Why is my Blue Hawaiian green?

My Blue Hawaiian's are always green. It seems to me, they always will be. Take Blue Curacao and add yellow pineapple juice and you get green. Right? What am I missing?

And question number 2: The cans of Cream of Coconut always seem to be about 1/4 to 1/3 coconut "paste" and the rest oily liquid. Are you supposed to blend all that together first or just use the paste and toss the "oil"?

Regarding the coconut creme: use Trader Vic's Koko Creme Syrup! It's to die for... pick some up next time you're in atlanta

Blue Hawaii's do tend to be greenish-blue (perhaps like a shallow cove in Hawaii). If you want a delicious blue drink try a Blue Devil:
1.5 oz. gin
0.5 oz. blue curacao
0.5 oz lemon juice (more or less to taste)

For best results coco creme should be blended or mixed with a fork or wire whip before use. I prefer the coco creme over the trader vic's coconut syrup. I think the coco creme is made from real coconuts while the syrup is just coconut flavored sugar syrup. Another option is to use real coconut milk that's easily available in a can. It's more runny but makes for a fresh tasting drink.

Yes, mix up your coconut cream until it is completely smooth. The cans usually say "Shake Well" but you'd have to have a paint mixer for an arm to get it mixed up good. Empty the whole can into a good sized bowl, use a whisk on it (blend it, don't whip it up), and then put the cream into another container (it'll need mixing again after sitting a bit but it won't be as bad as it is off the shelf).

I recently tried making the Coconaut from Beach Bum Berry's Grog Log using 3 different types of coconut cream, Coco Goya, Coco Lopez, and a standard unsweetend coconut milk. Coco Goya has a slightly sick flavor to it, not reccomended. The coconut milk seperated into fat bits in the drink. Coco Lopez was the best in flavor and mixing and definitely worth the slightly higher price.

As for the color, yes, I think a Blue Hawaii / Blue Hawaiian is always going to be a sort of teal color due to the presence of the yellowish pineapple juice. You could just call the color Blue Hawaiian blue or experiment with upping the amount of blue curacao or decreasing the amount of pineapple juice, whatever your flavor preference. Or create your own blue drink with a true blue color, maybe usuing a pineapple flavored rum instead of pineapple juice (this will increase the sweetness somewhat).

From Michael Jackson's Pocket Bartender's Guide (1979)(Mr. Jackson, the Brittish drinks and beer expert, not the goofball of pop) here's a recipe for a Blue Hawaiian that's not blenderized:

1/2 oz blue curacao
2 oz rum
1 oz pineapple juice
1 teaspoon coconut cream

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

"An after-office drink for smart young things," Mr Jackson wrote. He attributes the drink to the Zanzibar Club in London. My experience with this drink is that you need to make sure your coconut cream is mixed REALLY good, and then pour the drink through a fine mesh screen to hopefully catch any bits of coconut fat. It looks real cool in a martini glass.

BLUE DRINKS

Adios Mother

Don't recall exact amounts. I have not had or made one of these in many years so I'm doing this best I can remember:

1 jigger gin
1 jigger vodka
3/4 oz triple sec
3/4 oz white creme de menthe
blue curacao
sweet n sour and club soda, or
collins mix

half fill a large brandy snifter with cracked ice or "party ice" (just don't use big cubes). add booze over the ice (except blue curacao). fill the glass to about 1/2 inch from the top with collins mix. Add blue curacao and stir until it turns a nice shade of blue or threatens to overflow the glass. Garnish with a couple of cocktail cherries.

From the Cigar Factory bar and restaurant in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA circa 1979. Not a "tiki" drink, but a fun drink nonetheless. Nice and minty/citrusy if done right. Can taste like Scope (mouthwash) if done wrong.

Saphire Martini

Bombay Sapphire Gin
Parfait Amour

Make a classic gin martini in a cocktail shaker. Use Parfait Amour instead of vermouth. Strain into a martini glass.

Parfait Amour is actually more purplish than blue, but diluted in the gin and ice it gets a nice clear blueish tint.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
"Mele Koi Coconut Snow" makes a better drink
Available at your grocery store
Al

I hope to find that stuff. The ingredients in Trader Vic's Ko Ko Creme: main ingredient is sugar, sencond main ingredient by volume is real coconut cream, third is artificial coconut flavoring....etc... it's a good product, and as a side benefit it smells like coconut suntan oil (you've always wanted to taste that stuff, admit it)

I'm curious about Mele Koi Coconut Snow as well, but if it's available at any of the grocery stores or Asian markets I shop then they must keep it in the same place they keep the falernum, pimento liquer, and absinthe.

I will have to buy that Trader Vic's koko creme next time I go to Vic's. Thanks, kahukini, for checking the ingredients on the bottle.

Okay, I have a coconut in the house. What part of this sucker is related in what way to A) Coconut cream B) Coconut milk?

Yes, I know the liquid inside is coconut milk, but it sure does not look like what comes in a can at the store.

Also, how long does a coconut keep?

The Swank Pad - Live365.com - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2002-05-06 08:47 ]

On 2002-05-06 08:44, Swanky wrote:
...Yes, I know the liquid inside is coconut milk, but it sure does not look like what comes in a can at the store...

Please someone correct me if I’m wrong. I thought you actually got the "milk" from a coconut by squeezing it out of the "meat". When this is done the liquid is much more milky like you find at the store.

To get the creamy coconut milk one does indeed grate (finely) and squeeze the grated coconut. I've never done this but my advice: eat the coconut, buy the coconut milk (a whopping 99 cents a can at Asian grocery stores, or $2.79 at Safeway.). My older Hawaiian cookbooks talk happily of the convenience of canned coconut milk.

The Polynesians had a special device for grating coconut. In Seattle's extinct Kalua Room, designed by Ed Lawrence, some of the light fixtures were made of "upturned coconut graters...at one end is a piece of sharpened shale on which the natives cut and grated fresh coconut."

Freshly squeezed coconut milk may not be the key to the perfect coconut drink. Sugar brings out a lot of flavor in coconut and some of the odd additives in Coco Lopez probably work to keep the coconut fat seperating out when in your Blue Hawaiian.

As for keeping a coconut...The less liquid sloshing about inside the more likely it's not so great anymore. However; I've cracked open sloshing coconuts and found moldy meat. I'd buy and use in a week or two...Assuming your grocer is getting fresh shipments...Another reason to shop Asian grocers.

What I learned in Tahiti was that the liquid inside a coconut is cocunut JUICE, not milk. The milk is made by grating the coconut meat, then putting it into a piece of cheesecloth and squeezing liquid out of it. It's much richer than the juice. Coconut cream take that milk and adds a bunch of sugar, starches and emulsifiers to make it sweet and thick.

And that's what I know about coconuts. Oh, and a whole coconut with husk is VERY difficult to husk with a screwdriver. But it can be done if you're truly desperate.

:sheckymug:

FWIW--

There can be quite a difference in quality between canned coconut milks. Here in Holland, the tokos (Asian food markets) have a great variety of them, and many are better than the kinds we were able to find in San Francisco. Experiment; it's cheap and tasty.

It's a good idea to violently shake up any can before opening it, as the contents tend to separate. Much easier than waiting to shake it up until after it's open!

Finally, coconut milk is a semi-solid at temperatures under say, 50 degrees fahrenheit. If you plan to use it in a chilled drink, it's best to employ a blender to thoroughly emulsify it into the drink. If you doubt this, put a can of coconut milk in the fridge for a few hours, then try it: it's almost like frosting! (insert image of Homer drooling)

I like the Coco Lopez. Recently I made some drinks with some, but did not use the whole can so I put it in tupperware and froze it.

I wasn't sure how solid it would be in a frozen state so I used a flat container, the kind you would put a sandwich in. I figured that way it would be easier to chisel some out to make a couple of drinks at a time. There is a lot of oil or fat or something in it so it didn't freeze up rock solid. It was a nice, copacetic texture and easy to scoop out and lob into the blender.

Same here. I dumped the Coco Lopez in a shallow plastic container and took a whisk to it until it was smooth. Kept in the fridge, I can spoon out what I need. It has not seperated, nor gotten solid.