Coconut Ice Milk

The video looked easy enough-just hold the coconut with the midsection in palm of your hand and a bowl underneath to catch the juice, then whack it with the backside of a cleaver. I knew I could crack a coconut; after all my mother made wonderful fresh coconut cakes when I was growing up and I don't remember her screaming about the coconut not cracking or any loud banging of hammers, etc.-but I was having a hell of a time with these two coconuts I was trying to sever perfectly in half.

After giving up on the video, I finally despaired of succeeding in cutting the coconut perfectly in half,so I used a hammer and a nail to poke through the eyes of the coconut, then drained the liquid into a container. I wrapped the coconut in an old towel and using one of my husbands wedge type tools, I hit it with a hammer all the way around the midsection of the coconut and, miraculously, it split in a rough half. It's much easier to buy the coconut already shredded, but you don't get the pleasure of peeling off different slices to toast or to garnish your dish. I love the beautiful rough chunks with the dark skin. Maybe I will buy some more coconuts and try again.















The coconut ice milk is very easy to make with an ice cream maker. Just chill the ingredients and pop into the maker and in 20 minutes, you have soft serve ice milk, however, it's best to give it some freezer time to ripen and firm up.


Ingredients

2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
1 can 14 oz. unsweetened coconut milk, shaken vigorously before opening
2 tablespoons rum

Mix milk and sugar and heat in a saucepan until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, add unsweetened coconut milk and rum and mix well. Freeze in an ice cream maker. Garnish with thin slices of fresh toasted coconut.