Sugarless Fish Sauce/Shrimp Paste/Dried Shrimp

[scott123]

Anyone know of a good brand of Thai fish sauce that doesn't contain any form of sugar? (no ingredients ending in -ose)

Also, can pulverized dried shrimp be successfully substituted for shrimp paste in Thai recipes?

[barista]

You can't substitute shrimp paste with pulverised dried shrimps. Shrimp paste is made by fermenting shrimps. It has a pungent (esp to most Westerners) fragrance and the taste may not be all that agreeable. But I love it!

[Suzanne]

I wasn't aware that fish sauce included any kind of sugar. Of the two I've got right now, one (Squid Brand) lists anchovy extract, water, salt, and MSG ; the other one lost its label years ago, so I don't know, but I doubt it has any kind of sugar.

Trachang brand shrimp paste is just shrimp and salt, but yes, the shrimp are fermented and quite pungent. Nothing like dried shrimp.

[phatch]

You still need to check the nutrition label for sugars. Ingredients only lists what was used to make it, not what is already in the naturally occcuring products, or what is formed in the process.

Phil