Coconut cream - even more heart-clogging than coconut milk?

[Northern_Piper]

I was shopping tonight for a curry I’m making, and the recipe calls for coconut milk. The first store I went to only had coconut cream, which it touted for pina coladas. I wasn’t sure if that was the same thing as coconut milk, so I went to another store to get coconut milk. (The things I do for my cooking - it was -32 out, and I didn’t really want to do a lengthy detour, but I did.)

So does anyone know - are coconut milk and coconut cream the same thing, or is there a difference? Could I have saved that second trip in the cold?

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

coconut water: the raw liquid in a coconut
coconut milk: coconut water cooked and condensed
coconut cream: the solids that float to the top of the coconut milk, richest in saturated fats. Very yummy, and about as healthy as eating lard.

[st1d]

Personally, I take offense at the suggestion that eating lard is bad for you…

[Fear_Itself]

*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan *
**coconut water: the raw liquid in a coconut
coconut milk: coconut water cooked and condensed
coconut cream: the solids that float to the top of the coconut milk, richest in saturated fats. Very yummy, and about as healthy as eating lard. **

No, this is incorrect; coconut milk and cream are not made from coconut water. From the Ayam Coconut Milk product description website:

What is the difference between milk and cream?

Coconut milk or cream are not the watery juice contained in the nut. To obtain the milk or cream, the nut is peeled, its flesh cut into pieces before being crushed: the extract subsequently squeezed out is boiled to get rid of moister, then homogenized, filtered, canned and sterilized. For cream, the boiling process is increased, hence a more concentrated product.

or, from Cuisine Net website:

No, believe it or not, coconut milk – an indispensable ingredient in most Southeast Asian cooking – is not the liquid inside a coconut. It is made by soaking the grated flesh of a coconut in hot water or scalded milk, then straining the combination. Coconut milk is classified as thick, thin, or coconut cream. Thick coconut milk is the result of the first soaking and squeezing. If this milk is refrigerated it separates, and the top layer is the cream. Thin coconut milk is what is produced when one steeps the coconut meat a second time and then strains. Canned coconut milk, which is mostly quite good, separates naturally. The top layer can be spooned off for recipes calling for cream, the bottom poured into thin, or just shake it up to get the most commonly called-for thick coconut milk.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

that’ll teach me to answer off the top of my head

[Northern_Piper]

i found it odd that the curry had cashews, and the recipe went on about how the fat in cashews is mainly monosaturated, better for you, etc. - then you dump in 15 oz. of coconut milk!

now that I’ve eaten, I’m going to the gym.

(Thanks for the info, everyone.)