Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil My Secret Ingredient

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil My Secret Ingredient for Fast Food From Scratch

Coconut oil is amazing.  It is a natural oil that is solid below 76 degrees F but liquid above.  It is very heat stable, making it the ideal oil for cooking at high temperatures.  It is vegetable oil, rich in lauric acid — the same medium-chain fatty acid found in breast milk.  Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut oil is the one that I use at Joybilee Farm.  It has a rich, smooth texture and a fresh coconut taste.  It has the highest amounts of antioxidants available in Virgin Coconut Oil, according to the label.  Since I’ve been talking about Coconut Oil for over a year now, on my Facebook page and this blog, you don’t need me to add to that discussion here.  The folks at Tropical Traditions sent me a 1-quart jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil so that I could review it.  I’ve already been using this product for a year, so to give it a positive review is a delight.

Check out this video to find out more about Virgin Coconut Oil:

 

I use coconut oil in cooking, frying, and baking.  Before I discovered Tropical Traditions, I fried my food in olive oil.  I was warned by a chef never to heat olive oil, as the oil changes in characteristics and becomes carcinogenic.  The chef advised me to only use coconut oil for frying.  I’m glad because caramelized onions and garlic are amazing when cooked in Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.  They are sweet, with a light coconut taste.  I use them as a topping on sandwiches, omelettes, and as a basis for French Onion Soup or Curry. I cook these on my wood cook-stove, which heats the frying pan very evenly, with a slow heat.  You can cook them on an electric stove or a gas range, but keep the heat low.  The secret to sensational caramelized onions or garlic is to cook it slowly and evaporate the water vapour while being careful not to scorch.

Here’s the recipe:

Caramelized Onions (and Garlic)

Add 1 tbsp. of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to a frying pan

Slice 2 onions into thin onion rings.

Slice 4 garlic cloves thinly

Melt the Coconut oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and stir.  The onions and garlic will begin to sizzle.  Keep an eye on them and stir them occasionally.  Don’t allow them to brown too fast.  You want them to cook slowly.  As the onions begin to caramelize they will become limp, then golden, and finally turning to a rich brown.  If the onions begin to stick to the pan, add a couple of teaspoons of water to the pan — called glazing — and they will loosen for you.  Continue cooking until the onions are a rich brown and no more liquid remains, and all the oil has been taken up by the onions.

You can serve these as a side dish, or use them as a base for other dishes like spaghetti, Spanish rice, or my favourite —  Curry.

Curry is my go-to for a fast-food solution after working away from the farm all day.  You can use any leftover meat, or hamburger, or even lentils for a rich, delicious main dish.  For this recipe I use two products from Tropical Traditions — Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil and Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate.  Both of these are amazing products and I use them every week in my kitchen.

Here’s my recipe:

Coconut Curry – Fast Food from scratch

Start a pot of rice on the back burner (1 cup of rice plus 2 cups of water makes 4 servings of rice).  We use brown rice which takes about 40 minutes to cook.  By the time the rice is cooked your curry will be ready, too.

1 recipe of caramelized onions and garlic (see above)

While the onions and garlic are cooking, in a separate pan fry your hamburger, or cook lentils (1 cup lentils to 3 cups water will cook in 20 minutes) or debone and cut up our leftover meat.  Drain meat or beans, if necessary.  Set aside.

In a large skillet melt 1 tbsp coconut oil over medium heat.  Saute 4 cups of raw or frozen vegetables in coconut oil.  You can add your choice of vegetables, cut up.  I aim for at least 4 cups of vegetables such as carrots, peas, beans, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, bok choy, cabbage or broccoli.  If you have leftover vegetables, this is a good way to use them up.  You can use fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables.  Aim for several colours of vegetables.  I make use of what I have on hand from the garden that needs to be used up, or what I have in the fridge or freezer from my summer abundance.

Dried vegetables can be used in this recipe, too, but they should be reconstituted in boiling water for 30 minutes before being drained and added to the skillet.  Reconstitute them when you put the rice on to cook.  Beware that water added to a hot skillet will cause the oil to splash, so be careful.

Once the vegetables are tender-crisp, add in the meat or beans and stir fry until the meat is heated through.

Prepare the coconut cream

Then in a pint canning jar with a tight-fitting lid, add 1 cup of very hot water and 3 tbsp. Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate.  Mix well with a fork, to make a smooth paste.  Add more hot water if necessary to completely blend all the coconut cream.  Add to the skillet along with 1 tbsp. Marsala curry spice (turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic, cinnamon, and coriander).  Sometimes I add an additional tbsp. of Virgin Coconut Oil to this to make it extra rich and filling.   Cook until this is heated thoroughly and the curry sauce is thickened.  Serve immediately over rice.

I like to add raw cashews or raw sunflower seeds, sauteed briefly in coconut oil to a golden brown, to bring out the flavours of the nuts and add some crunch.  Serves 4

Breakfast Smoothies

Another way that I use Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is in Breakfast smoothies.  My daughter doesn’t like the clumping that happens when you add cold coconut oil to frozen fruit and milk, but I’ve found a solution by melting the coconut oil first.

Since coconut oil melts at just 70degrees F. You can put a glass jar of coconut oil in a 2-quart glass bowl of hot tap water.  The coconut oil will melt naturally.  Don’t microwave the coconut oil or the coconut cream to melt it faster.  I tried this and scorched the coconut cream.  I suspect it also changes the antioxidant profile of the product.  Hot water is a better way to melt it.

To make a breakfast smoothie I combine in my VitaMix blender:

2 cups of raw goat’s milk (from the farm)

1 cup frozen blueberries or frozen peaches

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. maple syrup

While whirling the blender, drizzle slowly —

2 tbsp. melted Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil

This will give you a thick, cold smoothie with a frothy topping.  And no clumpy oil on the top.

This makes a delicious, fast food breakfast — from scratch.  Serves 3

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I also use Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil as an ingredient in my farm’s fresh handmade beauty products.  It is moisturizing, makes a sudsy lather in natural soap, and adds other benefits to natural cosmetics:

1. Lip Balm

2. Eye Cream

3.  First Aid Cream

4.  Deodorant

5. Toothpaste

6. Cold Processed Soap

7.  Moisturizer

8.  Foot Balm

9.  Shampoo Bar

10.  Hair conditioner

Find out more ways to use Coconut Oil:

Another reason that I chose Tropical Traditions for my coconut oil is that I absolutely love their business ethic.  Tropical Traditions values the same things that we, at Joybilee Farm, hold dear — small family farms, organic and sustainable production, traditional agricultural methods and harvesting practices, community building-fair trade, and faith.  Check out their website and I think you will want to do business with them.  I’ve made several large mail orders from the company over the last year and have had only positive experiences to report.  My orders have been filled promptly and precisely.  The order is strongly packed and even cases of glass bottles or 5-gallon pails suffer no damage in transport.  My orders are delivered to a UPS – FedEx depot in Danville Washington, just on the other side of the US-Canadian border from me.  There is no duty or taxes to bring coconut oil across the border if you pick it up from a US post office or courier office.  If FedEx imports it into Canada for you, then you may have extra brokerage fees, which can be avoided if it is sent through the mail rather than through a courier service.  Let the company know when you order, how you would like it shipped.

Special offer: Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil – Buy One, Get 1 Free

Right now there is a special on Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.  This is a great time to try this amazing product.  As a bonus, if you sign up as a first-time customer of Tropical Traditions, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, when your order is shipped.
Virgin Coconut Oil, Gold Label, 2-jar pack – 2 quarts – BUY 1 GET 1 FREE!

As a bonus, Tropical Traditions is kindly allowing me to give away a 1-quart jar of Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.  Don’t miss my next post where I’ll give you more details.  Subscribe to my RSS feed if you haven’t already, so you won’t miss the opportunity to enter the draw.

My draw for one quart of  Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.

 

Disclaimer:

Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.

 

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