Organic coconut milk at 6% fat — the light one — in a 400 g pack. Made in Sri Lanka from the pressed pulp of the coconut. Ingredients: water (82%), organic coconut milk (18%), organic guar gum. Nothing else — no hydrogenated fat, no artificial flavour, no preservative.
Choose the right one, because 6% and 17% are not interchangeable
This is the difference that decides whether a recipe works, and almost nobody explains it.
At 6% fat this is light coconut milk. It is thin, pourable and mild — a drinking and stirring milk. It will not reduce down into a rich curry sauce, it will not split into oil the way a proper curry base needs to, and it will not set into anything creamy. If you attempt a Thai curry with it, you will get a thin, watery sauce and be disappointed.
For curry, rendang, laksa or a coconut dessert you want the 17% version, or a full-fat tin. Ask us — we stock full-fat coconut milk. This one has a different job.
What it is genuinely good for
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Porridge and overnight oats — richer than oat milk, mild enough not to dominate.
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Smoothies, where the small amount of fat carries flavour and gives body.
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Drinking, hot or cold — with cocoa or carob, or in chai.
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Soups that want a coconut note rather than a coconut body — a light dhal, a carrot or sweet potato soup.
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Coffee, where full-fat coconut milk is too heavy.
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Baking, in place of dairy milk, one-for-one.
The guar gum, and why it is there
Coconut milk is an emulsion of coconut fat in water, and emulsions separate. Guar gum — milled from the guar bean, a legume — holds it together so the pack pours evenly instead of arriving as a plug of solid fat above a layer of water. It is a plant fibre, it is permitted in organic food, and it is doing a genuine job rather than padding the product out.
It can still separate slightly. Shake the pack before opening.
Honest note on nutrition
Coconut milk is not a dairy substitute nutritionally. It contains almost no protein and no calcium unless a manufacturer adds them, and this one is unfortified. If you are replacing cow's milk in a child's diet, or in your own, that gap needs filling from somewhere else — this is a milk in texture and use, not in nutrition.
The fat is mostly saturated, largely lauric acid. You will read a great deal about medium-chain triglycerides and coconut; the evidence does not support treating coconut fat as a health food, and there is no authorised EU health claim for coconut milk. It is a good ingredient. That is all it needs to be.
Allergen note
Coconut is not classed as a tree nut under EU allergen labelling — botanically it is a drupe — and most people with tree nut allergies tolerate it. Coconut allergy does exist, however, so if yours is severe, ask your allergist.
Storage
Store the unopened pack in a cool, dry cupboard. Once opened, decant into a covered container, refrigerate and use within three to four days — there are no preservatives in it. It also freezes well in an ice cube tray, which is the practical answer if you only need a splash at a time.
Iswari
Smart Organic
Iswari
Iswari
