wholefood step-by-step: # 20 organic tamari

After a long sabbatical from this series due to our road trip, its back!

Wholefood step-by-step: every Monday I post about a small step you can make on your wholefood journey.

My aim in writing this blog is to help keep you inspired and informed; to take away the overwhelm and make it all feel doable.

We have Pureharvest to thank for kicking me back into gear with this series. They sent me a hamper with some of their goods to try. I chose to write about them here because I buy them already so am happy to recommend them to you. Also, one lucky reader has a chance of winning a Pureharvest hamper to the value of $50. Before we get into the giveaway details let's talk tamari.

What is tamari?

Tamari is a condiment similar in taste, colour and consistency to soy sauce. Tamari has more depth and roundedness to its flavour than soy, it is salty like soy but not as sharp.

Traditionally tamari is associated with Japanese cuisine and soy sauce with Chinese cuisine. This is due to the fact that tamari is the produced in the process of making miso. Miso is a fermented soybean paste used extensively in Japanese cuisine.

Pureharvest tamari is gluten free and made from non gmo soybeans.

How do I use tamari?

Tamari can be used in any dish you would normally use soy sauce.

My two favorite ways to use it are as a dipping sauce for nori rolls or in a marinade such as on these easy, crowd-pleasing tamari and honey chicken drumsticks. Or in this great home made teriyaki sauce. You can also add a splash to any dish that calls for saltiness and depth of flavour such as stews, casseroles and soups.

Home made tamari almonds are delicious too, toss almonds in a bowl with enough tamari to coat the nuts thoroughly, then spread the almonds out in a single layer on a baking tray leaving any excess liquid in the bowl and bake in the oven at 170 C for 20 minutes, cool completely and store in an airtight jar.

Where can I buy tamari?

Tamari is sold in most health food and organic food stores. You can buy it online here.
Many Pureharvest products including tamari can be found in major and independent supermarkets.

Pureharvest Giveaway
If you live in Australia and would like to win a Pureharvest hamper to the value of $50 all you have to do is leave a comment below and the winner will be selected by random number generator on Monday 15th December and announced back here on this post at 8pm (Melbourne time).
This giveaway is open Australia wide. Sorry international readers I'll do one for you soon!

Please make sure to check back and that I am able to find your email address via the link in your comment. Good luck! And feel free to share with friends who might like to enter.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.

Congratulations to Claudine Pollard! There will be a Pureharvest hamper coming your way soon Claudine. Thankyou to everyone who entered.

wholefood step-by-step: #13 upgrade your chocolate fix

Tough step I know. The problem with the majority of commercial chocolate is that it is...you guessed it, highly processed and can contain unhealthy ingredients like huge amounts of refined cane sugar, hydrogenated fats and palm oil.

And as you know, processing strips ingredients, such as the cocoa bean, of any natural, nourishing qualities they may have began with and the end result is a product rather than a food. A product that can be marketed and lots of sales and advertising dollars made, meanwhile what's sold is actually really bad for human health. I'm sounding cynical now. Sorry about that! Back on track.

The story of chocolate begins with the cocoa bean. In its natural state the cocoa bean is a bitter little pill to swallow so, it is fermented, then roasted, then ground into cocoa mass which is further processed into cocoa solids and cocoa butter before being mixed with sweetener and fat to create chocolate in the form you know and love.

Tips for buying wholefood chocolate

* Go for dark or raw
Dark and raw chocolate contain the highest percentage of cocoa compared to milk or white chocolate, it is the cocoa that holds health benefits such as flavonoids that fight free radicals. Studies have shown that eating a few squares of dark chocolate a week as part of a healthy diet can be beneficial to heart health plus it can keep you happy by stimulating the production of endorphins which are 'happy' hormones.  

Raw cacao, as the name suggests is made from cocoa beans that are cold pressed therefore their nourishing properties remain in tact. In addition, raw chocolate is made with few ingredients all of which have nourishing properties, typically cacao, cacoa butter and wholefood sweetener. To read more about raw cacao and its health benefits head over to this post on Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar site.

Loving Earth is my fave raw chocolate range, notice I said range! I can't really decide which one I like most. Having said that, I'm not a huge fan of raw chocolate it doesn't satisfy in the way dark does.

* Avoid soy lecithin
What on earth is soy lecithin anyway? It is a highly processed ingredient derived from soybeans so part of the problem with it is the likelihood of it being made from genetically modified soy. And what is it doing in chocolate? (and in soooo many other processed foods) it serves as an emulsifier in chocolate, an emulsifier helps oil/fat and water bind together to become the smooth and velvety texture we so love about chocolate. Alexx Stuart posted about this on her facebook page and nominates Alter Eco 85% as her soy lecithin free choc of choice.

* Avoid palm oil and hydrogenated fats
These ingredients are used in some chocolates because they cost less than cocoa butter.

Palm oil is problematic for a number of environmental and humanitarian reasons including deforestation and Indigenous rights abuses. For a detailed explanation of the palm oil industry and its associated problems go here. As is the case with soy lecithin, palm oil is a very sneaky little ingredient included in many different food stuffs so do check those labels.

Hydrogenated fats are bad news because they have been heated and processed and are essentially damaged, digesting these is in no way good for you.

For some chocolate coated fun try Michelle's ice magic or Nicola's raw chocolate hearts and if you need more then I think Sarah Wilson's IQS chocolate cookbook is the one for you.

And for those of you whose chocolate obsession is out of hand I have a post brewing especially for you. More soon!

Do you love chocolate? What is your favorite brand or wholefood choc inspired recipe? Tell us in the comments.