Coconut flour is used actively not only in cooking but also in cosmetology. That alone speaks in its favor and positions this product as good for your health. You can easily buy it in any online store if there suddenly aren't any places selling it in your city. By the way, coconut flour can also be made at home, though the process itself is fairly painstaking and not every beginner can manage it.
Coconut flour is most often found in recipes with these five products:
| Product | Number of recipes with a combination | Calories per 100g | Protein g per 100g | Fats g per 100g | Carbohydrates g per 100g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coconut oil | 3 | 925 | 0 | 99.9 | 0 |
| Maple syrup | 3 | 241 | 0 | 0 | 18.3 |
| Chicken eggs | 2 | 80 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 0.3 |
| Vanilla extract | 2 | 321 | 0 | 0 | 95 |
| Cocoa powder | 2 | 374 | 24.2 | 17.5 | 32 |
First, the coconut pulp must be carefully separated from the inner surface of the nut. Then, using a certain technique, the fat and juice are removed from it. In principle, this can be done as follows. First, the pulp is shredded into chips — with a grater or another shredder. Then it is poured with boiling water, and the liquid turns white almost immediately. This procedure can be repeated several times, until the oil stops releasing from the coconut. The resulting liquid is a kind of coconut milk that can be used in any other recipes.
Coconut flour is obtained by pressing, drying in the oven and grinding in a coffee grinder. In reality the whole process can turn out to be just as hard as it sounds on paper). So for the first time it's better to buy it ready-made.
You can make any dishes from coconut flour where flour is called for at all. That will be any kind of baked goods, pancakes and fritters. The only caveat: compared with wheat flour, this flour absorbs moisture too quickly. That means recipes with coconut flour will call for more moist ingredients: milk, kefir, eggs.
Keep in mind that the calorie content of coconut flour is noticeably higher than that of wheat flour, coming to 466 kcal per 100 grams. Proteins, fats and carbohydrates are 20, 16.6 and 60 grams respectively. So baking with it in the hope of lowering the dish's overall calorie count won't work. The one plus is its chemical makeup — a set of vitamins and trace elements. Coconuts contain iodine, nickel, cobalt, magnesium and potassium. There is as much protein as in cereals. There are vitamins A, C, D, E and B. It is better absorbed by the body, supports metabolism and has a beneficial effect on the skin.