"coconut milk" news and stories

Tropical flavors play a big part in pastry chef Tiffany Macisaac's repertoire (she's a native of Hawaii), and she shared her recipe for this coconut curry sorbet with blogger UlteriorPicture back when she was cooking at Manhattan restaurant Cru. The refreshing coconut-milk and cardamom-inflected sorbet would be as at home in the southern India state of Kerala as it is at Washington, D.C., restaurant Birch & Barley, which Macisaac now owns with her husband, executive chef Kyle Bailey. When she's not whipping up wild sorbets, we hear Macisaac also makes a killer Meyer lemon meringue pie.

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• Trick out your Valentine's Day desserts with a hint of coconut. Recommended recipes include Coconut Cheesecake, Lemon Coconut Tapioca Pudding, Coconut Chocolate Pudding and Coconut Poundcake.
  
• A useful search tool that scours the peanut butter recall list, letting you check on the status of your pantry items.
• Information on the various kinds of dried, flaked and shredded coconut meat you can get.
• "Moldy" sandwich baggies, cooking classes galore and vitamin D are all in the mix this week.
  
• Pete Peterson spotlights the Nagami Kumquat this week, and recommends it for its floral, tart flavor.
• Annette Stadelman is trying to refresh the image of Australian wine brands, so that people think of more than just shiraz.
• Potato boats are a fun take on the twice-baked potato and will have kids cleaning their plates.
• Cook up some seasoned lamb meatballs for a quick Mediterranean dinner that will please everyone.
• This week in the On Time/Under Budget column, you'll find Kielbasa With Smothered Cabbage and Mashed Potatoes.
  

Here's some interesting news from a study conducted at Purdue University: eating liquid foods might make you eat more calories during the day, because our bodies register the calories a lot slower.

The tests were done on 120 men and women. On day one they were given a test lunch of a chicken sandwich and water, and were allowed to eat any meal they wanted later in the day. On the other days, a liquid or solid food was given along with the chicken sandwich (milk or cheese, coconut or coconut milk, and watermelon or watermelon juice). They could have as many sandwiches as they wanted after eating the samples and then recorded how full they were. This is all confusing to me, but I wonder if this is one of the reasons why people on liquid diets and diets that have liquid meal replacement options often gain weight later.

Though I wonder how accurate it is, since it was only a three day study. I'd like something with a little more depth, but it's an interesting start.

When you hear the phrase "coconut milk," the image that might stick in your mind is the juice that is found inside the center of a coconut. At least, that is what most people assume that it is. Actually, the liquid endosperm inside a young coconut is known as coconut water. It is fat free and low in calories, but is a good source of potassium and other nutrients.

Coconut milk is made by pureeing a mixture of coconut meat and water, then straining it to remove some of the fat. A second straining will yield a lower fat coconut milk. Coconut cream is made in the same way as coconut milk, but it is made with a higher ratio of coconut to water. Sometimes, coconut cream will form on the top of canned coconut milk. The two are pretty much interchangeable in recipes, though they have slightly different consistencies. For the curious, some other drinks, such as almond milk, are made in the same way.

Cream of coconut is not the same as coconut cream. It is the creamy liquid often added to pina coladas (and various other drinks and dishes). Though it starts out as coconut cream, sugars and stabilizers are added to give it an especially creamy consistency and to make it more palate-pleasing in drinks and desserts.