Coconut Milk vs Coconut Water

I'm wanting to try Coconut Milk in my CP soaps but am confused on a few points.

1. Are most US/Canada based soapers using Coconut Milk from a can?
2. Are you able to find "thick" or "thin" Coconut Milk. I can only find "Coconut Milk that all has the same consistency & fat content no matter the brand?
3. Does it matter if there are thickeners or sweeteners in the Coconut Milk?
4. Does anyone use Coconut Water instead of Coconut Milk?

Wikipedia Definition of Coconut Milk - Several grades of coconut milk exist: from thick at 20-22% fat until thin at 5-7% fat level. Thick milk is mainly used to make desserts as well as rich and dry sauces. Thin milk is used for soups and general cooking. This distinction is usually not made in Western nations since fresh coconut milk is rare, and most consumers buy coconut milk in cans. Coconut cream will rise to the top and separate out from the milk. To avoid this in commercial sold coconut milk, an emulsifier(s) and a stabilizer(s) have to be used.

Wikipedia Definition of Coconut Water - Coconut water is the watery liquid that comes from the young, still immature green coconut. It has a fat content of 17-24% depending on the fat level of the coconut meat and the quantity of added water.

1. That is what I use (from a can). They sell it in cartons, also, but I haven't looked at them close enough to see what else is added to it.

2. I haven't seen anything but regular coconut milk. Low fat coconut milk tends to be thinner (it usually is just diluted with more water).

3. Yes. Guar gum is a common additive in canned coconut milk. You want to avoid it if possible. It's a thickener. Most coconut milks I've seen do not have added sugar, but always look at the label to be sure. The coconut milk I use is just coconut milk and water--no guar gum or additives. Sometimes you have to look to find it. If it has separated (the very thick coconut cream rises to the top), just scoop it all out into a bowl and pour in the water that is underneath. Mix it all together.

4. Coconut milk is a completely different product than coconut water. I would think you could use coconut water (depending on the ingredients), but it wouldn't have the same properties as coconut milk.

I couldn't find the cans because I didn't realize they would be in the international foods section of the store, so I use the Silk brand in the half gallon carton. Per ounce, it is cheaper in my area. I just pour the coconut milk out in baggies and freeze it. I use it like goat milk and sub for the water in a recipe. Coconut milk is very nice in soap. I haven't tried coconut water.

I use powdered coconut milk, you can get it in asian markets and on amazon in packets, or in bulk at some soap suppliers.

I believe the difference is that coconut water is just the natural liquid contained within the coconut, and coconut "milk" is made by pulverizing the meat of the coconut in water, so yes they would probably have different properties. I stay away from added sugars in the milk, but they won't necessarily hurt anything. I say try the milk and the water and see what happens!

I just made 100% coconut oil/100% coconut milk salt bars last night! I always use the canned stuff. I just double checked my can and saw that it was indeed just coconut milk and water and no other ingredients. I didn't know about the guar gum thing. And I also forgot to shake the can so I had the seperation. Eww. But like Amybell said, I just stirred it up then stuck it in the freezer for a few hours before I made my soap. It's surprisingly white and creamy. I must have kept the temp down enough to avoid scorching.

The soap I made last week was olive oil, coconut milk (from the can) and lye. I used frozen coconut milk instead of water to mix with the lye.

Yesterday I cut a tiny piece off of a bar and tried it. I was really surprised at how nice it felt. I felt squeaky clean without the drying feeling. Another thing that surprised me was there was lather - not huge copious lather but it was there. I have never used olive oil soap before but had read that it does not really lather well. Does coconut milk help contribute to lather?

Ianto, The sugars in the milk might give it a bit more lather, but for a 100% olive oil bar, the best thing is time. A six month cure at least. I have bars that are over a year old and they are awesome! Great lather, no slime, and overall just a great feeling. I use them on my daughters. I've made my 100% olive oil bars with buttermilk. I like the extra creamy feeling they get with the milk.

Ianto said:

Does coconut milk help contribute to lather?

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In my experience, yes. The bars in which I've used coconut milk always have a nice lather.

I just looked at the ingredients for Silk's coconut milk: Coconut milk (Filtered Water, Coconut Cream), Cane Sugar, Natural Flavor, Carrageenan, Yam Flour.

I have never noticed a single problem with any of my soaps, and I use this coconut milk all the time. However, I know carrageenan is a thickener like guargum, so who knows. I am not going to stop using it because my experience has been that it's fine. However, I note it has sugar in it, which may also be contributing to the nice lather in my coconut milk soaps.

I've used coconut water in place of distilled in my lye water.

Next time I buy coconut milk I will have to check the ingredients. I don't even remember the brand I bought. I used half of the can for lentils and the other half went in a container in the freezer. By the time I remembered I had coconut milk in the freezer several months had gone by and it had a little bit of protective ice on it so I didn't want to use it for food.

I will wait a little while before trying the soap again - but it was just sitting there looking so lovely I had to try a little

I add canned coconut milk to almost all my soaps. I try to buy the kind that has the fewest ingredients although i have used brands with thickeners, sugars etc... and they turned out just fine. I soap at room temperature and add the milk in with my room temp oils and mix very well before adding in my lye/water solution. You can add it in at trace too.

Ianto said:

Next time I buy coconut milk I will have to check the ingredients. I don't even remember the brand I bought. I used half of the can for lentils and the other half went in a container in the freezer. By the time I remembered I had coconut milk in the freezer several months had gone by and it had a little bit of protective ice on it so I didn't want to use it for food.

I will wait a little while before trying the soap again - but it was just sitting there looking so lovely I had to try a little

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Whoa whoa whoa, I'm going to have to ask you to back up a bit there... Coconut milk in lentils??? Explain please :-D because I have never tried that and it sounds delicious!

I've used both coconut water and coconut milk. I froze both and used it for my full water amount each time. The coconut water turned a bright orange once the lye mixed in and I was worried, but my soap turned out just fine. I used the coconut milk in a 100% olive oil soap and it turned out a beautiful white without the use of TD.

The lentils were some sort of curried lentil thing I made without a recipe. When everything was done cooking I poured the coconut milk in and mixed. It was tasty but it probably would have been better if I had actually followed a recipe...

Does the coconut water bring any different qualities to the soap?

The brand I am using is SO Delisious(sp) Coconut milk. It comes in a carton and has more than CoMilk it with guar gum plus it has sugar and organic Coconut cream in it. I have not had a problem with it at all.

The last batch I made with the above Coconut milk. My earlier were made with out the guar gum and I had no problems either. Thanks for the tip on freezing it for getting whiter soap. I should have remember that one from all the milk threads. Duh. But I never froze mine when I made all these bars but soaped at RT. It comes out off white to very light cream colored.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I went to three grocery stores today and every coconut milk I could find had additives of some type but the coconut waters did not. I think I'll end up trying one batch of each and I expect they will come out the same. Thanks again, its good to know that coconut milk with additives won't kill the soap.

By coconut water do you mean those new boxed drinks that are coconut water, or is the liquid from the coconut? Where would one find coconut milk and or water in the grocery store?

The liquid is the liquid from the coconut cavity but in a carton and ingredients read 100% coconut water - No Additives, Sweeteners, Preservatives.

Wikipedia Definition of Coconut Water - Coconut water is the watery liquid that comes from the young, still immature green coconut. It has a fat content of 17-24% depending on the fat level of the coconut meat and the quantity of added water.

new12soap said:

Whoa whoa whoa, I'm going to have to ask you to back up a bit there... Coconut milk in lentils??? Explain please :-D because I have never tried that and it sounds delicious!

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When on vacation in Belize, I learned to make rice with coconut milk. The recipe is really simple. Make your usual rice recipe except substitute coconut milk (the kind from a can) for about 1/2 of the liquid.

The Belizeans also mix in a small amount of red kidney beans with their rice and cook the beans, rice, and coconut milk together to make "dirty rice" aka "rice and beans".

Coconut rice, "dirty" or not, has a mild coconut flavor -- more of a sweetly floral aroma than a "knock your socks off" coconut smell -- and a slight sweetness. The fat makes the rice more creamy and rich. It is delicious with Belize stew chicken or in a curry.

Jane, a Filipino neighbor in Belize, taught me how to open a fresh coconut with a machete. She also explained (as others have said here) that coconut water is the liquid inside the coconut. The kids in Belize will knock down coconuts and drink the water as a snack -- they don't seem to be interested in eating the coconut meat.

Coconut meat from a fresh coconut has a gelatinous texture -- the meat can be scooped easily out of the shell. Only when the coconut is really mature will the meat be as firm as I have come to expect, living far north of the tropics.

Coconut milk is the liquid made from blending the coconut meat with hot water and straining the solids out. The solids are blended again with more fresh water to make several batches of milk, each one lighter than the one before.

Jane said the liquid from the first blending is coconut cream, and the liquid from the next blending or two is coconut milk. I suspect the stuff in cans is the equivalent of all of the blendings put together.

Coconut milk + fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice + rum .... hmmmmm!!!

--DeeAnna