Make raw Young Coconut Yogurt and Coconut Water Kefir

This week I decided to try my hand making coconut yogurt AND coconut water kefir with young coconuts. If you are unfamiliar with young coconuts they are the white coconuts you often see in health food stores, not the mature brown ones that usually taste nasty (IMO at least). This yogurt is a raw food dish and it is nice for an occasional treat.

I started by cracking three of them open. Actually my husband did that part. He drained the coconut water as he opened them and reserved it in a bowl. I then scooped out the meat of the coconuts and tried to keep the brownish skin on the other side of it from coming with it too much. I ended up with a fair amount of meat from just 3 coconuts.

I added the meat, a cup or so of the coconut water, and a Tablespoon of commercial coconut yogurt from Whole Foods, to my Vita-Mix and blended well to make milk. I didn’t heat this mixture at all, just let it warm a bit by letting the blender run. Afterwards I poured it into the pint jars of my yogurt maker. This machine just keeps the jars warm so that the beneficial bacteria can work and create yogurt. I had enough for 3 of the jars.

After 15ish hours I removed them and put them in the frig. The yogurt is quite tasty although my husband prefers the sweet taste of the milk without the added fermentation. I admit that it is quite delish both ways. In fact I think this would be an excellent pie filling. Just make a pie crust from raw nuts and dried dates and then fill with coconut milk or coconut yogurt, top with some sliced fruit like Kiwi or strawberries, and you have a raw pie for dessert. I also imagine that we will eat coconut milk ice cream, frozen coconut yogurt, and coconut Popsicles this summer.

I have been eating a ramekin full most mornings with a little dollop of lemon curd made with pastured eggs, honey, and coconut oil.

The water from the coconuts went straight into a quart size ball jar with some water kefir grains. The coconut water has natural sugars that the kefir will chow down on. After 15 hours it was tangy and slightly fizzy and it went straight into a glass pitcher destined for the frig. LOVE these pitchers for kefir and juice!