If there’s one thing I learned by sipping 16 varieties of canned coconut milk pretty much straight from the can (ok, they were poured into another container, and then into tasting vessels) it’s this: Don’t sip 16 varieties of coconut milk straight from the can.
It turns out that many, many brands of canned coconut milk taste bitter and sour before they’re mixed into smoothies or doctored with galangal, chiles, and lemongrass.
Another thing I learned—which is probably more relevant to your actual life—is that the coconut milks with the highest fat contents make the creamiest, most luxuriousThai curries. Those are also the ones I’ll reach for in the future toenrich my French toast,braise my cabbage, and to make the bestberry ice pops. And have I mentionedcoconut milk whipped cream?
To find the very best canned coconut milk, the Epi team blind-tasted every full-fat brand we could get our hands on. When the results were revealed, it turned out thatTrader Joe’s Organic Coconut Milkwas our winner. To find out why, and to read about another brand of coconut milk we highly recommend, keep scrolling.
The Most Coconutty Coconut Milk: Trader Joe’s Organic Coconut Milk
While many of the coconut milks we tried were either thin and watery or thick and gluey, Trader Joe’s hit a nice balance in between. It had an even, smooth consistency—and it was rich, but nottoo富有。我们的品酒师爱最重要的是对其振动器rant, coconutty flavor. When sampled plain, this coconut milk tasted bright and fresh in a way that other brands just didn’t. It offered a balanced coconut flavor when sampled straight, and that bold-but-not-overpowering coconut character still impressed our tasters even when the milk was cooked with Thai green curry paste. As one tester wrote, this coconut milk offers “a deep coconut flavor, but still allows the spices to shine through.” Consider this your best bet for an all-purpose canned coconut milk.
The Creamiest Coconut Milk: Aroy-D
Testers thought Trader Joe’s was creamy—then, they tasted Aroy-D. If your goal is to make the richest-ever soup or stew, then this is your brand. Although Aroy-D didn’t have as much fresh, coconutty flavor on its own (some found that it tasted slightly bitter and “tinny” when sampled plain), it really impressed our tasters when it was cooked into Thai green curry. “SO creamy, very good, and extra luxe," commented one taster.
Although it had a less vibrant coconut flavor than the can from Trader Joe’s, testers enjoyed how well Aroy-D’s sweet and savory notes paired with the spices. “It tastes like coconut, but somehow allows the flavor of curry to shine way better,” one tester noted.
What We Were Looking For
Coconut milk can transform a variety of dishes, so we set out to find an all-purpose coconut milk that would work well in any recipe. First, we considered flavor: Can youtastethe coconut? While most of the coconut milks were lacking in this department, the best coconut milks had a distinct, fresh coconut flavor. Additionally, we graded each coconut milk based on its texture: Is it smooth or gritty? Or watery? Our favorites were smooth and thick, but still pourable. The winners had no grittiness when cooked.
How We Tested
We put the coconut milks through two rounds of tests. First, a panel of Epi editors and staff blind-tasted each brand plain. After the majority of coconut milks were deemed “too bitter” or “too watery” by Epi staff, the top contenders were cooked into Thai green curry and tasted blind. Only full-fat varieties of canned coconut milk were used in this test. The coconut milks were sampled in a random order.
Other Coconut Milks We Tasted
- Thai Kitchen
- Thai Kitchen Organic
- Thrive Market Native Forest Organic
- Classic Native Forest Organic Simple
- Whole Foods 365 Organic
- Simply Balanced
- Natural Value
- More Than Fair
- Goya
- Chaokoh
- A Taste of Thai
- Ka Me
- Ka Me Organic
