I discovered this stuff at the FreeFrom Food Awards judging session last week. Honestly, how can I have a diagnosed soya allergy for over three years and not have discovered that there is a fairly widely available and pretty amazing alternative to soya sauce?
‘Coconut Aminos’ have apparently been around for some time and are very popular in the US. I was lucky enough to arrive home with the opened bottle of Coconom Coconut Aminos from the judging session and it lived up to all my hopes and expectations and more.
What are Coconut Aminos soya free seasoning made from?
So what’s it made from? Well this is the most incredible bit. It contains just two ingredients:
- 100% pure coconut sap
- sun dried sea salt
That’s it!
Nothing else. So not only is this soya free, it’s also clean and fits in with my ‘No processed food diet‘.
Cooking with Coconut Aminos soya free seasoning
Having slurped a tiny smidgeon at the judging session I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out. One doesn’t really drink soya sauce! And I can’t lie, drinking this stuff wasn’t very pleasurable but I knew it tasted like my once favourite cooking condiment soya sauce. It even smells like it. I was the only judge on the panel with a soya allergy and I don’t think they quite got my unbridled excitement about this sauce. I came home very excited about cooking with it and I wasn’t disappointed.
For one horrible moment when I had poured a generous glug into the chicken stir fry I thought, “Oh no, it smells awful, that was too much, I’ve ruined this meal…” but it’s been a while since I cooked with soya. I remembered all those times when I’ve added tamarind, fish sauce etc. they are all pretty horrible on their own, but added to a meal they create amazing flavours.
When I dished up the stir fry I was nervous but I LOVED it. It is truly delicious and absolutely divine. My ex said he couldn’t tell the taste from that of normal soya sauce and helped himself to a second serving.
This is the most amazing thing I’ve discovered for my #freefrom cupboard in my whole life.
Where can I buy Coconut Aminos?
You can buy Coconut Aminos in loads of places. I’ve found it in:
- Holland & Barrett (the brand pictured above is no longer available).
- Planet Organic
- Waitrose
- Amazon
This really has been one of those light bulb moments. This stuff is so versatile and really has made my week, my year, my whole judging experience. This is my pick. My favourite of all the things I tried. THIS is why I love the FreeFrom Food Awards 🙂
You may also be interested in reading:
- Soya allergy – a complex issue
- Gluten, dairy, soya and egg free pancakes
- We need to talk about my Gnawbles habit – chocolates free from all of the top 14 allergens.
- Can you buy nut and dairy free cocoa powder? (some also soya lecithin free)
Oh huzzah and hurrah! They’ve finally made it to the UK!! I’ve been after these for ages. I found some that were not meant for human consumption and some that were mixed (quite bizarrely imho) with soya(I mean WHY?? Why would you??)!! Am hoping that this will finally mean I can eat Chinese dishes with the in-laws again – just so long as I can tolerate the aminos!!
Is it really Aminos though? I need a biology lesson. It’s just coconut sap and salt in this. So what’s an amino and why might you not tolerate them? I have been REALLY bloated so hoping it’s not this stuff. No please… don’t take this away from me. Though as always it could be any one of so many things…like the chips I had the other day, or the beer, or the quinoa or still getting over judging or just me!
I can’t wait to try it. It seems me and Mr What Allergy have similar tastes, based on past recommendations.
Re determining what you’re reacting to, I have an idea that a mathematical approach might work but it would require careful dietary recording.
I am not good and ‘careful’ anything… but I’m willing to give it a try.
Love this stuff! I looked for some in wholefoods the other day but they had garlic in!! So thanks for the links.
It seems DairyFreeBabyandMe above is correct, not all coconut aminos are equal so always check the ingredients labels before buying.