So it is true! I'm sitting here staring at the last half inch of "China Lily" in the 483ml bottle. I have been trying to find it for a month. Every trip to the store another crushing disappointment. I will certainly be calling and writing to Lee's Food Products. In the mean time, I have heard of a product called "Maggi" I was telling a friend about the "China Lily Emergency" She had me taste it and it was very similar to C.L. It didn't taste like Kikkoman or the bulk cheapo stuff. at all. It might be worth a try although you may have to visit an Asian Food Store to get it as I can't recall seeing it anywhere like Safeway or Superstore. I wish you luck Sarah... be strong, we'll make it through this.

I know exactly how you feel. I just came back from a trip between Lang, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg checking out every small town store. I was able to get 1 483 ml bottle and 4 142 ml bottles. I'm already starting to sweat thinking about running out

Good Luck in this crisis

Wow so I'm not alone. I just came back from searching the streets of Winnipeg. No China Lily!!! Thanks for the research Sarah. I'll be phoning Lee Products in the morning. China Lily also make the best Chow Mein noodles (in a can) and I haven't been able to get those since Christmas. I sure hope they come back with the Soya sauce.

Hey...glad to see i am not alone...i just searched 8 grocery stores here in Nanaimo B.C. frantically looking for china lily soya sauce. I had to settle for something else and its terrible. I have been eating china lily for as long as i can remember. Nothing compares!!!!!!!!! Glad to hear this is a temporary problem although when it does come back, i think i might buy a ridiculous amount of it just to be on the safe side!

It feels so-o-o good to know that I am not the only person who has been going through withdrawl! I thought China Lily might have finally been wiped out by free trade... I live in Burlington, between Toronto and Hamilton, and even before this summer, other brands have been squeezing China Lily off store shelves like crazy! A couple of years ago I was in the Muskokas, and bought two of the small shaker bottles in a local market, because I hadn't seen them here in years (they sell the bulk bottle, but in less than half the stores). China Lily soya sauce is a great part of being Canadian!!

I too am missing that black nectar that has been on the kitchen table for the past multiple decades.

Until it returns I have found 2 substitutes -
1) WING WONG Soya Sauce in the little packets from the local take-out place or mall chinese food place,
2) Safeway carries a brand called VH Soya Soauce that is close as well.

Keep the faith, it must return.

Missing China Lily

I too have been having difficulties finding this black teasure. I have been using china lily all my life. One of the stores told me that it was to expensive & that is why that aren't carrying it anymore. I said just bring it back I'll buy it & so will others. My husband & friend of mine are laughing at me because I can't find my favorite soya sauce. I have less than 1/2 bottle & I am getting very nervous of running out. I too will call Lee foods & voice my concerns about this situation. I came on the internet to see if I could order it when I found this site I am glad to see I am not alone. Hang on everyone I am sure we will find this black gold again. Linda

I too have been having difficulties finding this black treasure.I have been using china lily all my life. One of the stores told me that it was to expensive & that is why that aren't carrying it anymore. I said just bring it back I'll buy it & so will others. My husband & friend of mine are laughing at me because I can't find my favorite soya sauce. I have less than 1/2 bottle & I am getting very nervous of running out. I too will call Lee foods & voice my concerns about this situation. I came on the internet to see if I could order it when I found this site I am glad to see I am not alone. Hang on everyone I am sure we will find this black gold again. Linda

I have found some of this scrumptious potion. If you are looking for it, visit the small corner stores that you would not normally buy groceries from. They had two bottle left and of coarse I was not going to share and leave one on the shelf. I wouls like to pass on to everyone the best use for the sauce. If you plan on having a steak one day, sprinkle the sauce all over the steak and add garlic salt and let it sit for an hour. Turn over the steak and repeat and cook on the barbie to your liking and it will be the best steak you ever had. I have not had one dissapointed steak eater that comes and visits. Good luck everyone and I hope you can all survive and if not I will sell you a bottle for fifty bucks. LOL

i grew up with china lilly, i can't find it anywhere. I know how the reason why, thanks to the posts. I will stand on guard with all of you, frantically searching for China Lilly, my life potion. Now I know I'm not alone.

Without China lily my recipes are just ordinary with VH as a substitute and horrible with Kikomen Soy Sauce. I too have checked out every little store in Winnipeg and surrounding area.

I have also been searching for the China Lily Soya Sauce. It is the only one that I use. I have less then 1/4 cup left and am using it very sparingly. I cannot live without this product either. I have searched many stores as well and have had no luck. I certainly hope it comes back soon. This is very frustrating to say the least.

We here on the west coast have been searching I have even been into the asian grocery stores. How are we to BBQ, without my mother in-laws famous marinade - the key ingredient being 1 whole 17oz bottle of China Lily (It would not be for just one serving). I will be contacting Lee Foods tomorrow to voice my concerns.
Now one of my friend found me 6 of the small glass bottles which I have hidden deep in my cupboard.
Keep searching, the bottles I have were found in a mom & pop corner grocery store.
I will try some of the replacments people have been trying to see how they compare. I will be counting the days until our grocery store has stock....

Hey all funny that everybody seems to be going through this situation. Currently I have 2 glass bottles left. Two months ago I bought about 20 glass bottles from market place and since can't find it anywheres in manitoba.

Called China Lily today and gave them the address of this page. They say they'll be producing more in 2 weeks.

China Lily is the only Soya Sauce we've ever used. When our daughter moved to the US in 1994 she was upset when she couldn't find the product anywhere. She thought, "no wonder people here eat rice with butter". Needless to say,it was a given that with every visit back and forth there would be China Lily Soya Sauce in the suitcases. Now that we're out of this marvelous product we've started blaming her for the shortage (lol).
All kidding aside, it's the best, nothing comes close, it has to make a come back.
Claudette

NO CHINA LILY!!! What is this world coming too! I too, have checked every grocery store here in FSJ,BC and it is not cool.No china lily? nothing can replace the taste, NOTHING. PLEASE get it back on the shelves. No family dispute should come between this BIG family of CHINA LILY USERS! We support this product because we love the great taste. So in return, keep the family strong and give us back our CHINA LILY!
Thanx China Girl

I never notice china lily wasn't there any more till my friend told me she couldnt find it any were in edmonton grocery stores. I thought she was nuts, till I went to be a (smartie pants) and I couldnt find it eather. Its the only soya sauce I will use and im garding my very last 142ml bottle from every one. Even my friend cant use it anymore its too rare now. I sure hope its back on the shelves befor mines all gone too. I called lees foods about the china lily sauce and they said the plants closed for about 2 weeks and that in edmonton we should see it back on the shelves by the middle of september.

I am so releived that China Lily is going to be back on the market. I haven't eaten much since it disappeared. I am not a very big fan of meat( and I don't like veggies much, either). I prefer to eat meat that has been cooked in China Lily( minute steaks are the BEST fried in it! pork chops, too.) My children are pretty happy it's coming back on the market, as well. (a bowl of rice is one of their favorite snacks) My husband bought the Safeway brand of soya sauce last nite and it's not too bad but it's still not China Lily. Thank goodness it's coming back.

Yikes. Our family has been without China Lily soy sauce since May. I have been to grocery stores in both Calgary and in Sherwood Park. It is so annoying. Is it really coming back or are they just trying to put us off. Kikoman sauce sucks. Is there a "next best" if this crisis never ends. Arughh! I started my kids on the stuff too and they only want CHINA LILY.

I have two small full bottles in my fridge and know where to get more. XD

i'm in toronto so maybe that has something to do with it.

Wow ! I thought it was just us! We have not been able to find "The Sauce" in Orillia either. It made matters worse when none of the stores could even given an answer to what was happening. We appreciate the update. Hopefully the "family" has their differences behind them.

I too had been searching for a very long time and couldn't get any answers from anyone either. I located a half dozen or so glass bottles about a month ago in a remote northern Ontario location but I stupidly only bought one! (WTFWIT?) I figured that China Lily was being pushed out of the big stores by that aweful Kikoman and VH stuff... You can bet I'll be making the 640km round trip to this secret location very soon to buy up the rest of the bottles. I'm just praying that no one has noticed the bottles on the shelf and that they'll still be there when I arrive. Wish me luck!

For 41 years this has been a staple of my diet.
For 70 years my dad has lived on the stuff... we have been panic-striken at the thought that it might no longer be made!!!!! Sure glad I tend to hoard soya sauce and still have 4 big bottles... but can I make it to SEPT!?!??!
Yikes... every one must call!!!!!
It is a PANIC SITUATION!!!!!!!

Help! I too have been on a quest to find the cherished China Lily Soya Sauce! I use it as a condiment for so many recipes, but alas, I have none for my main stapel - steamed rice. I have hunted high and low and included my 11 year old daughter in the search as well. She also pines for the lack of this elixir. I have grown up with China Lily Soya Sauce enticing my taste buds and have passed to my friends - the secret joy of the taste of China Lily Soya Sauce. Bring it back-nothing compares. It is one of life's little joys!

I have searched over a good part of B.C. while I was on hplidays there is no China lily to be found I'm in dire straights and so are alot of my friends and family help!!!

We have been searching for China Lily Soya sauce for a couple of weeks now. I had extra bottles on hand so I haven't needed to look for it until now. Decided to do a search and came across your site. I'm glad to see I am not alone in missing it. I tried Kikkoman once and promptly threw the bottle out and went back to the best.
I just hope Safeway returns it to their shelves after the company gets their problems sorted out.
A big thank you to all that have contacted the company!

Hi, I been searching all of Edmt and have not found a single bottle. Thanks for the update and hopefully the great product is back on the shelves soon !! I have not found a replacement that even comes close !!

This site is a relief. I started looking last week for China Lily and didn't see it at my regular grocery store. So today I started the search and couldn't find any anywhere. Finally, I asked at one of the grocery stores and heard that the guy who owned the company had died and that his wife didn't want to keep up the company, so instead of selling it, she just quit (either must have the stuff stockpiled or hate it). This is hearsay, but that was what I was told today. I sure hope that what this site says is true and that I only have to make it until September. By the way, IGA (Sobey's too maybe) sells Compliments brand, it's supposed to be pretty good, and you can get reduced salt. Kikkoman or whatever does not substitute, yuck!

I can get China Lily in One Gallon containers. Email me if you are interested in making a deal.

b.o.b@shaw.ca

We live in Chilliwack B.C. My family and I went to NINE different stores just to find China Lily. If ever there was no more China Lily.. that would be the end of soya sause for us. There could NEVER be a replacement. I bought out one store, they had 6 big bottles so got them all. Then we went to another little corner store and bought 8 more bottles. LoL I think we're going to have to buy a safe just to put our China Lily in so NO ONE can take any!! LoL ! We do hope they start selling them again, cause we dont know how long these will last.

I've just called Lee's..they say they are down to fix and maintain the machines???? I begged to know where a bottle of the lovely tasting "China Lily"could be found, he has a few of the small glass bottles. Unfortunatly I'm in Calgary, he is in Toronto. I'm actually going out to southern Ontario and considering making a large side trip to Toronto to get my "fix". Never mind the candy for my kids..bring on the China Lily.
He says they should be back in production in early Sepember.

The funniest thing happened this morning. I was chatting on the phone with my girlfriend that lives 2 hours north of me on the Trans Canada Highway here in Northwestern Ontario. Out of the blue, she asked me if I had heard anything about the China Lily epidemic! I thought she was going to tell me a joke or something, but I did tell her that I was out of it and can't find the damned stuff anywhere! So she told me that she would send me this link so I could read up on it as I had no ideal as to what was really going on! She continued on telling me about what she found on here and so on. She then told me the funniest story about China Lily that I really thought that I should share it with everyone! Yesterday her in-laws were out and about and decided that for shits and giggles, they would drive up north and go for lunch. When they were in this small Northwestern Ontario town that is off the beatin path just over an hour north of the Trans Canada Highway, the mother in-law thought that she would go in and check out the grocery store! LMAO, to her amazement....there were 33 bottles of China Lily 483ml on the shelf! She continued to procede to the check out with 20 of the bottles! The clerk kind of laughed at her seeing all the bottles in her cart. So, she pulled out the article about the China Lily epidemic. After lunch, her mother in-law decided that she would go back to the grocery store and get the remaining bottles to take home with her for her and her family. When she got the the aisle, there were only 10 bottles of the black gold sitting there so she swiftly scooped them up and went to the check out and got the same clerk as before! When she left just an hour or so before, there were still 13 bottles. The clerk decided to scoop up 3 bottles for herself! My girlfriend is now the proud owner of 20 of those 30 bottles of black gold that her mother in-law came home with! So the moral of the story is.......LOOK WHERE YOU WOULD LEAST EXPECT IT...YOU JUST MIGHT FIND SOME BLACK GOLD....CHINA LILY!!!!!

AAaarrgghh...!!!! Now I see that it's the whole damn country WITHOUT CHINA LILY!! And here I thought that it was just my lil' town here on Vancouver Island without my favorite soy sauce. I'm ready to blow a frickin' gasket because I have searched every where for it!! There is absolutely NOTHING that compares to it!

My family have also been looking for "China Lily". The clerk at Safeway told me that it was their most popular soya sauce. Although the shelf was bear he said they were still carring it.
Surrey BC

I called Lee's today and spoke to a lady who told me southern Ontario should be stocked in 2 weeks.

Hi there; It's the same here in Powell River, B.C. None to be had. I've checked all the stores and came up empty handed. Like everyone else, China Lily is the only one we like. Hopefully they will get back up and running soon.

They may as well quit growing rice! We eat it not only with rice but it's heaven on pasta with Parmesan and butter! Don't knock it until you try it!! It HAS to be China Lily or nothing at all!!
Posted by Frankie - August 16th/05 Port McNeill, B.C.

i hope it's true! All my fave. recipes contain china lily...i'm at a loss without it! i wouldn't wish this on anyone but i'm glad i'm not alone in these hard times. ;) May the shelves of your local grocery store be replenished with CL VERY SOON! Peace & China Lily.

Y'know, I live in B.C. and work in a store of a Western grocery chain called Overwaitea. We were alerted to the fact that CL would be out of production and our warehouse bought up as much as we could. By chain-wide memo we at the store level were allerted to the upcoming shortage. Our grocery guys ordered all they could (20 cases) and we had an aisle stack for about 2 weeks. I don't work in grocery (I'm non-foods) so I didn't know about the production problem until too late. After it was all gone I inquired about it's return only to find out it was "out of production for the time being". What a clown, I could've cornered the market!! At the very least I could've bought a few extra for my family. I transfered the last 1/4 bottle from the 483 ml to the 142 ml today :o( My 4 year-old daughter REFUSES to eat rice with any other sauce (although the Wing's in the packets is ummm... reasonably close). Fingers crossed they ARE going to produce it again and not just feeding us the standard line.

You people all need help! SERIOUS help!!
Driving 640kms round trip to get soy sauce?! Without thinking to even call first! Or is it soya sauce? Anyway, doesn't matter...you all need help and should book an appointment with your local therapist...yeah, the usual one you go to for life crises like these....
Good luck!

I too have been searching for my China Lily soya sauce,even my kids are hooked and noticed the difference when I put it on the table in the same
refillable bottle I always use!!!I called Westfair Foods and they said the children of China Lily are having issues and that is it for the products.I like your explanation better and least it gives me hope that it still may be produced.Hey anybody got enough money maybe we could get together and run the business ourselves!!!!!!!If I locate some CL in an out of the way place I WILL SPREAD THE WORD and BUY IT ALL.

I can't believe people used China Lily for recipes. Ok, I admit I have occaionally put some on steak, but I've usually reserved it for my fresh steamed rice, which I serve with butter and additional salt sprinkled on it (as if CL wasn't already salty enough)
I too have been going CRAzy at the thought that China Lily Soya was no more to be seen. Why can no one else make anything like it? What is their secret? Any industrial spys out there? And Kikkoman is a joke; it's made with WHEAT, fer cryin out loud! And some people think that is a reasonable substitute!?!? Freakin' Philistines!
Anyway, hopefully we'll see it back on the shelves again.

Yes I know how you all are feeling I am having china lily withdrawls. I've searched our city of Quesnel BC with the same results as you. Can't find it. Hope it comes back!!!! Tried calling the number you gave and that number is 416-465-2407 and no anwser I'll try again later.

ARRGGHHHH! What is wrong with the world when we can't even get decent soya sauce anymore? I have been looking everywhere for some CL cause it is the best and wondered what was happening. First, no CL soya sauce and recently no OXO cubes either. We need our traditions. Bring back our CL!!!!!

CANT FIND ANYWERE IN CENTERAL ALBERTA EITHER THOUGHT I WAS LOSIN MY MIND VH KIKIKOMAN SUCK CHINA LILLY NUMBER 1 GOT ANY IN CENTERAL AB POST YOUR WEB

GOD DAMN CHINA LILY PEOPLE

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU !!! THANK YOU !!! to Sarah of Saskatoon and Patti of Aug 16 message. I decided to look for China Lily in "the least expected place" and after visiting three local "mom and pop" grocery stores here in mid Ontario, to my sheer delight, I found and bought 15 bottles. From everything I've heard, I will be scouting other areas for the "Black Gold". You never know, we may never see it on store shelves again !!! ;-(

I grew up loving China Lily Soy sauce back in Ontario...it must be an Eastern thing. I'm now out in Victoria and finding some of the products i crave just don't make it to the island. I do however have a regular supply of China Lily through a chain of supermarkets called "Thriftys" that are only in BC. My local store put up a sign about 2 months ago explaining problems in the factory and there being no more soy sauce until further notice. I will prevail though, i dont
f*%k around with my soy sauce. For those of you that dont know, China Lily puts out a 1 gallon (4.55 Litre) jug. If i can find them out here still, you people closer to the source should be able to score one too. (retails for like 16 bucks out here)
Cheers, i'm gonna go do a shot of soy sauce in honour of all you lily heads out there. hehe.

I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and I too have not been able to find any CL anywhere. So I called Sobey's and was informed that the CL company is having family issues. There is no other sauce like it, so I asked, "Do you have anything that is comparable?" The guy said,"No". Are we SOL?

I work in a grocery store. I was devastated to hear that China Lily was no longer available. I quickly ran down the asian food aisle only to find and empty space where China Lily once was. I had a weeks holidays coming to me so I set off for Saskatchewan checking every little corner store along the way. Finally, in a small town called "Weekes", Saskatchewan, I purchased 4- 483 ml bottles!!! Stupid me, I left behind 5 of the 142ml bottles. So, if any of you are desperate enough, grab a map and head to the prairies!

Realized last month that none of the stores in Kelowna, B.C. carried China Lily any longer - lucky I still have one bottle left which will be used very sparingly!! Bought several different brands and none came even close to the taste of C.L. One named VH (made in Ontario) was the closest, although saltier and a poor substitute.

LMAO. People it's only a condiment and you know the funny part? I know where to buy the stuff by SK. HeHe. Actually just under two hours away. Sigh, so funny. And the best part.. I recently moved to europe :p maybe i'll find it here. Laughng hysterically. seriously people. maybe it has drugs in it..that'd make sense.

I thought it was just at our store here in Oliver BC that was out. Then it never shows up on the shelf. When I mentioned it to my mom she told me that the grocer told her that they went bankrupt! Is this true?

Nothing tastes like China Lily.

There is no replacement.

:(

we've been without for months it seems like. ricew has been a staple in our diet but since cl is off the shelves we are doing without ( i'm not sure if sex or cl is worse. I just hope you guys are right and it's on the shelves soon.

doing the cl dt's
rob

I have been going crazy too looking for China Lily Soya Sauce. I am currently in sales and travel throught southern B.C. I have checked every small grocery, cornerstore, gas station anywhere that they might sell it with no success. It's just not out there. I actually had one convenience store owner give me 2 open bottles because he felt sorry for me.

Safeway brand comes close (at least in recipes) but we have quit plain rice since we ran out. When it comes back on the shelves, I will be buying 'extra' and stashing it!

Stop the insanity! Noticing we had no soy sauce in the house I trundled down to Safeway and after 10 minutes of looking and thinking - it must be on the shelve I just can't see it - I admitted defeat and tried Walmart and Superstore to no avail. As soon as I got home I googled china lily soy sauce and up popped this site with all the answers!! OK - if Lee's can't fix this problem we may need to get the recipe and start this company anew here in Canada. HELP - I need my CL

Hey everyone, good news I phone lees earlier today and they said that it should be back in canada's shelves by the end of Sept. That is good news!!! I love this stuff, I grew up on it, and rice is not the same without it. I have 1/2 bottle left, so I will have to savour it till the end of Sept. We have been sold out here for around month and half, and I bought that last 4 bottles that were on a grocery store shelf here. I even went as far as to see if there were any on ebay, but no luck. I hope they are right and it is back soon:-)

I have quite a supply build up here at home of China Lily Soya Sauce as I happened to find a small corner store with a large supply of it stocked up. I bought every single bottle they had on the shelves. Very expensive mind you but i am willing to share. You pay shipping and I will require a minimum number of bottles ordered. Email me if you are at all interested and I will quote you the price then.

China Lily lover =)

oops guess i should include my email ......heh.........keyasha@gmail.com

Just in case the Lee Foods does not get it back on the shelves for September, get some of my stock fast while supplies last!

Finally some one else has noticed, this is driving me crazy. I think that some online stores still have product so I would try there.

Those people need to figure out their family issues. The rest of the world needs it's soya sauce.

Amazing, I thought I was the only one going crazy over no soy sauce. I work at a small grocery store and have been trying to order some for months and every week the invoice said 'out of stock'. No help there. I recently received some gossip from our wholesaler who told me that there was a death in the family who runs the company and they've been having troubles. Not sure how much truth there is to that. I hope the end of September comes with China Lily because I'm almost out.

Thanks for the info Sarah!!! Victoria BC has been out for months as have I. Tried others only to be disappointed!!! Rice has not been the same for somrtime now. We will all rejoice next month, fingers crossed until September.

Ok...we are all crazy!!! But I was so relieved to find out that China Lily is coming back. We are almost out of it and there's no way my husband will be eating white rice without it!

Ok, I am so glad there are many others out there like me! I have tried so many different sauces. China Lily is the only one I'll use on my rice!!!

Here's my problem. Not only is all of Canada in a panic. I've moved to the States after living in BC for over 5 years and found I cannot find it here at all! This is before the problem broke out up there. My daughter is going back to Toronto for University this fall and I've pleaded for her to send me some when she gets settled in!!

I thought I was the only one going crazy without my China Lily soy sauce. I too have tried many brands since our stores have run out. Most have gone down the drain. No other brand compares!

Where oh where has my China Lily gone? It's certainly not anywhere near Prince George, BC. Don't these people understand??? They may think they are rich enough already to just "close" the plant, but my gosh..... I am getting sick of rice with just butter. YUCK!!! I NEED MY CHINA LILY!!!!!!

Well folks, just got a case of China Lilly 142ml bottles in today. I put them on the shelf (after grabbing 5 for myself) and they're half gone already. For those of you in B.C. go to your local Overwaitea and ask the Grocery manager to re-order it in... it should be in the warehouse. I know we ordered another 10 cases of it, just in case LOL I did notice the case had a "New Line" sticker on it, maybe because they'd taken it out of the system. I tried looking through the "class and category" for the 483ml size but no luck. Hope that helps :o)

if there is any in the city of richmond, i would sure like to know, because i just finished the last drop of china lily, and now i am going to be withdrawling.

I found a entire shelf full at Coopers foods in Hope BC. There was at least 100 + bottles. This must mean its comming back. The closest thing is Superstores no name brand. I could not tell the difference. Give it a try.

i'm told that western family brown soya sauce tastes similar.

Like Wayne said, Cooper's has China Lilly as well (in B.C.). Seeing that Cooper's is supplied from the Overwaitea Food Group warehouse (it's parent company... all owned by Jim Pattison) that would make sense. For the rest of you near a Cooper's, Overwaitea, or Save-On Foods you should now be able to get China Lilly as well. If you there isn't any on the shelf tell the person that does the ordering for the grocery floor the order number (03600-4) and he can order it in for you.

Good eating :o)

I see that the product is starting to show up on store shelves in BC but we haven't seen new stock in Manitoba. For that reason when I was in southern Manitoba over the weekend I found a Co-op store that had 15 bottles on the shelf. These were older bottles covered in dust but I picked up 5 of them and left 10 there for someone else to enjoy