Coco-Loco: The good, the bad and the ugly

We've been through many different coconut products and we're constantly honing which ones have the best effect; just this week we found out that a new organic coconut water that we'd bought for Em was somehow pushing her blood sugar up! Without further ado, we bring you our favourite coconut products:

Coconut Oil
As a rule, never buy refined coconut oil. It's been bleached and deodorised and doesn't do a whole lot for you. Always opt for unrefined coconut oil, and don't be swayed by the "extra virgin oil" claims, there is no such "extra" it is just a clever marketing ploy. While technically not a lie, it's not technically the truth.

If your coconut oil smells rancid and/or is grey in colour; do NOT eat it or cook with it.

Our #1 brand is *drum roll please*. . . . . . . .

Tiana Organic Virgin Coconut Oil available direct from Tiana in containers 250ml - 10kg, with prices starting from £8.75 including free delivery to mainland UK. It tastes delicious, imparts a lovely flavour when you cook with it, and is really creamy.

Coconut oils that just didn't cut it:

1. Coconoil; packaged in white plastic containers and from a reputable company, our entire order batch was rancid and has been relegated to the depths of our bathroom cupboard never to be used again.
2. Biona Coconut Oil; the quality with this one differed so greatly from batch to batch that it wasn't worth taking the risk again. Which is a shame.

Coconut Milks
Remember that the same rule applies as above; if your coconut milk smells rancid, tastes funny or has gone grey then do not eat it. It is horrible.

This is a tricky one, there are so many products flooding the market and you have to keep track of the ingredients list. Up until December of last year we were devoted to Pride coconut milk which was simply coconut and water, but now it has been bulked up and we have been forced to move on:

Our two favourites are:

1. Dr Antonio Martins Coco Milk, 500ml available from the fresh network for £2.97 (+p&p), and Red23 for £2.89 (+p&p).
This product is suitable for cooking and uncooking alike! sometimes we just drink it out of the carton, but don't tell anyone!
&
2. Kingfisher Organic Coconut Milk, 400ml available from Tesco's, Sainsbury's and Asda. We can't find a price or a picture for this right now, so if anyone could help us out that would be fab!

Failing that, we make it ourselves, click here for Elanas recipe.

The products that didn't hit the mark purely due to varying quality were: Tiana Organic Coconut Milk, & Biona Organic Coconut Milk. One suspect coconut milk is Kara freshly pressed coconut milk 1 ltr which contains fruit concentrate extract and sucrose esters two ingredients that aren't so good for blood sugar control.

Coconut Water
Coconut water is a natural isotonic and so is great for after workout rehydration. Our go-to coconut water is. . . .

 Dr Martins Coconut Water, 500ml, available from Red23 for £2.99 (+p&p), the fresh network for £2.97 (+p&p) and Detox your World for £3.12 (+p&p).

Alternatively, we would recommend Fresh Jelly Nuts (young coconuts) from Spices of India for £2.18 -£2.45 .

Yum!
The coconut water brands that weren't right for us were Biona's Organic Coconut Water which somehow pushed Em's blood sugar up, and Vita Coco purely because it always gives us a stomach ache.

And for the best of the rest:
Goodness direct's 3kg of Raw Coconut flakes for £10.55 (+p&p).
Speciality foods 2kg of handmade palm sugar for £30 (+p&p).
Viva Pure's 354ml Coconut Nectar for £7.95 (+p&p).