Hawaiian Coconut Syrup

Posted by mControl on September 14, 2010

Pina Colada Flapjacks

Coconut milk is not the watery stuff in the coconut- that’s coconut water. Coconut milk, which you could make at home if you were patient and wanted to spend too much money, (because unlike us here in Hawaii, not everyone has access to fresh coconuts), is made by grinding the meat into a slurry with a certain amount of water. Coconut cream is the same with less water. Good coconut milk will separate in the can, just like milk used to. There will be dense cream at the bottom, thick milk for most of the can, and water at the top. You can use each for their own special applications, or mix them together to homogenize. Do not buy coconut milk, or any asian food, in the supermarket, unless you are some kind of butt clown. You will pay ten times as much for crappy stuff. Go find an Asian market already.

Get together:

1/3 cup water
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1 can coconut milk
pinch Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to create a simple syrup.

Once it’s reduced in volume roughly by half, take 1 can of good quality

Chaokoh Thai Coconut Milk

(Chaokoh brand is my fave) coconut milk and strain out the water (set aside), using the solids. (whatever won’t drop right through the strainer.) Add it to the syrup, and whisk it all really well to get it smooth and mixed. Let it cook just until it’s thick enough that you can see bare pan for a second as you draw a wooden spoon across the bottom, stirring often to check it.

Add
pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

(these last two are not optional- just like in say, break of chocolate chip cookies, the salt chemically facilitates better tasting of the coconut’s deeper flavors, and the vanilla rounds things out adds to the smell of the coconut.)

Pour on pancakes, waffles or oatmeal or mix it up with brown basmati rice pudding, or whatever.