Hey y’all,
When you’re learning to eat gluten free, food becomes a mine field. When you try to avoid flour, you think of bread and cake and crackers. That’s not the dangerous food, though. That stuff is obviously not good for you. However, there are A LOT of foods that contain invisible gluten, and soy sauce is one of those.
So how is soy sauce made? Let’s talk about some history. Originally, people fermented soybeans and salt, and it eventually made soy sauce. Then the industrial revolution happened. Everything else was being made so quickly. The soy sauce process needed to speed up to meet the demand, because more and more people wanted soy sauce. Wheat ferments way faster than soybeans, so sauce makers began adding wheat to soy sauce brine.
Nowadays, soy sauce is nearly 50% wheat. But not to fear! You can still get that taste. Tamari is basically old-school soy sauce. Also, La Choy is a gluten-free brand. Liquid Aminos are also typically sans gluten and still gets you that taste.
Now, let’s talk price. Cheap soy sauce is so full of gluten it’s not even funny. But GF soy sauce is, like, $4 a bottle. I bought a whole gallon of soy sauce and just refill a bottle that I got. This is still more expensive than buying regular soy sauce, but this comes out to $2/bottle.
Knowledge is power. Stay healthy. Don’t eat at Asian buffets. You may want to carry your own soy sauce to restaurants.
Metta
Frugal Treehugger 