Coconut Sugar, and TVP/TSP questions

[ladymech]

Has anyone tried coconut sugar? I saw it in my tiny health store, but it's a little pricey for me right now. Pros or Cons? Does it even taste like coconut? If it tastes like coconut, I would love to use it in baking, or even on my oatmeal with some tropical fruit. Mmmm...coconuty

Comments

[3mileislandr]

I bought some coconut sugar from an asian market once, it was interesting. It does smell and taste somewhat coconutty, but I never noticed it actually adding coconut flavor when I used it. As a plus, it comes out sorta like a gel (at least mine did). I know this sounds like it would be weird, but it dissolved really quick and I never got left with grains in my coffee/tea/whatever I added it to. If it's pricey for you, I'd say stick to regular sugar, unless you really want to experiment.

As for TVP, I use an Indian brand (Nutrela I think) and it always ends up being somewhat spongy and chewy. I've grown to like the texture however and what I normally do is soak it in double it's volume of warm-hot water and then throw it in whatever I'm cooking. You can marinate it too, I've done so. I just didn't squeeze out the soaking water so it wouldn't absorb too much.

[ladymech]

The coconut sugar I saw was granulated. Gel seems like it would be easier to mix into stuff. I may try it out, if only because I love coconut. Thanks.

[twoborgs]

TVP and TSP are the same thing - the name TVP is owned by Bob's Red Mill, so everything else (for the most part) is called TSP.

Are the chunks small or kind of like little flakes? I use the flake variety as a mock ground meat for tacos and the like - I add just enough boiling water to dampen the flakes, then add soy sauce, cumin, cayenne, onion, and garlic powder. Then, I fry it till it gets a little crispy, and eat the hell out of it.

Good luck!

[ladymech]

The chunks are about half an inch, although I did also buy a bag of the tiny crumbled tvp. I'll try out your recipe, it sounds good.

[ladymech]

Vegan sloppy joes? Do you just use an herbal seasoning? Or is the canned sauce vegetarian/vegan? Because that was my favorite.

Why didn't I think of liquid smoke?

[freaky_eggplant]

Is TSP the same as TVP? (I just read the comments- mine is Bob's Red Mill brand, so that explains that.) I soak my TVP in vegetarian "chicken" or "beef" bouillon and then saute it until it's nice and crispy (which kinda takes a while) with some onions and garlic and maybe some spices, and then use it like ground beef in recipes like pasta sauce or stuffed peppers.

[melonhoney]

Would a nut milk bag work well to soak the TVP in? I imagine that would make the straining/squeezing out the water part much easier.

[ladymech]

*takes notes*

Thanks, I'll do that next time I cook it. Well, everything except for cilantro. I drew the "tastes like soap" cilantro card. :(