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Get active! Move around in your kitchen!
A recent post in the raw veganisim community has sent me into a flurry of web research in regards to Agave nectar actually being a raw, "living" food.
(This may be old news to you - if so I apologize for my newbie-ness!)
What I've learned thus far is: There are NO raw food regulators that oversee natural food manufacturing companies and those products that are marked "RAW".
What does this mean? Well, these wonderful companies that produce such things as Agave, Coconut Oil, ect., can throw the word "RAW" on a label just as easily as a baby can shit in a diaper --- and in my opinion neither one of these things is appealing, nor raw.
What does it really mean when you see "RAW" on a label at your local grocery store? Nothing. Unless of course you know for a fact that the company producing has not exceeded in heating said product above the 118F mark...but then again, they don't have to even tell you that. Unless of course you ask.
So, for the first time in my life I'm really getting active - I've got a number of emails out to various natural food companies that produce and distribute in my area - these are the companies that have "RAW" marked on their products, but don't have any specifics noted anywhere else on the label.
Now, I should admit to you that this has me frustrated - mainly because I've never really cared enough in the past to send emails to companies, drilling them for direct answers about their products, but I'm really quite a bit peeved. In a away this recent realization has me yet again acknowledging the sad, but true fact that buying pre-made products is rarely a good idea - especially when there are SO many resources out there that enable you to make basically anything you could/would buy (on a grocery store shelf) in your own home.
So what does this really mean for me, and possibly you too?
I'm going to start making my own liquid and dry sweeteners (a few different versions) - and screw those idiots trying to fool me into buying their "raw" products. I'm not gonna! I'll also be experimenting more with making "at home" healthy raw food versions of mass produced, and more often than not bad for you foods and products that I'm sicksicksick of buying because it "makes life easier". 'Cause you know what? With a little bit of preparedness just about anything you want to make can be really easy, and not intimidating!
The end.
Or is it?
P.S. I'll keep you all posted on any responses that I get back from the companies that I've emailed.
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http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13049
http://www.essentialoilcookbook.com/html/fascinating-braggs.htm
http://welikeitraw.disqus.com/bragg_liquid_aminos_history_repeats_itself/
http://acidalkalinediet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=402
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In a vaguely related note, one of the comments from the second link kind of bugged me: 'If it was so toxic, I would be sick by now.'
Personally, I think this is why people are so happy to consume processed junk and hormone-infested meat instead of healthy organic fresh produce. 'Surely if it was really harmful, we'd all drop dead immediately and the cause would be totally obvious.' I'm no scientist, but I can't help thinking that illnesses caused by the toxins we ingest aren't exhibited until years down the road, and often by that time, it's too late. Add to the the fact that there's no way to isolate one product in a human to conclusively prove that said product causes (or doesn't cause) cancer, and you've got people fooled into thinking that factory-farmed beef is totally healthy to eat.
I checked the wikipedia entry for soy cause, which includes this alarming snippet: 'Many cheaper brands of soy sauces are made from hydrolyzed soy protein instead of brewed from natural bacterial and fungal cultures. These soy sauces do not have the natural color of authentic soy sauces and are typically colored with caramel coloring, and are popular in Southeast Asia and China, and are exported to Asian markets around the globe. They are derogatorily called Chemical Soy Sauce, but despite this name are the most widely used type because they are cheap. Similar products are also sold as "liquid aminos" in the US and Canada.
Some artificial soy sauces pose potential health risks due to their content of the chloropropanols carcinogens 3-MCPD (3-chloro-1,2-propanediol) and all artificial soy sauces came under scrutiny for possible health risks due to the unregulated 1,3-DCP (1,3-dichloro-2-propanol) which are minor byproducts of the hydrochloric acid hydrolysis.'
I don't know how I feel about 'Liquid Aminos' being alternately known as 'Chemical Soy Sauce'!
I tried looking up homemade soy sauce as an alternative, and it might be intersting to try, but none of the options are raw vegan. Most seem to include beef bullion and/or molasses, and involve boiling for a bit.
The next best thing might be nama shoyu (http://www.rawganique.com/Food1.htm), though according to one board, nama shoyu shouldn't be substituted for Bragg's, although the other way around is fine (http://goneraw.com/forum/liquid-aminos-vs-nama-shoyu), though I can't see why that would be.
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I've been using Nama Shoyu ever since I heard about the Bragg's thing a few years ago. It works fine for me & I never need to use very much. Also, South River brand Miso is high quality, I use that now and again for the same flavoring too.
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while i didn't know this, i've actually (as of recent) been phasing braggs aminos out of my kitchen. i'm now inclined to just toss what little i have left in the garbage.i seem to rarely use salt anymore, and if i do it's just sea salt. man how taste buds can change along with a new eating-lifestyle.