Did I get coconut milk or cream?

[AmyW]

The can says Coconut Milk. It has 3 ingredients: coconut, water, guar gum (the others had 7-10 with various chemicals). Opened up the can, poured into a bowl. 3/4 of it is thick and paste-like, the rest looks like thin milk.

Do I treat the thick stuff like cream and use it at trace and the thin like milk/water and add it to the lye or what?

Thanks I've never bought anything with coconut in it cause I hate the taste. Love the smell though!

 

[soapbuddy]

It's the guar gum that's making it thick. Be careful with it as the guar gum can make your soap seize.

 

[AmyW]

Thanks!

 

[soapbuddy]

Thanks!

You're welcome.

 

[Hazel]

Amy -

I use coconut milk with the same ingredients and it's always separated when I open it. On the can, it says to shake well and I never do. I pour it into a bowl and then use a stick blender to get it blended back together. It does look like thick milk after I've blended it and it stays together for quite awhile in the frig.

HTH

 

[AmyW]

Thank you Do you like using it in the lye water or at trace?

 

[Maria]

I pour off the water and only use the cream.

 

[Midnight Rowan]

I like using it at trace, to keep the milk completely separate from the lye. To do this, you can half your liquid, use the other half as water with the lye, and then add powdered coconut milk to the liquid coconut milk in the amount that would make your water into coconut milk if you were reconstituting. (Hope that was coherent)

This way, you still get 100% coconut milk, without burning it up with lye

 

[Hazel]

Duh! Reading Midnight Rowan's and Maria's posts made me realize that I don't have to blend the coconut milk together. I can pour off the water, mix the lye in it and then add the rest of the coconut.

I swear sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees.

Amy -

I generally do 50% milk and add at trace. But next time I may try 100% since I figured out about pouring off the water. I'd still add the milk at trace.

 

[AmyW]

Thanks for all the input! I put it all into a mason jar (I have plastic lids for them) and shook it well, and then used all chilled coconut milk in place of the water in my shaving soap recipe. I really like the results (I posted a pic on the photo forum, and bumped my recipe post).

 

[Chickadee Soaps]

New to site - milk question

I've made over 100 batches of CP soap and want to try the sea salt bars. Several recipes call for coconut milk, but when I added lye to it, it burned up and then set up hard. Should I freeze the milk first, or do the half total water with lye, then the other half with milk at trace? Thanks for any advice.

 

[AmyW]

How fast are you pouring the lye in? Like with goat's milk, I sprinkled it very slowly while stirring and kept stirring it while it cooled. I had the coconut milk chilled but not frozen. It darkened, but didn't burn.

 

[Chickadee Soaps]

Thanks for the reply! I definitely did not pour the lye in slowly. Will try that tonight. Thank you again!

 

[kelleyaynn]

Thanks for the reply! I definitely did not pour the lye in slowly. Will try that tonight. Thank you again!

I would freeze the coconut milk. Use an ice cube tray. It doesn't take long (maybe a half hour or so) for milk to freeze.

 

[Chickadee Soaps]

Coconut Milk success!

Thank you guys for the assistance. I partially froze the coconut milk and added the lye slowly into the pitcher while it was sitting in a sink of iced water. Worked real well. Used it in my salt bars and love the outcome. Thanks again!