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13 Paleo Uses For Coconut Aminos
Long before I went Paleo, I used Soy Sauce in almost all of my cooking, thinking that not only did it taste good – but that I was adding a super health food to my diet. Now, I've replaced Soy Sauce with Coconut Aminos in all of my cooking.
What’s So Wrong With Soy?
As I researched I formed the opinion that rather than being healthy, Soy is actually quite the opposite. As a legume, Soy contains Lectins, which turn your Leptin sensitivity haywire, confusing your hunger and energy signals. The high levels of Phytates in soy are also undesirable, since they bind to minerals, ensuring that they are unavailable for your body to absorb.
Soy has a high Goitrogen content. Goitrogen interfers with the Thyroid, so can lead to Hypothyroidism. My biggest concern with Soy however, is the plant estrogens it contains (isoflavones) – which have the effect of raising estrogen and decreasing testosterone. Think man boobs and all sorts of undesirable effects through unbalanced hormone levels.
Avoiding Soy…
Fortunately, it is easy to avoid Soy products. Firstly, I find that by using so many different ingredients in my cooking, it is so much tastier that I don’t need to add any extra flavour. Just by changing the herbs and spices I use, I can completely change the taste of a recipe anyway.
But – for those occasions when nothing else will do, I have found Coconut Aminos to be a great alternative to Soy.
What Is Coconut Aminos?
Coconut Aminos is essentially the sap of a coconut tree, or the juice from coconut blossoms. The tree is tapped to collect the aminos, which is then dried in the sun to evaporate, or can be fermented. The sap from the tapped tree will continue to produce sap for years to come.
The aminos is loaded with amino acids (apparently 14 times more than soy sauce) and packed with minerals and vitamins.
13 Things You Can Do With Coconut Aminos
- Marinate a steak in coconut aminos, garlic, coconut oil, salt and pepper for a few hours before cooking
- Make Paleo Sushi using nori wraps, cauliflower rice and fish, and serve with coconut aminos as a dipping sauce
- Use for making beef jerky
- Add to Paleo chilli for a deep flavour
- In fact, try it in any tomato based dishes to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, make the dish a darker colour and replace the need to add salt
- Marinate chicken in it before adding to a stir fry
- Use in fermented foods like Kimchi
- Perfect for Asian inspired dishes like Nasi Goreng
- Use in soups and stews instead of adding salt
- Add to the baking tray when roasting a chicken to brown the skin when basting the bird.
- Mix coconut aminos, balsamic vinegar, mustard, oive oil and a squeeze of lemon to make a delicious salad dressing
- Add to sweet potato chips with olive oil and coriander before baking in the oven.
- Slice and de-seed and avocado, pierce with a fork, then pour on balsamic vinegar and allow to soak in. Then fill the hole up with coconut aminos and eat with a spoon.
Where Can You Get Coconut Aminos?
If you’ve not tried it before, you can often find Coconut Aminos at your local health food shop. Alternatively, a few places online stock it. I get mine from iherb (who offer $10 discount for first time customers), as I order most of my herbs, spices and supplements from there in bulk.
What do you use Coconut Aminos for? Share your suggestions below.
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Paleo Iodine Wraps
Since my new supply of himalayan salt arrived with a big warning on the outside “this does not contain iodine”, I've been craving salty foods. I'm sure this is psychosomatic, but it has lead to quite a lot of reading about iodine deficiency in the last week.
It does appear to be quite possible to become deficient in iodine when eliminating regular iodised salt and conventionally raised animal products. Apparently they started adding iodine to salt many years ago – and to animal feed, as many people were deficient in the mineral. Iodine plays a crucial role in thyroid function and is an essential mineral. I had quite extensive blood work a couple of months ago but for some reason, despite my thyroid function being tested, iodine levels were not part of the tests. I will get my levels checked out, but in the meantime, I need to make sure I get enough iodine, be it from my diet, or supplements. Kelp Supplements seem to be quite popular, so perhaps they will be a good choice?
Wild caught fish is a good source of iodine, but I don't incorporate this in my diet regularly – this is probably something I need to change. Seaweed is supposed to be an excellent source of iodine, so to that end, I created “Paleo Iodine Wraps” for dinner this evening, using Nori sheets.
The wraps were going to contain beef, but I actually found some fresh turkey today – and it was on sale, so I had to buy it (I've got no idea why it's so hard to find turkey in Australia – it's got such a fantastic nutritional profile!). As you might have noticed I'm quite keen on putting fruit in with savoury dishes, so thought I'd experiment with some apricot to go with the turkey and seaweed flavours. I'm really enjoying coconut aminos at the moment, so I used it to marinate the turkey and beef in.
Ingredients
Fresh Turkey Thinly Sliced Beef Onion Capsicum (bell pepper) Zucchini Mushrooms Tomato Lettuce Avocado Nori Sheets Coconut Oil Coconut Aminos Coriander (Cilanto) Himalayan Sea SaltMethod
I cut the turkey and beef into thin strips and let them marinate in the coconut aminos for a few minutes, whilst I prepared the rest of the ingredients.
I cut the onion, capsicum, zucchini, mushrooms and apricots into strips and then stir fried the meat in the coconut aminos and a spoonful of coconut oil.
Once the meat browned off I set it aside, and stir fried the vegetables and apricots in the same oil. I added the salt and some coriander to this and kept the vegetables on the heat for a few minutes.
Whilst the vegetables finished cooking, I cut the lettuce, tomatoes and avocados into strips, since these did not require cooking.
When the vegetables were ready, I assembled all of the ingredients on one edge of the nori sheets, and rolled them until they resembled (paleo!) sushi rolls.
I was pleased with this impromptu dinner and will add it to my list of good foods to make for on the go! I think these would store fine in the fridge overnight, so would be another good option for work lunches – or even as a grab and go breakfast. I really liked the contrast of the seaweed taste with the sweetness of the apricot. I think next time I'll use fish instead of turkey and beef to full embrace a sea theme for this dish – and to get in a bit more iodine!
I've not checked yet, but hopefully if I incorporate Nori a few times a week, I won't have to worry about iodine deficiency.
I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on Iodine intake and deficiency, is this something you actively address in your diet?
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Coconut Aminos
When adopting a Paleo diet, soy sauce is most definitely not on the menu, but perhaps you’re looking for an occasional substitution?
Coconut Aminos, the perfect substitute for Soy Sauce?
Coconut Aminos might be just the substitute you’re looking for. Is less salty than Tamari, but can be used exactly as you would use Soy Sauce, for marinades, dressings sauces and stir-fries – almost anywhere in fact.
Coconut Aminos has got a great amino acid content, considerably higher than that of soy sauces. The aminos is made from the raw sap of the coconut tree, naturally aged and is blended with sun-dried sea salt. For occasional use in a recipe calling for soy sauce, this seems like a great alternative.
Unfortunately none of the Health food shops I regularly visit in Sydney stock Coconut Aminos. I’ll be checking out the Brisbane stores at the weekend, perhaps I’ll have more luck in Queensland. I've found a couple of online retailers who deliver Coconut Aminos to Australia and New Zealand: – Iherb sell Coconut Aminos for $6 USD, with approx $4 USD shipping to Australia. Use the code DUV741 for $5 off your first order, making the Aminos very reasonable indeed! The other supplier, Reflections Health, sells their Aminos at $25, with $13 shipping.
Make sure you’re buying “Coconut Aminos”; remember “Liquid Aminos” will be derived from soy beans.
Have you tried Coconut Aminos? Did you enjoy it? Have you found any additional sources in Australia? I’d love to hear your comments!
