However, after being diagnosed with hepatic adenomas two years ago, I decided to drastically reduce the amount of soy in my diet. (Soy can mimic estrogen, and they’re estrogen fed.) It hasn’t been easy to reduce soy. For one thing it’s in practically everything, and I love it.
I resigned myself to only very occasionally having soy sauce; usually at a dinner out for a special occasion or treat. And I completely stopped making stir-fry at home.Then I heard about coconut aminos as a soy sauce substitute. I hadn’t found anything else that seemed like it would even come close to working as a substitute for soy sauce, so I decided to give the coconut aminos a try, and ordered a bottle from Amazon.
I tried a little plain before cooking with any. There’s no point in cooking with a sauce you can’t stand, right? I liked the flavor, so I decided to try it in place of soy sauce in a stir-fry. The stir- fry came out well, and I’ve since become a huge fan of coconut aminos.
In all honesty, the flavor isn’t just like soy sauce. It has a little more spice, and a little less salt to it. There’s also a suggestion of sweetness, but no coconut flavor. I think the spice is probably the biggest difference. You also have to refrigerate the coconut aminos once the bottle has been opened. A bottle of coconut aminos is a bit more expensive than a bottle of soy sauce, but I consider it worth it to open so many food possibilities back up, and to avoid soy. I checked my local grocery store to see if they carried the coconut aminos, but only found soy aminos (so do be careful to read the label on any "aminos" if you’re trying to avoid soy), so I’ve been ordering it from Amazon.
So what about you? Do you like soy sauce? Have you tried coconut aminos? Have you found any other good soy sauce substitutes?
Wow! Thanks so much for this post! I'm a HUGE soy sauce fan, but I too try to minimize my soy intake for health reasons (it tends to give me migraines.) Come to think of it... anything that messes with estrogen levels gives me headaches, so now maybe that makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I'll definitely be trying me some coconut aminos!
I do like soy sauce; I'm not a super big fan of it but enjoy it on certain foods. Never heard of coconut aminos though; glad it is proving to be a "reasonable" substitute for you :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Thank you for sharing this! I have to avoid soy as well, although in my case it's because of my thyroid; will definitely be checking this out.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what you mean by aminos. I eat soy sauce when called for in recipes or when I eat sushi, but I am not nutty about it like you were. Didn't know it had any health risks.
ReplyDeleteNever been a huge fan of soy sauce. Glad you found something to replace it, even if it isn't quite the same.
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