Food

Shelf Help: With this can you’re buying coconut milk, not water

Always check the labels on tins of coconut milk, the results can be surprising

Thai Gold coconut milk, which comes from Thailand via Wexford, is 99.7 per cent organic coconut extract

Marie Claire Digby's face
Marie Claire Digby
Tue Oct 18 2022 - 05:00

What’s in other people’s shopping baskets and trolleys is always interesting, and we would love to hear about the things you have discovered too. Tell me about them and I will track them down, try them out and report back. Thank you.

What is it? Thai Gold organic Thai coconut milk (€2.29, 400ml)

What’s good about it? Well, it’s organic for a start, made from coconuts grown in Chanthaburi province, pressed and packed in Chonburi province, for a Wexford-based company. But the real standout is that the tin contains 99.7 per cent organic coconut extract, the highest percentage I have found. Other brands use less coconut extract, and more water. By comparison, Bunalun Organic coconut milk, from Sri Lanka, has 53 per cent coconut extract (€2.35, 400ml) and Biona Organic, also from Sri Lanka, has 50 per cent (€2.99, 400ml). Low-fat, or light options can have as little as 22 per cent coconut extract, which means ... more water.

How do I use it? For a myriad of curries, soups, rice dishes, smoothies and in some baking recipes. If you’re calorie counting, you could buy the Thai Gold 160ml mini tin (€1.29) and add water as required.

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Where can I buy it? Thai Gold organic Thai coconut milk is widely available in supermarket chains including SuperValu and Dunnes, also independents and health food shops.

Anything else? Thai Gold is run by Norman Ruddock and his partner Janphen Thaiphithak (known as Penn), who met while Ruddock was working in Thailand, and James Brady. Ruddock and Brady are both former mining engineers who quit corporate roles to set up the company in 2005. Ruddock is managing director, Penn looks after product sourcing, recipes, ingredients, suppliers and ethical operations, and Brady is the company’s sales director.

Send your suggestions to marieclaire.digby@irishtimes.com

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