Coconut Flour

Coconut Flour is a low-carb, high-fibre, gluten-free alternative to wheat flour. It contains no fillers, grains, or soy.

Coconut Flour is made from fresh organic coconut meat. The meat is dried and defatted and then finely ground into a powder very similar in consistency to wheat flour. Use 15-25% in place of other flours in most standard recipes. A variety of delicious baked goods can also be made using 100% coconut flour.

Coconut Flour is a low carb flour. It is ideal for baking low – carb breads and baked goods. It has fewer digestible (net) carbs than any other flour, including soy! It even has fewer digestible carbs than most vegetables.

Coconut Flour is a good source of protein. It has as much protein as wheat flour but it has none of the specific protein in wheat called “gluten”. This is an advantage for a growing percentage of the population that have developed an allergy to gluten or a wheat sensitivity.

Coconut Flour is high in fibre. It contains 38.5% fibre which is the highest percentage of dietary fibre found in any flour (wheat bran is 27% fibre). Coconut flour contains almost 3 times as much fibre as soy flour. Instead of contributing to health problems like starch and sugar do, fibre promotes good health.

This great information comes from a fantastic website which sells coconut flours and oils in Australia. Coconut Flour and oil is widely available throughout the U.S and Europe. It is worth noting that coconut flour comes in different qualities. Some flours are coarse and I do not recommend them. Look for coconut flour that is similar to corn flour in consistency. This flour makes the best muffins and crepes or pancakes and you can find recipes for those on our website in the 'Flog' section.

Coconut Oil

There are some who prescribe to the miracles of healing with coconut oil. It is definitely worth considering as the research has shown coconut to be effective in a variety of treatments including relieving symptoms associated with Crohn's, ulcerative colitis and stomach ulcers. Not only that, it is also the world's only low-calorie fat and does not lose its benefits by heating. It has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years and has been revered as 'the tree of life', as every part of the tree is used for either food, building, clothing or healing.

Coconut Milk

Buying canned coconut milk is convenient but due to various gums and additives not advised on the SCDiet. Making coconut milk is dead easy. In the cookbook I have a recipe for almond milk. Basically it is 1.5 cups of almond meal plus 3 cups of water. You place the ingredients into a food processor and process for 3 minutes. Strain the liquid through a double layer of kitchen cloth and hey presto almond milk. It is the same for coconut milk, just use unsweetened coconut meal….. But you can also make coconut milk from fresh coconut.

Pierce the eyes of a fresh coconut, drain the liquid inside and place the coconut on a rack and bake in a 325F pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes.

Remove the coconut from the oven, let it cool a bit and crack it with a hammer so that the shell breaks into several pieces.

Remove all the coconut meat from the shell, peel off the brown skin and cut the meat into very small cubes.

Place the meat in a blender, add hot water to just cover all of the meat and blend until finely grated.

Place a sieve covered with cheese cloth over a bowl and pour the coconut meat and water into the sieve squeezing handfuls of the coconut meat to extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl.

Discard the squeezed coconut meat and refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted into the bowl. Refrigerate the milk and use within 1 or 2 days.

To make coconut cream, let the coconut milk sit for 1 day and then pour off the seperated water from the cream. Coconut milk made at home is much better tasting than store bought canned coconut milk.

For facts on nutritional values of coconut milk read this article: http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/coconut_and_cholesterol.php