How coconut milk is made

Canned coconut milk is shredded coconut flesh squeezed with hot water, then heated carefully because it curdles at 80 °C.

stations: 6
things upstream: 61
raw sources: 22
steps from the ground: 9

The short version

Mature coconuts are deshelled, and machines shred the white flesh. The shreds are mixed with hot water and pressed through an extractor to squeeze out a milky liquid. That liquid is filtered, pasteurized gently so it does not curdle, sealed into cans or pouches and cooled. Cream rises to the top of the can.

Pick mature nuts

Only mature coconuts have enough white flesh and oil to make a rich milk. Young nuts are mostly water.

Goes in
Coconuts
Deshell and shred the flesh

Deshelling machines strip the husk and shell. Motorized shredders and grinders then turn the white flesh into wet shreds, replacing the hand-cranked graters used at home in the tropics.
Press out the milk

Shreds are mixed with a little hot water and squeezed in an extractor. Hot water helps free the fat suspended inside the flesh. The first pressing is the richest. Later pressings of the same shreds give thinner milk.

Goes in
Water
Filter through fine mesh

The liquid goes through a fine filter to catch bits of fiber before heating.

100 mesh filter
Heat gently to pasteurize

Coconut milk is heated indirectly by double boiling. The proteins that hold the emulsion together start to coagulate at 80 °C, so the temperature is kept below that.

about 70 °C, never above 80 °C
Seal into cans

The milk goes straight into filling vessels and is sealed in cans, bottles or pouches before it cools. Canned milk often separates on standing, with a thick paste of cream floating at the top. Some brands add emulsifiers and homogenize to stop that.

Goes in
Tin can

End of the lineCoconut milk

Worth repeating

Fresh coconut milk turns rancid after a few hours at room temperature, which is why canning mattered.
Coconut milk is squeezed from the white flesh, so it is a different thing from the clear water inside the nut.
Coconut milk powder is made by adding maltodextrin and casein to coconut cream and spray drying it.