Does using frozen coconut milk lead to poorer consistency than canned?

Question

Curries or baking, I use coconut milk/cream often with my share of failures. I put it down to the variations in fat content between brands or when measuring out of a large container -which I then freeze for later use... Could freezing be the source of some of my issues? Or is graininess, splitting while cooking, small flecks of pure fat after blending, all signs of my inferior skills?

This is from http://www.realthairecipes.com "There are bags of frozen coconut milk available in some Asian groceries. While the flavor is better than canned, it separates and gets chunky when you heat it. I’m not sure why freezing does this to coconut milk. I’ve experimented with freezing my own homemade fresh-pressed coconut milk, and the same thing happens. The flavor is OK, but the consistency is quite odd. So, I recommend canned. If you are lucky enough to find Chao Koh brand coconut milk in a paper carton, this is even better."

*I prefer pure coconut in UHT packages (no gums or preservatives)

Answer 1

Jennifer Frazer experimented with frozen coconut milk and wrote about it on her blog. The conclusion is that you can freeze cococnut milk. The taste is preserved, but the consistency is not.

Jennifer writes:

The thing is, you can still use it just fine for purposes that don’t depend on coconut milk’s texture or consistency;

Coconut milk is an emulsion of oils in water. To freeze and thaw the coconut milk is enough to affect the emulsion. You can compare the situation to cow's milk. Cow's milk is also an emulsion and the mouth feel will change if you freeze and thaw it.

References:

• Jennifer Frazer's blog
• A paper on the stability of the emulsion in coconut milk.