Soy Sauces

Question 1

Koikuchi Shoyu

Answer 1

Common Japanese:
Dark Soy Sauce
80% of domestic production.
Characteristics: deep unami (savory flavor), rounded sweetness, refreshing acidity, and a bitterness. Less salty.
Uses: all purpose, cooking, marinating, dipping

Question 2

Usukuchi Shoyu

Answer 2

Light color Japanese:
10% dom prod.
Characteristics: slightly sweeter, saltier, more intense flavor
Uses: sauces, cooking dishes that preserve the color and taste of ingredients.

Question 3

Tamari Shoyu

Answer 3

Tamari Japanese:
Characteristics: thickness, dense unami flavor, and unique fragrance. Made with little to no wheat. Reveals pleasing red tint when heated.
Uses: sauce for sushi and sashimi.

Question 4

Saishikomi Shoyu

Answer 4

Refermented Japanese: Characteristics: other soy sauce is made by blending the koji with brine for brewing, this type is blended with other soy sauce. Dense in color, flavor, fragrance, and is aka sweet soy sauce.

Question 5

Shiro Shoyu

Answer 5

Extra light color Japanese: Char: pale amber colored, bland flavor but with a strong sweetness. Brewed with more wheat.
Uses: cooking, white fish dip

Question 6

What is soy sauce?

Answer 6

A liquid made from soybeans, wheat, water, and salt. A by-product of fermented soybeans and wheat that have been mixed with brine.

Question 7

What are the two ways soy sauce is produced?

Answer 7

Naturally brewed & fermented OR chemically produced

Question 8

Chemical or non-brewed soy sauce

Answer 8

Produced quickly within days, a mixture of hydrolized soy protein and flavorings such as corn syrup and caramel. Has one note - super salty.

Question 9

Naturally brewed soy sauce

Answer 9

Fermented for months or longer. Has an aroma and complexity of flavor.

Question 10

What’s the difference between chinese and japanese soy sauce?

Answer 10

Japanese (shoyu) is brewed with roasted wheat. Has a slightly sweeter, rounder flavor.
Chinese, which traditionally left out the wheat, is nowadays brewed with wheat flour & sometimes added sugar. Denser, saltier finish. Often thicker and darker.

Question 11

What should you look for on a soy sauce label?

Answer 11

“brewed” or “traditionally brewed.”

Question 12

How is chemical soy sauce made?

Answer 12

Rapid hydrolysis - involves heating defatted soy proteins with 18% hydrochloric acid for 8-12 hours, then neutralizing the brew with sodium carbonate.

Question 13

Why were 25% of commercial soy sauces recalled in Great Britain in 2001?

Answer 13

They contained chloropropanols, a carcinogen highly suspected to be genotoxic in humans, has male anti-fertility effects

Question 14

Chinese Dark Soy Sauce

Answer 14

Characteristics: rich flavor, less salty, may contain sweeteners like caramel or molasses
Uses: cooking

Question 15

Chinese Light Soy Sauce

Answer 15

Characteristics: most common, thinner, saltier
Uses: stir frys, marinades, soups, dipping

Question 16

Shrimp Soy Sauce (Chinese)

Answer 16

Fresh soy sauce is simmered with fresh shrimp and finished with sugar, bai jui (liquor), and spices

Question 17

Kecap Manis

Answer 17

Indonesian soy sauce
Characteristics: thick, very sweet, made with fermented soy beans, flavored with palm sugar, star anise, ba jiao, blue ginger
Uses: Indonesian dishes

Question 18

Chemical Soy Sauces

Answer 18

Made by hydrolyzing soy proteins. Can be made in 3 days.

Question 19

How is soy sauce made?

Answer 19

Aspergillus molds are added to cooked soybeans and roasted wheat resulting in a mixture called koji. After the molds grow over 3 days, the culture is combined with salt water and transferred to large vats where lactobacillus - a bacteria that breaks down sugars into lactic acid - is added. The resulting mixture, moromi, is allowed to ferment for a time period ranging from 6 months to several years. The soy sauce is finally strained, pasteurized, bottle, and sold.

Question 20

How should you store soy sauce?

Answer 20

Soy sauce’s two main enemies are light and heat, so be sure to store it in a dark place away from a heat source. Keep in fridge after opening if you don’t expect to use it in a month.