I can always tell if restaurants/shops are using fresh or 'instant' santan as it has a different taste and smell and because of that I was sceptical to use santan from the box. However, 1 fine day I wasn't able to find fresh coconut and being picky wasn't an option so I decided to use the most trusted brand in the market. Using it was effortless and end result was amazing! I even forgot I used the santan-in-a-box!