50 Fun Facts About Soy Sauce

In which country did soy sauce originate?

It appeared in its current form roughly 2,200 years ago and spread through East and Southeast Asia before becoming a global condiment.

During which Chinese dynasty was soy sauce created in its current form?

Its precursor, soy paste (jiang), was listed on bamboo slips found at the Mawangdui archaeological site.

Which taste, besides saltiness, is soy sauce best known for?

The savoury depth comes from free amino acids, mainly glutamic acid, released as soy and grain proteins break down.

Which genus of mould is traditionally used to ferment soy sauce?

The cultured mixture of soybeans, wheat and mould is called koji in Japan; A. oryzae and A. sojae are the main species used.

Historically, soy sauce began as a way to stretch which expensive commodity?

Zhou-dynasty cooks fermented fish with it and soybeans; by the Han the beans took over and fish sauce split off as its own condiment.

What is soy sauce called in Japan?

Buddhist practitioners arriving from China in the 7th century brought it along with vegetarianism.

How long is soy sauce shelf-stable, according to the reference?

Its high salt and acidity keep microbes at bay, though it retains its quality longer when kept out of direct sunlight.

Which trading power began exporting Japanese shoyu in 1647?

By 1737 its records list 75 large barrels shipped from Dejima to Batavia, 35 of which went on to the Netherlands.

What is soy sauce called in Korea?

The Samguk sagi records it being prepared, along with soybean paste, for King Sinmun's wedding in 683.

Why were Europeans long unable to make their own soy sauce?

Cookbooks instead offered imitations; a 1770 Swedish 'Soija' recipe used mushrooms flavoured with allspice and mace.

A 1770 Swedish soy-sauce substitute was flavoured with allspice and what?

The recipe for 'Soija' appeared in Cajsa Warg's popular household cookbook for young women.

Where did soy sauce production in the United States begin in 1905?

Yamajo Soy Co was renamed the Hawaiian Soy Company Ltd by 1909; locals in Hawaii still call the sauce by its Japanese name.

Which brand began selling hydrolysed-protein soy sauce in the US in 1933?

Chemically hydrolysed sauce takes about three days to make instead of months, and fills most take-out packets today.

What pejorative nickname did some Americans give soy sauce before the 1970s?

The slur faded as authentic Chinese cuisine became popular, and had largely disappeared by 1976.

Which chemical reaction gives soy sauce its dark brown colour and much of its aroma?

Free amino acids and simple sugars released by the mould's enzymes react together during brewing and ageing.

What is the fermenting mash of soybeans, wheat, salt and water called in Japanese brewing?

It is stirred constantly for 90 to 180 days, and sometimes left in direct sunlight to speed up decomposition.

Roughly how salty is the brine in traditional high-salt fermentation?

The salt selectively suppresses microbes, so only salt-loving anaerobes survive; the finished sauce is 14-18% salt.

How long does acid-hydrolysed 'chemical' soy sauce take to make?

It is cheaper and longer-lasting than brewed sauce, and is what usually fills the clear packets that come with take-out.

Which health-food product is essentially hydrolysed vegetable protein sold as a soy-sauce alternative?

They are marketed as low-sodium alternatives but are not necessarily low in sodium at all.

Which compound is most abundant among the amino acids in Chinese soy sauce?

Aspartic acid, alanine and leucine follow; the amino-acid nitrogen content is what China uses to grade soy sauce.

Which law can soy sauce run afoul of because of its fermentation?

Yeasts convert some sugars to ethanol, so the finished sauce may contain more than 1% alcohol.

Which Chinese variety is thin, saltier and used mainly for seasoning?

The first pressing, tou chou, is sold at a premium the way extra virgin olive oil is.

What is often added to Chinese dark soy sauce to give it its distinctive appearance?

Made from light soy sauce through prolonged ageing, it is richer, sweeter and less salty and is added mostly for colour.

Which fungus's broth is mixed into Chinese cǎogū lǎochōu dark soy?

The broth of Volvariella volvacea is mixed in during finishing and the sauce is then exposed to the sun.

Shrimp soy sauce, finished with sugar and baijiu, is a specialty of which city?

Fresh soy sauce is simmered with fresh shrimp and spices before being finished with the distilled liquor.

What is soy sauce called in the Philippines?

Mixed with calamansi juice it becomes toyomansi, a cousin of Japanese ponzu, and it is a key ingredient in adobo.

The Indonesian word for soy sauce, kecap, is a cognate of which English word?

Kecap is a catch-all for fermented sauces there; kecap Inggris, 'English sauce', is Worcestershire sauce.

What gives Indonesian kecap manis its thick, treacle-like sweetness?

The sweet variety accounts for an estimated 90 percent of Indonesia's soy sauce production and flavours nasi goreng and satay.

How many main types of shoyu does the Japanese Agricultural Standard recognise?

They are koikuchi, usukuchi, tamari, saishikomi and shiro, sold in three grades and three quality levels.

Which type makes up over 80% of Japan's soy sauce production?

The 'thick taste' sauce from the Kanto region is made from roughly equal parts soybean and wheat and is the typical Japanese soy sauce.

Which Japanese soy sauce contains little or no wheat, making it useful for gluten-free diets?

Its name comes from tamaru, 'to accumulate', because it was originally the liquid that pooled on maturing miso.

Which pale Japanese soy sauce uses mostly wheat and very little soybean?

The 'white' sauce is used in Kansai to keep food looking pale, and makes up just 0.7% of Japanese production.

Which sweet liquid made from fermented rice keeps usukuchi shoyu pale?

The 'thin taste' sauce, popular in Kansai, is saltier than koikuchi despite its lighter colour.

Saishikomi shoyu is 'twice-brewed' by replacing brine with what?

The result is much darker and stronger, and is also known as kanro shoyu, or 'sweet soy sauce'.

Which Japanese region, famous for sweet foods, favours amakuchi soy sauce?

In some places there it is easier to find the sweetened sauce than standard koikuchi.

Traditional Korean hansik soy sauce is a by-product of making what?

It is made purely from fermented soybean blocks (meju) and brine, and is used mostly in soups and seasoned vegetables.

How long is Korean jinjang, the 'dark' traditional soy sauce, aged?

The younger grades are haet-ganjang, aged a year, and jung-ganjang, aged three to four years.

What is soy sauce called in Peru, where it is essential to Chifa cooking?

The name comes from the Cantonese word for the sauce, reflecting the Chinese immigrants behind Chifa cuisine.

Which Sri Lankan street food relies heavily on soy sauce?

Production there was pioneered by the Sri Lankan Chinese community and follows the Indonesian method with a three-month fermentation.

A Singapore study found Chinese dark soy sauce has ten times the antioxidants of what?

Unpasteurised soy sauce is also rich in lactic acid bacteria, though it lacks the isoflavones of tofu or edamame.

Which carcinogen did a 2001 UK test find in 22% of hydrolysed soy sauces sampled?

About two-thirds of those samples also contained 1,3-DCP, and the same chemicals caused a food scare in Vietnam in 2007.

In which Japanese city was Kikkoman formed in 1917 from a merger of eight family firms?

The Mogi and Takanashi family businesses went back to 1603; the company was called Noda Shoyu until 1940.

Who designed Kikkoman's iconic tabletop soy sauce dispenser in 1961?

The teardrop bottle with its red cap has been in continuous production ever since and sits in museum design collections.

What is soy sauce called in Thailand?

Xì dầu is the Vietnamese name, kicap the Malay word and toyò the Filipino one.

Taiwanese soy sauce is famous for a variety brewed from which ingredient?

Producers claim the black bean version has a stronger flavour and more nutrition; Taiwan's brewing tradition traces back to Fujian and Guangdong.

By which Chinese dynasty had 'jiàng yóu' become the accepted name for the liquid condiment?

The term is documented in two Song-era books; older names such as qingjiang date back to AD 40.

Before soy sauce arrived, the Japanese used gyoshō, a condiment made from what?

Fish-based sauces and soy-based ones developed separately in China too, after the Han dynasty swapped fermented fish for soy paste.

Which Malaysian soy sauce is the rich, less-sugary cousin of Indonesian kecap manis?

Kicap cair is the thin Malaysian equivalent of Indonesia's salty kecap asin.

Which Hawaiian brand's soy sauce is known for a delicate, slightly sweeter flavour?

Hawaiian cooks call the condiment shōyu, and the islands' production dates back to the Yamajo Soy Co of 1905.

Which Japanese soy sauce is traditionally paired with sashimi?

Other sashimi soy sauces are often mislabelled as this wheat-free style.