Not Quite Seafood: A Worthy Alternate Shrimp

There are a handful of reasons why someone may not eat shrimp. In our house, a shrimp allergy, a vegetarian, and knowing where a lot of shrimp is sourced are the main reasons we don’t buy the little swimming crustaceans. If you are kosher (not strictly but avoid animals without spines) then this would be another good reason to reach for BeLeaf Vegan’s plant based shrimp. BeLeaf Vegan sent me samples of their shrimp to review and I was unsure what to expect but am an instant fan.

My daughter developed a shellfish allergy so she really misses shrimp. She especially misses Wagamama’s lollipop shrimp so I decided to start with something like that. The shrimp are simply marinated, grilled and glazed.

In this type of recipe the shrimp have to hold their own. They are unencumbered and have nowhere to hide . There is no chopping, mixing, or sandwiching between other ingredients.

While not 100% like shrimp in texture, BeLeaf Vegan’s shrimp were very impressive. They are made out of just seven straightforward ingredients. The konjac powder, potato extract, cassava starch, paprika, brown Sugar, sea salt, and seaweed-based vegan seasoning give the “shrimp” their texture, look and flavour. While the experience of eating shrimp is near perfect, the flavour is slightly milder and the texture is uniform all the way through. The slight chew and springy bite that shrimp has is captured perfectly though.

BeLeaf Vegan Shrimp is frozen and fully cooked. To prepare BeLeaf shrimp, you thaw the shrimp in the fridge overnight, blanch the shrimp and then you are good to go use them in whatever way you like.

BeLeaf Vegan has a whole range of vegan goodies. After this first experience with BeLeaf , from the ingredients in the product, to the taste and ease of cooking, I cannot wait to try more of their Vegan seafood especially, but they also make plant based sunny-side up eggs, drumsticks and bacon. As for seafood, I am definitely intrigued by the smoked salmon, sashimi salmon and sashimi tuna.

I will have a few recipes for you to try out with BeLeaf Vegan’s plant based shrimp on the blog soon. All your shrimp dreams can come true.