Simple & plant-based: from coconut to Coco Start

There are many options for plant-based alternatives to yoghurt. The type of product, structure, flavor and moment of eating can be similar, without having to use cow's milk. Coco Start is a plant-based alternative to yoghurt, made from coconut milk.

Coconuts

Having tasted all kinds of organic coconuts, the best tasting coconuts we tried came from Sri Lanka. A coconut is ripe after around twelve months and if nature is allowed to run its course, the coconut will fall from the tree by itself. During ripening, most of the coconut water is converted into flesh and fat. The coconut is at its tastiest when its shell is a nice, dark-brown colour and you can still hear sloshing inside when you shake it.

From coconut into coconut milk

The ripe coconuts are cracked in the factory in Sri Lanka and the flesh is scraped out, and squeezed three times until only the dry coconut flesh remains. Coconut milk is then made by adding a little bit of water to the dry coconut.

Coco Start

Our Coco Start is made in almost the same way they make yoghurt from cow’s milk. Getting the smooth, creamy texture is a question of using the right yoghurt cultures and having more than a sprinkling of patience. Here’s how we make it:
To start, we add a natural thickener (tapioca starch) to the coconut milk and heat it to 80 degrees. This is to allow the tapioca starch to bind to the coconut milk and to make sure that all micro-organisms are out, ensuring the food safety of your Coco Start.
After this, we add four types of plant-based yoghurt cultures. These work best at around 40 degrees and convert the natural sugars in the coconut milk into acid. Once it tastes nice and fresh, but not too acidic, the Coco Start is placed into cups and quickly cooled down to 2 degrees, so none of the flavour is lost.

Simple

We believe in the power of simplicity. If you have the best almonds and coconuts, and you have a great recipe, there’s not much else you need. We don’t use any strange production processes or weird additives that confuse your body to make our products cheaper or make us more profitable. We try to make recipes that are nutritious and delicious out of a few of the very best ingredients we can find. Just like you would at home.

Plant-based

Plant-based food is good for a variety of reasons. Your body was built to eat plants and a plant-based diet is a lot more environmentally friendly. At Abbot Kinney’s, we want to make it easier for people to live and eat in a plant based world. So by choosing the right ingredients, we can make brilliant products that are good for you, good for the planet and tasty with it.