I got a Tweet this week from my friend Brian who wanted to know what Earth Balance is. So that gave me the idea to profile some of the irregular ingredients that are common in vegan recipes. I love that a lot of non vegans are checking out my recipes so I want to remove the mystery from some of the ingredients.
First up, Brian’s ingredient in question: Earth Balance.
To be clear, Earth Balance the company also makes soy milk, soy nog, mayo and dressings but when I list it in the ingredients of my recipes, I am talking about the butter substitute. Earth Balance is pretty much the taste and texture equivalent to butter but is much more heart friendly. The butter spread comes in five different flavours, four of which I see all the time in grocery stores: Original, Olive Oil, Soy Free & Whipped. It is hard when refrigerated and soft at room temperature.
People often ask me what vegan dairy substitutes are made of. In the Original spread, the main ingredient is an oil blend made up of palm fruit, canola, flax and olive oils. It has 0 trans fats and is genetically modified ingredient free.
“Palm oil? Isn’t that the farming that is clearing out the Amazon?” you may ask. Why yes, but you can find out everything that are doing to reduce their palm farming footprint here.
Earth Balance also makes butter and shortening substitute sticks to use in baking. I swear you will not be able to tell the difference.
If you have an ingredient you are curious about, tweet me @antiqueappetite or e-mail theantiqueappetite@gmail.com
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