Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread

[gimmiegimmie]

Hey guys, I've recently found out soy and I don't get along so well in the stomach, intestine, and skin department so I've had to switch to a soy-free diet. Along with all the manageable issues (difficulty finding breads, no more fake meats, etc.) I've had quite a time finding a soy-free margarine (there aren't any around here). I asked my local

Comments

ignore my first comment about earth balance...

[thewarmestblue]

sometimes i just put oil in a small container, sometimes adding salt or herbs to it, and freeze it. it will stay a solid as long as its frozen, and become liquid again at room temperature. it's a simple idea and i think it works quite well.

Re: ignore my first comment about earth balance...

[gimmiegimmie]

This seems like it would be a good idea for using it as a spread (I did start using olive oil on my bread but decided most of the time I prefer it without oil and just add some garlic), but I've tried to bake with oil/salt as a replacement for margarine before and it always seems to behave much differently in things like cookies, fudge, and caramel/toffee. I never tried using frozen oil in baking, does it work any better? I could see it combining more evenly for something like a cookie but my gut still tells me no.

Re: ignore my first comment about earth balance...

[thewarmestblue]

ohhh i wasn't even thinking about baking, so i'm not quite sure (not much of a baked goods gal...) but it does work decently for toasts and such...

Re: ignore my first comment about earth balance...

[supercarrot]

are you using less oil? (oil is more dense than marge, so in place of 1 cup of marge, use 2/3 cup of oil.)

also, isa moskowitz and terry romero really did their best in trying to avoid earth balance in their cookie book. i know their chocolate chip cookie is on isa's blog. (ppk.com/blog) it's also here in our tags under deserts-cookies-chocolate chip. it's slightly off, but still a quite tasty cookie!

[zaftigvegan]

do none of the online vegan shops sell it? it can cost a lot in shipping but surely not more than driving from alberta to bellvue!

[gimmiegimmie]

My mom goes to Nanimo a lot to visit her dad so she'd just have to go to Victoria, hop on the ferry, and drive through Seattle. It's still quite a pain but reasonable if she's going to Vancouver Island anyway.

[zaftigvegan]

by the way, i find that coconut oil is a nice replacement for margarine, both as a spread and for baking.

[gimmiegimmie]

Thanks, maybe I'll try that.

[greenanimal]

Coconut for the win!!

[so_hold_on]

Coconut oil! Good in almost everything. So much better and better for you than any margerine that I've had.

[morwensdoor]

Gosh, I live in Seattle and could probably find some soy-free Earth Balance for you. Email me - sprouted -at- g mail dot com and we can chat details. I ship things at work all the time and could probably send you some. Let me know!

[gimmiegimmie]

Thanks, I'm kind of worried about it keeping as in my experience warm margarine tends to separate (this is from leaving it in the sun all day - oops) but I'd be willing to give it a try with a couple tubs!

[her_instrument]

I order the regular earth balance online, and they just include a couple small disposable cold packs in the box, but they also do the express shipping so it gets to me within around 2 days. It can keep for that long though...

[pearllessoyster]

I almost never ever use margarine in baking! I've made some pie crusts successfully with just oil (though I'm still fine-tuning - but like earlier posters said, coconut oil is pretty spiffy in crusts) but otherwise I only use oil, just personally because I try to keep my ingredients as simple as possible! Just tinker and see what you can find!

That said, I do freakin' love the soy-free EB. It makes awesome frosting.