What the Heck Can I Do With Coconut Butter?
Posted in Coconut | 21 Comments
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| If you still think that eating fat will make you fat, read this! |
Coconut butter (sometimes called Coconut Cream Concentrate) is a great snack to reach for when you want something sweet to eat or just for an energy boost. It’s a good source of lauric acid which, according to Mary Enig and Sally Fallon on page 48 of their book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat,” is “a proven antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal agent that’s also found in mother’s milk. Converted in your body to a substance called monolaurin, it helps you defent against viruses, bacteria and other pathogens and strengthens your immune system, protecting you from a wide range of diseases.” Lauric acid is only found in very few food sources: butterfat (in small amounts) and coconut and palm kernel oil.
Enig and Fallon further detail which types of diseases coconut is an immune booster against including:
- viruses, such as the herpes virus, meases virus and HIV;
- bacteria, such as listeria (which causes food poisoning), staphylococcus, and streptococcus;
- protozoa (parasites), such as giardia lamblia (which causes gastroenteritis)
(“Eat Fat, Lose Fat” page 48)
“Oh, Diane! I don’t care about all that nutritional nonsense, I just want to eat this stuff because it tastes good! So what can I DO with it?!”
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| This is my favorite kind: from Tropical Traditions. YUM! |
Okay, cool. Well, as a Nutrition Educator, it’s sorta my job to share these juicy nuggets of information with you. But a lesson on the benefits of lauric acid isn’t the point of this post. I’m going to give you a bunch of ideas here as to what the heck you can do with Coconut Butter – also known as Coconut Cream Concentrate if you order from Tropical Traditions. Either way, they’re the same thing and they’re amazingly tasty. Both come in a glass jar and will have the coconut oil on the top, separated much the way you buy almond butter. All you need to do is submerge the glass jar in some simmering water for a few minutes to soften it, and then stir it well to combine it. It should remain homogenized at room temperature (you don’t refrigerate this stuff) once you do that, but if it separates again, just repeat the process. You can also do as I do and leave it near the back of your stove when you cook and it’ll warm up enough to mix that way too.
(or coconut cream concentrate):
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| This one can be found in Whole Foods, etc. or on Amazon.com |
- Spoon coconut butter straight from the jar and eat it. Yes, really.
- Blend it 50/50 with raw organic nut butter and use it as you would nut butter, or refer to #1.
- Spoon it over baked sweet potato or roasted winter squash
- Mix it into a curry or similar dish with some water in place of coconut milk
- Combine it with cacao powder, coconut oil and a tiny bit of honey to make a candy-treat
- Use a tablespoon or two in a smoothie for added thickness and some healthy fat
- Toss some shrimp or chicken in a spoonful of it with coconut oil and hot sauce for a buffalo-style sauce
- Drizzle it softened over berries in a bowl for an amazing dessert
- Blend up a non-dairy coffee creamer (with cocoa or without)
- Anything you’d do with either chocolate sauce or nut butter- substitute in coconut butter
Diane Sanfilippo
BS, Certified Nutrition Educator, C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach
San Francisco Nutritionist & Paleo Nutritionist serving the Bay Area and beyond via phone & Skype consultations.
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Diane – excellent post! We love this stuff over at NuttyKitchen, it's so versatile. In addition to the ideas you mentioned you can also use this Coconut Butter aka Coconut Cream Concentrate to "bake". Here are a couple of recipes:
- Gluten free coconut walnut chip cookies:http://nuttykitchen.com/2010/07/26/gluten-free-coconut-chocolate-chip-walnut-cookies/
- Coconut oil fudge: http://nuttykitchen.com/2010/10/18/coconut-oil-fudge/
Love my coconut butter!! I use it in coconut macaroons!! Yum!!
Are coconut butter and coconut oil the same thing? I've been wondering if coconut oil could be used instead of butter for popcorn to make more of a kettle corn flavor.
@Carla- NOPE! They're not the same. The coconut butter is coconut meat that's very finely ground up- think if it as the coconut equivalent to almond or peanut butter
Yum yum… Though I don't recommend popcorn as a regular snack, I have heard that popping it in coconut oil is delightful!
Who knew coconut could have this kind of benefit? Interesting! This is the first time I'm hearing about coconut oil fudge too but it sounds delicious.
Before I went paleo I had just bought a new hand crank style Parmesan cheese grater. So, what I did with this coconut butter is warmed it up a bit, mixed the heck out of it and poured it into a glass butter shaped dish and hardened it in the fridge. So now to use it I take out the lump of butter, crack off a piece with a carving fork and stick it into the grater and turn the crank. Out comes the most beautiful dusting of coconut butter ever! Coconut butter is awesome, I LOVE it!
I use a lot of canned coconut milk; I intentionally purchase the type that has no emulsifiers because I keep them in the 'fridge and that separates the coconut "cream" from the clearer liquid. I open it, scoop out the "cream" from the top, whip it with a dash of shoyu and a few grains of sea salt with a sprinkle of turmeric (for color) and voile! I have what appears to everyone as "real" butter. Full of fat and creamy, melts on the toast just fine and enough of a fatty content to fry an egg in. Slathered across banana bread – to die for. Not the same kind of coconut butter you're talking about, but it is "my kind" of coconut butter. LOL~
I love coconut butter as a snack! And I use it to sautee veggies and fish! It's a staple cooking oil here.
I would love to be able to include this in our family's diet but I am so confused about it in regards to food allergies. Our son has several severe allergies and his allergist seemed very confused about whether we should avoid coconut. I know it's a fruit, right? So why the confusion? He was once also intolerant to so many things that he suffered from severe eczema all over his body. Thankfully, once we started giving him Belly Boost children's chewable probiotic, his skin cleared up so much and he could even eat many more foods. We have been through a lot with foods and I just don't want to add anything that could be of risk.
@smilinggreenmom – while it possible for someone to be allergic to most anything these days, it is rare to find someone to have a true coconut allergy. In fact, Coconuts have many healing properties and health benefits beyond what has been discussed. Check out "The Coconut Oil Miracle" on Amazon. Some of these benefits may actually help with allergies and other immune issues. Check out this link: http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html
One possible way to find out if allergy or sensitivity exists would be to rub some coconut oil on the skin and see if a rash forms.
@Henry- Unfortunately coconut oil typically won't contain the protein that the allergy would form against, so the oil test won't be very accurate most likely. I'd say eating it is the only way to find out about an allergy. We can become allergic to any food with proteins in it- plants or animals alike. Coconut isn't something that a lot of people find they're intolerant to, and it's a very healing food so I'd go for it and see how it works.
I think the better question is, what CAN’T you do with Coconut Butter… This stuff rocks
Is eating the whole coconut or coconut butter as beneficial as eating the oil? I have candida and I’ve read that coconut oil helps eliminate candida. I just don’t like the taste very much and sometimes it upsets my stomach. I still eat it but I also eat, coconut butter, the young coconut meat and dried coconut (I rehydrate it first). Also does the whole coconut contain the same weight loss benefits?
thanks
diane
what kind of processing to they perform in order to turn coconut into this? I need some more background before I start eating something for the “lauric acid”.
You can literally just put dried coconut in a food processor with a little oil and make it yourself. Nom Nom Paleo did it here.
what is the carbohydrate content of, say 1 TBSP coconut oil? I’m diabetic and count carbs to calculate my insulin doses. This sounds so good and so healthy, but worried it might be too carby since others have mentioned it tastes sweet.
Coconut oil has zero carbs, coconut butter- you can look it up on each product individually but it’s pretty low!
Hello Diane,
What’s the difference between coconut butter and coconut oil? Can we also use butter on our skin and hair? Currently I’m suing coconut oil (got it from http://products.mercola.com/coconut-oil/ ) and am loving it!
Thanks
Essa
When you buy coconut butter you’ll see that it’s quite different- it’s like nut butter vs nut oil– would you rub peanut butter on your skin? It wouldn’t soak in
Coconut butter is not like cocoa butter. Enjoy!
My favorite way to eat coconut butter is to mix 2 Tbsp with 1/4 tsp vanilla powder and 1 Tbsp chopped almonds. Stick it in the freezer to harden quickly and EAT! It’s my “go to” snack for work. For a little variety I might add in a little cinnamon, too.
Wow… so many ideas! And i thought i was GOLDEN with eating it with a spoon! You just reminded me i needed a refill so i’m orderign some on Vitacost
Thanks for the info!