I bought a can of coconut milk (or a cream really, it is rather fat, around 17%) for my piña colada. I have never bought coconut milk before. It was weird inside. Upper half was like butter paste and lower like water. I mixed it in a shaker thinking it would become homogeneous. But no it looked like you blend butter with water, chunks of coconut fat are floating and it is not homogenous at all. I heated it up a little (in hot water). Fat apparently melted and it because more like what I needed. But once I cool it or mix with ice cubes fat immediately precipitates and become totally unappealing. My question is did I buy some defect product? Or wrong product? Or I am doing something wrong with it?
Coconut milk looks like water with butter chunks
cocktailscoconut
Best Answer
There can easily be some confusion regarding the terms cream of coconut, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut water etc. It is normal and even often desirable for coconut milk to separate, and for the fattier part (the cream) to clump. Since that is generally not a great quality for mixed drinks, read on.
For Pina Coladas, the most commonly used product is Cream of Coconut, the sweetened, emulsified variety. Two common brands in the US are Coco Lopez and Goya. Coconut milk and coconut cream are totally different products from each other and from cream of coconut, so read the label carefully. When in doubt, check the ingredients. The product you want will have added sugar and emulsifiers.
Goya Cream of Coconut ingredients:
Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut ingredients:
These products will not clump like what you have experienced.
In grocery stores in the US, cream of coconut will be with other bartending mixers like margarita mix, not anywhere near the coconut milk. If you have any problem finding it, ask at a liquor store.