Here's another one of those trendy niche market health foods that has been becoming more and more popular. You can allegedly use this instead of soy sauce in any recipe that calls for soy sauce. Skeptical? Curious? Yes? Then I suppose it is worth a try.
Not a huge bottle at only 8.5oz.
It's made from coconut sap and sea salt. Gluten-free. Organic. All those buzzwords people adore to pay the extra bucks for. And it has less sodium compared to regular soy sauce, although I am expecting this to be a touch sweeter.
I've tried it both in cooking and with marinades/salad dressings. Can this substitute or replace soy sauce? Ehhh. Yes and no. If you're making something where soy sauce is an all-star ingredient (ie. any legit Chinese food), I don't think so. Although coconut aminos does have a savory-ish, umami flavor, it is much too sweet, and the essence is pretty different from actual soy sauce. It's like calling Halo Top ice cream (sorry it's not. Yeah it tastes good, even with the erythritol sugar alcohol, but it is not ice cream. It doesn't have the same mouth feel or creaminess) or California roll sushi. I mean...yeah it is but if you really think about it, it's not.
That said, I have used it to flavor sautéed veggies and in other everyday dishes where I would normally use soy sauce. It imparts a nice flavor, and the sweetness is barely noticeable. My favorite use has been as salad dressing. I drizzle this with extra virgin olive oil over some greens and add salt and pepper. It complements rather than masks the unadulterated taste of the vegetables. If I make a homemade dressing with some kind of vinegar, I end up adding sugar anyway to counteract the acidity and sourness, so using coconut aminos eliminates that step.
Do I love it enough to repurchase at $2.99 per bottle? It's a reasonably competitive price, although you could get it in bulk for cheaper. Ehhh. I probably would repurchase, but it doesn't replace soy sauce for me in such a comprehensive way where I would need this stocked in my pantry constantly. But if you're avoiding gluten or trying to decrease your sodium intake - and the legitimacy of your soy sauce is not constantly questioned in your house (Cantonese husbands y'know) - it's not a bad buy. I'll give it a complacent 6.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Organic Coconut Aminos Seasoning Sauce. Alternative soy sauce. Healthier maybe. Sweeter definitely. 6 out of 10.
I love it..definitely not a 6 on the scale.
ReplyDeleteIts a 10.....inna category of its OWN.
NO NEED TO COMPARE IT TO ANYTHING!
Yum.
If the coconut aminos are healthier than soy because of their lower sodium content, why do they add enough salt to the coconut aminos that it brings the sodium up to the same level as the soy aminos? Senseless.
ReplyDeleteCoconut aminos is a great alternative to soy sauce for those who cannot eat soy due to health reasons. Adding salt is important not only for flavor (salt = flavor. that's why people hate low salt diets. It's healthy but doesn't taste good) but also in particular for people who grew up on Asian cuisine where soy sauce is a hallmark ingredient.
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