My love affair with coconut ice cream started at birth. No Joke. The day I was born my mother was making coconut ice cream. As the story goes as she reached the end of the churn (she was churning by hand) and tried the ice cream her water broke.

Coconut ice cream has followed me and stayed with me through so many iterations in my life. As a teen, I sold coconut ice cream by the scoop at outdoor festivals. My mother would spend hours making upwards of 20 gallons of ice cream that I would then scoop and sell in 8-10 hours outside in the hot sun. Coconut ice cream brought me into this world and then taught me work ethic.

Now as an adult its part of a legacy and tradition I get to pass on to my 3 kids and share with my wife.

Authentic Coconut Ice Cream

We are going to be making real and authentic coconut ice cream. The "health" food industry has attempted to latch on to coconut ice cream and make it dairy free, keto, etc. I have no issue with that AND those recipes are not authentic.

Authentic coconut ice cream has 4 ingredients

• Fresh Coconut Milk
• Evaporated milk
• Condensed milk
• Water

That's it! No vanilla, no nutmeg, and definitely no canned coconut milk.

How To Choose a Coconut?

Most grocery stores sell whole dried coconuts in their produce sections. It has a brown husky exterior that looks almost hairy. When you pick it up and shake it you should hear water swooshing around on the inside. If you do not hear water swooshing when you shake a coconut, DO NOT BUY IT. Chances are it has spoiled. Also, never buy a coconut that is partially cracked. Sadly, these are the only external indicators of a bad or rotten coconut.

Some International Grocery stores will crack whole coconuts for you in the store before you buy them. When your coconut is cracked open the flesh of the coconut should be white and it should be hard and firm. No part of the flesh should be mushy or soft.

What is Fresh Coconut Milk?

Fresh coconut milk is created by blending the meat of a coconut (the white part) with water and making a puree than you then strain and squeeze the milk out of.

Once we have our coconuts at home we will use a hammer to crack them open. This can be a daunting task as a coconut husk is no joke hard. The easiest way is to wrap a towel around the coconut and lay it down on concrete (a driveway or outside stairs) then hit it firmly and repeatedly on the same spot until it begins to crack. Cracking coconuts is a great way to work out frustrations (just kidding). I typically will crack my coconuts into a minimum of 4 pieces. Once the coconut is cracked, use a butter knife to jar the meat of the coconut away from the husk.

SIDE NOTE: You will not be able to effectively save the coconut water inside the coconut using this method. Personally, I hold the coconut in my hands and hit it with the hammer. Once it starts to crack I turn the cracked side into a bowl and allow the water to drain. My method is not the safest nor the easiest. I have also seen people drill holes in the coconut first, but that just seems like too much work (who keeps a drill in the kitchen).

Once all of the meat is out of the husk we will roughly chop it into strips, rinse them off and put them into a blender. If you were able to reserve the coconut water measure it and then add it to the blender. Typically, I use 1-1/2 cups of liquid total to blend my coconut between the coconut water and tap water. It's better to use too little liquid rather than too much at this step. If you use to much water your final ice cream with have ice particles in it.

I blend the coconut until it is pulverized (I like that word) and then strain it and squeeze the coconut milk out of the puree.

Sugar Sugar...Lets talk Sugar

Ice cream has to be sweet and creamy. I think we can all agree to that. But how do you achieve it! I use condensed milk because it adds both creaminess and sweetness that are smooth. Can you achieve the same with more evaporated milk and granulated sugar, YES, and its a lot more work. I use carnation condensed milk because its made from real milk and not powdered milk or milk product.

How to Make Coconut Ice Cream?

Recipes don't get much simpler than this.

Cooking Directions

Watch How To Make It