HOW TO USE NISH SAUCE
What Is Fish Sauce?
Traditional fish sauce is made by packing anchovies in salt and letting them ferment for a year or more. The liquid that's drawn off is thin, amber and intensely savoury, and it's fundamental to Thai, Vietnamese and much of Southeast Asian cooking.
It's also pungent. The smell is the first thing anyone notices, and it's the reason a lot of people never keep a bottle in the house — and it's obviously not an option for anyone vegan, vegetarian or allergic to fish.
What NISH Is
NISH is brewed from wild Scottish seaweed instead of anchovies. Water, sea salt, coconut nectar, vinegar, yeast extract and seaweed give you the salt-and-savour that fish sauce brings to a dish, without any fish.
It's certified organic, vegan, and free from all 14 major allergens, with no preservatives. NISH has been awarded two stars at the Great Taste Awards, and Sozyë was named Great Taste Startisan of the Year 2022.
What It Tastes Like — Honestly
NISH is salty, savoury and clean, with a distinct taste of the sea. What it isn't is funky. Traditional fish sauce carries a deep fermented pungency from a year of anchovies breaking down, and NISH doesn't reproduce that — it's brighter and more mineral, closer to sea air than to a fermentation crock.
Whether that's a gain or a loss depends what you're after. If you love fish sauce specifically for its funk, NISH will read as different. If you use fish sauce for salt and savoury depth — which is most of what it does in a dish — NISH does that job without the smell.
Start with the same quantity your recipe calls for and adjust. It's a salty condiment, so it's easier to add than to take back.
How to Use NISH
- Pad Thai and Southeast Asian dishes — used as you would fish sauce, added during cooking.
- Nuoc cham — with lime, chilli, garlic and a little sugar. See our green nam jim recipe.
- Dressings — with garlic and chilli. One of its best uses.
- As a salt substitute — a splash instead of salt in soups, stews and gravies.
- Greens and vegetables — a splash while sautéing.
- Burgers, nut roasts and pasta — a small amount worked in for savoury depth.
- Dipping — for vegetables, bread or cheese.
- Roasted vegetables and nuts — tossed through before roasting.
A little goes a long way. Add gradually and taste as you go.
Common Questions
Does it smell like fish sauce? No — that's deliberate. NISH has a clean sea aroma rather than the pungency of fermented anchovy.
Is it a like-for-like substitute? Use the same quantity to start, then adjust to taste. It behaves the same way in a dish, but the flavour profile is cleaner.
Does it contain fish? None. Free from all 14 major allergens, including fish.
Is it very salty? Yes — it's designed to season. Add gradually.
Does it need refrigerating? Not until opened. Once opened, keep it in the fridge and use within six months.
What's in it? Water, sea salt, coconut nectar, vinegar, yeast extract and seaweed, with no preservatives.
Why Seaweed
Seaweed needs no farmland, no fresh water, no fertiliser and no feed. It grows on the tide. Ours is harvested by hand off the north coast of Scotland, cut so the holdfast stays intact and the plant regrows within weeks.
Seaweed has been a source of savoury flavour for centuries — see our guide to edible seaweed, or what umami is, for more.