating spicy curries and soups nearly every day. The local food was delicious and much more reasonably priced than the poor version of Western food they have on the menus.

I had read on the internet a while back that coconut milk was high in saturated fats. It was thus a puzzle to me that Thais who eat coconut oil and milk every day were slim and healthy. It was only later that I discovered that coconut milk in contrast to cow’s milk contains medium chain fatty acids that are easily absorbed by the body and turned into energy not fat. I also read that coconut milk is rich (like mother’s milk) in lauric acid that protect the body from viral infections.

My favorite Thai dish was the classic green curry. The coconut milk helps to tame the fiery spices and help with digestion. I also really loved the creamier Tom Ka Gai which is chicken soup with fresh spices and coconut milk. For desserts the best was mango on sticky rice with thick coconut milk.

On returning home from my holiday I bought a Thai cook book and searched out coconut milk. It was easy to find coconut milk in cans at my local big supermarket. If you have problems finding coconut milk where you live then Amazon does a good range.

I get through 2 or 3 cans of coconut milk a week now. I use it in my cooking, I put a bit in my coffee and I also like to make alcoholic cocktails with coconut milk. I find it helps to lessen the bad head the following day. I still don’t like cow’s milk, but coconut milk is a different matter.

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