No sorry. I'm not even sure that coconut water would be considered safe given its pH although shredded coconut is included in a few conserves recipes.

Basically it is a made-up recipe so no way to know about the safety factors.

Dave

Christine Ferber has a Coconut and Vanilla Jam recipe in Mes Confitures. And it has no additional acid.

I'm thinking I'm going to try it anyway. Raspberries have a ph around 3.5. Plus I would be adding the juice of 2 lemons to my 2 quarts of berries (ph of around 2.3). Considering I would only be adding about 1/2 cup of coconut liquid, which is about equal in quantity to the lemon juice, I *think* I have enough leeway even though coconut milk has a ph of around 6.5 (I can't find a ph level of coconut water). Plus, most of the approved conserve recipes I see add about 1/2 cup of shredded coconut.

Christine Ferber has a Coconut and Vanilla Jam recipe

Coconut and vanilla or coconut milk? Very different. Aside from pH concerns, coconut milk ferments and can also turn rancid and sour just like dairy products.

Dave

You could always just try and make some as FREEZER jam and not worry about canning per se. I know there's special pectin mixture just for freezer jams.

But you might just want to try cooking up some raspberries and coconut milk, etc., and taste it and see if you even like the flavor combination.

Personally, I wouldn't think that raspberries in a coconut milky mix would be good -- but that's just me. (And I grew up in the tropics, and one of my father's businesses was a Coconut Plantation and Cannery in Apia, Samoa. And I love coconut AND raspberries, but I'm not certain of the combination.)

I'd love to hear about your experimenting, though. You might have come up with a new flavor for Jelly Bellies, too!

Kathy in Washington

The raspberries are macerating in my fridge right now with a bit of sugar and a bit of coconut milk. We'll see what the taste is like tomorrow.

When I read my can of Taste of Thai Lite Coconut Milk - the ingredients are coconut, water and guar gum. I think guar gum is a no-no for canning.

I know the coconut milk only has a shelf life of a couple days once the can is opened. But that seems to be longer than the shelf life of my raspberries once picked.

Christine Ferber says to break open your coconut with a hammer and be sure to collect your coconut milk. I always thought the stuff inside your coconut was coconut water. My understanding is that coconut milk is made by squeezing freshly grated coconut, and then mixing it with water to the desired consistency.

I can answer a bit about what Coconut Milk (Cream) is. The raw coconut meat is ground and compressed and the juice from it is the Coconut Milk. (The locals (Samoans, Tongans, other Polynesians, etc.) call it Coconut Cream.) The first pressing is the best, of course. (Think of the different types of Olive Oil.) Then the coconut meat is run through the pressing machine again, this time adding some water ... and that product is labeled Coconut Milk. Most all the Coconut Milk we can purchase now is from SE Asia, where tin is cheap, so the product can be produced, canned, exported and sold very reasonably.

The Coconut "Cream" is not allowed to be labeled such in the US, because of the USDA definition of what constitutes "cream", so it's called milk.

Many companies have two or more different products or labels, indicating the quality, the fat content, the amount of water added, etc. You probably have a favorite brand, and you might prefer a more expensive brand and that's probably because it has less water added, so the flavor is more intense.

Incidentally, there's a youtube video showing a Samoan fellow gathering, cracking, and grating a coconut, then squeezing the cream out of the grated meat. (You'll notice he has a New Zealand accent, as most Samoans from Western Samoa do -- because up until the early 1960s the country was a NZ protectorate, and that's the English they were taught. American Samoans speak with an American accent.) In 1997 Western Samoa changed their name back to Samoa, kind of regaining their original status prior to 1914 when it was renamed.

My father's Cannery in Apia had men and women husking and peeling the coconuts much the same as the fellow on the video. The fellows used machetes to chop the husks off (which were saved and sold as copra), they used the same machetes to hack off the brown coconut shells (which were saved and sold for charcoal), and the women peeled the dark skin off the coconuts. Buckets of the white coconut meat was carried to the machines and dumped into them, and the coconut cream was squeezed out, and the cans were filled. Then the meat was run through a second time with water, and cans were filled -- and these were labeled differently.

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about Coconut Milk/Cream. Sorry, but I rarely ever get to tell anyone about my experiences there! My father's been gone 5 years now, and he sold the company to the workers, which pleases me. The people in that country have so little -- so this is something big for them.

Kathy in Washington

Here is a link that might be useful: A Samoan fellow showing How to Make Coconut Cream

Why not just use a quality natural coconut extract? That eliminates all the problems.

[I don't have any financial interest in this company, just find their products exceptional.]

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Bickford Natural Flavors

Coconut milk would not be safe for processing a jam.
It should be frozen instead.
I think some of the safety would be due to the coconut being dried and not fresh. Water activity plays a roll in the safety as well as the ph level.

Pixie, it sounds like we're all getting down on you, but I think everyone's trying to think through your idea to make sure it's a good one.

I believe the main problem with Coconut Milk: It contains FAT. And you know we should not be canning using fats (oils, butters, creamy "stuff"). Good canned Coconut Milk often separates, with the cream on top, just like non-homogenized milk.

Kathy in Washington

I appreciate all the input.

Regarding the coconut being dried and not fresh - I've heard that argument used in regards to nuts. I'm not sure I completely agree that being dried makes them safe.

I have the raspberries macerating in my fridge - 2 quarts of raspberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Tonight I'll puree and sieve the mixture and turn it into preserves - adding more sugar, a couple limes, and some pectin. At this point I'm thinking I will can it - fully understanding it is not a safe or approved recipe.

I'm also going to look into that coconut extract. And maybe try that with another batch.

I'm trying to understand the risks. And for me - I'm thinking that the small amount of coconut milk, with the added acid of the lime will even each other out. I know a lot of people will not agree with me. And that is fine. I'm willing to take some calculated risks for myself. But I don't expect others to take the same risks.

fully understanding it is not a safe or approved recipe

I think it's inaccurate to say it's not safe. It's untested, and therefore we can't be certain one way or the other. It's certainty that's the issue.

I'm not sure I completely agree that being dried makes them safe.

That's why dried herbs, dried peppers, etc. can be added without harm. The optimal conditions for botulism are 1) a low-acid product 2) water 3) an anaerobic environment. Removing the water changes the equation. Sugar further contributes to safety because it binds water.

That's also why Linda_Lou said dried coconut does not present the same risk as coconut milk.

Dried nuts are commonly added to conserves without risk. In fact, nuts can be "canned" in a boiling water bath for preservation.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Preserving Walnuts and Filberts

I'd have to take it more toward the unsafe side than Carol simply because of the fat content. As we know the prohibition against fats in canning is because it insulate spores and prevents the heat from killing them.

Clearly one wouldn't want to pressure can a jam to insure the safety but the usual 10 min. BWB surely isn't going to do the job as it normally would without the fats. So IMO there is a documented element of risk in using the coconut milk because of the fats it contains.

That risk is then exacerbated by the fact that the jam will be eaten fresh from the jar without any further cooking. So any toxins it might contain from the spores that survived the BWB will be ingested.

An unjustifiable risk IMO.

Dave

I am not recommending the OP make the jam. But there are tested canning recipes with much lower-acid product than this (i.e. peppers marinated in oil) which are safely BWB, so it's certainly possible.

I have no idea whether the lime juice and the higher-acid raspberries plus the sugar are sufficient to compensate for the coconut milk or not. That's the point. Barring testing, none of us have any idea.

I still say since it's an untested recipe there's no proof it's more or less safe. The only thing we can say with validity is that the coconut milk presents a risk. But any conclusion regarding safety or lack of safety is mere speculation.

There is a significant distinction between unproven and unsafe. I think we should reserve unsafe for what evidence shows is just that, like boiling water bath for green beans. Otherwise we lose credibility.

Carol

Carol - my concern regarding the dried fruits, dried herbs, dried nuts is more an issue of acid levels. Most of the approved recipes I see that include these dried items have minimal quantities. Granted I can't imagine somebody deciding to add 6 cups of dried basil to their batch of spaghetti sauce. But what if I decided to triple or quadruple the quanity of dried nuts in my compote - since I supposedly read that dried nuts do not pose a botulism risk. Then the overall acidity level of the entire mixture would change, and hence could enter the unsafe range. So that is my concern with the blanket statement that dried nuts and dried herbs are safe.

I will say as of right now - this bowl of macerating stuff in my refrigerator tastes yummy! I think I am going to be very happy with my end results.

Just as a matter of interest,I made Ferber's recipe for Coconut Jam. I believe I processed it in a BWB. This was before I was well versed in the factors to consider in low pH canning. It was delicious and I have people clamouring for more.

However, three things have stopped me from making more. One is that it makes a mess - husks everywhere that I hated cleaning up. I swear those fibers got in my mouth. The second thing was my worry about the low volume of coconut milk (the stuff from inside the coconut) in the mixture. It was quite thick in the jars - like coconut shards in a heavy syrup. The third issue was that after a few months, some of the liquid absorbed back into the coconut. So if I ever make it again, I wouldn't can it. I'll make it for some select customers, in a limited quality and tell them to refrigerate and use within a month or two.

It really is delicious - if you are a coconut nut like I am

Irene