Sans-Soy sauce

Thu 28 Jul 2022 20:08:27 PDT

(Sat 16 Dec 2017 00:18:41 PST)

Soy sauce is troublesome for at least three reasons. First and foremost it's very salty, even the "low salt" varieties are absurdly high in sodium. Soy products are also high in oxalates for those who have that issue. And of course a significant number of people are allergic to soybeans and must avoid soy products at all costs.

OTOH the flavor of soy sauce is notoriously difficult to recreate—convincing substitutes are vanishingly rare. Through determined experimentation our "Sans-Soy" version was developed over many months. While it doesn't exactly replace the real thing, we think it's pretty tasty stuff that goes some distance to fill a big gap in the low-sodium world.

Have some fun with it, heighten the illusion by putting it in a soy sauce dispenser—it just might make a difference! In any case, it's easy to make so well worth a try.

Ingredients:

Chinese rice wine† 4 tbsp
rice wine vinegar, unseasoned 3 tbsp
molasses, unsulphured jackstrap 2 tbsp
salt 4 tsp
coffee, strong brewed 4 tsp

Place ingredients in a saucepan. Stir well to dissolve salt and molasses.
Heat contents until boiling.
Let cool. Can be used immediately. Will last for a few weeks in the refrigerator.

†Wine info:

To get good results, selecting the right wine is important. A couple of mistakes to avoid: don't use sake, the flavor profile is wrong, and don't use "cooking wine", it's way high in sodium.

Chinese rice wine (called "yellow wine" in China) is ideal but can be hard to find in the US. Look in large Asian markets, often supply is limited. (Shaoxing is the best known type of Chinese wine, with many brands on the market. Other regions produce similar wines that are occasionally imported and sold in US markets.)

If Chinese rice wine isn't available, dry or very dry sherry has a similar flavor that works surprisingly well. (A remarkable curiosity of nature that wines produced in entirely different ways have similar taste.)

Categories: seasonings Asian

About Thinair Recipes

Recipes developed with low-sodium diets in mind—so easy to use!

Here's a quick guide:
Recipes have one or more “boxed” ingredient lists grouped with step-by-step instructions, for example:

garlic, chopped 3 cloves
chicken stock 2 cups
...other ingredients...

Saute garlic in oil until soft.
Add chicken stock to pan...
...next step...

Ingredient boxes show what you'll need for the numbered steps. Not too complicated!

BTW “salt” in our recipes refers to salt substitute, i.e., potassium chloride, KCl. (Since KCl may not be healthy for some people, ask your doctor if it's OK for you to use it.)

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