Soy sauce

Soy sauce

A bowl of soy sauce with floating wasabi paste.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 醬油
Simplified Chinese 酱油
Literal meaning "fermented paste oil"
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese 豉油
Literal meaning "fermented bean oil"
Burmese name
Burmese ပဲငံပြာရည်
IPA [pɛ́ ŋàɴ bjà jè]
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese xì dầu or nước tương
Thai name
Thai ซีอิ๊ว (rtgs: si-io)
Korean name
Hangul 간장
Japanese name
Kanji 醤油
Hiragana しょうゆ
Indonesian name
Indonesian kecap
Filipino name
Tagalog toyo

Soy sauce (also called soya sauce)[1][2] is a condiment made from a fermented paste of boiled soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds.[3] It originated in China in the 2nd century AD and spread throughout East Asia where it is used in cooking and as a condiment.[4]

History

Soy sauce originated in China sometime between the 3rd and 5th century from a meat-based fermented sauce named jiang (醬). Its use later spread to East and Southeast Asia.[5] Like many salty condiments, soy sauce was originally a way to salt, historically an expensive commodity. In ancient China, fermented fish with salt was used as a condiment in which soybeans were included during the fermentation process. Eventually, this was replaced and the recipe for soy sauce, (醬油), using soybeans as the principal ingredient, with fermented fish-based sauces developing separately into fish sauce.[6]

Records of the Dutch East India Company list soy sauce as a commodity in 1737, when seventy-five large barrels were shipped from Dejima, Japan, to Batavia (present-day Jakarta) on the island of Java. Thirty-five barrels from that shipment were then shipped to the Netherlands.[7] In the 18th century, diplomat and scholar Isaac Titsingh published accounts of brewing soy sauce. Although earlier descriptions of soy sauce had been disseminated in the West, his was among the earliest to focus specifically on the brewing of the Japanese version.[8] By the mid-19th century, Japanese soy sauce gradually disappeared from the European market, and the condiment became synonymous with the Chinese product.[9] Europeans were unable to make soy sauce because they did not understand the function of Aspergillus oryzae, the fungus used in its brewing.[9] Soy sauce made from ingredients such as Portobello mushrooms were disseminated in European cookbooks during the late 18th century. A Swedish recipe for "Soija" was published in the 1770 edition of Cajsa Warg's Hjelpreda i Hushållningen för Unga Fruentimber and was flavored with allspice and mace.[10]

The 19th century Sinologist Samuel Wells Williams wrote that in China, the best soy sauce is "made by boiling beans soft, adding an equal quantity of wheat or barley, and leaving the mass to ferment; a portion of salt and three times as much water are afterwards put in, and the whole compound left for two or three months when the liquid is pressed and strained".[11]

Production

Soy sauce is made from soybeans

Soy sauce is made either by fermentation or by hydrolysis. Some commercial sauces have both fermented and chemical sauces.

Variation is usually achieved as the result of different methods and durations of fermentation, different ratios of water, salt, and fermented soy, or through the addition of other ingredients.

Traditional

Traditional soy sauces are made by mixing soybeans and grain with mold cultures such as Aspergillus oryzae and other related microorganisms and yeasts (the resulting mixture is called "koji" in Japan; the term "koji" is used both for the mixture of soybeans, wheat, and mold as well as for the mold itself). Historically, the mixture was fermented naturally in large urns and under the sun, which was believed to contribute extra flavors. Today, the mixture is placed in a temperature and humidity controlled incubation chamber.[12]

Traditional soy sauces take months to make:

  1. Soaking and cooking: The soybeans are soaked in water and boiled until cooked. Wheat is roasted, crushed.
  2. Koji culturing: An equal amount of boiled soybeans and roasted wheat are mixed to form a grain mixture. A culture of Aspergillus spore is added to the grain mixture and mixed or the mixture is allowed to gather spores from the environment itself. The cultures include:
    • Aspergillus: a genus of fungus that is used for fermenting various ingredients (the cultures are called koji in Japanese). Three species are used for brewing soy sauce:
      • A. oryzae: Strains with high proteolytic capacity are used for brewing soy sauce.[13]
      • A. sojae: This fungus also has a high proteolytic capacity.
      • A. tamari: This fungus is used for brewing tamari, a variety of soy sauce.
    • Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the yeasts in the culture convert some of the sugars to ethanol which can undergo secondary reactions to make other flavor compounds
    • Other microbes contained in the culture:
      • Bacillus spp. (genus): This organism is likely to grow soy sauce ingredients, bring to generate odors and ammonia.
      • Lactobacillus species: This organism makes a lactic acid that increases the acidity in the feed.
  3. Brewing: The cultured grain mixture is mixed into a specific amount of salt brine for wet fermentation or with coarse salt for dry fermentation and left to brew. Over time, the Aspergillus mold on the soy and wheat break down the grain proteins into free amino acid and protein fragments and starches into simple sugars. This amino-glycosidic reaction gives soy sauce its dark brown color. Lactic acid bacteria ferments the sugars into lactic acid and yeast makes ethanol, which through aging and secondary fermentation makes numerous flavor compounds typical of soy sauce.
  4. Pressing: The fully fermented grain slurry is placed into cloth-lined containers and pressed to separate the solids from the liquid soy sauce. The isolated solids are used as fertilizer or fed to animals while the liquid soy sauce is processed further.
  5. Pasteurization: The raw soy sauce is heated to eliminate any active yeasts and molds remaining in the soy sauce and can be filtered to remove any fine particulates
  6. Storage: The soy sauce can be aged or directly bottled and sold.
Soy and wheat with Aspergillus sojae cultures to brew soy sauce

Acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein

Some brands of soy sauce are made from acid-hydrolyzed soy protein instead of brewed with a traditional culture. This takes about three days.[14] Although they have a different flavor, aroma, and texture when compared to brewed soy sauces, they have a longer shelf life and are usually made for this reason. The clear plastic packets of dark sauce common with Chinese-style take-out food typically use a hydrolyzed vegetable protein formula. Some higher-quality hydrolyzed vegetable protein products with no added salt, sugar or colorings are sold as low-sodium soy sauce alternatives called "liquid aminos" in health food stores, similar to the way salt substitutes are used. These products are, however, not necessarily low in sodium.

Types

Soy sauce is widely used as an important flavoring and has been integrated into the traditional cuisines of many East Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. Despite their rather similar appearance, soy sauces made in different cultures and regions are different in taste, consistency, fragrance and saltiness. Soy sauce retains its quality longer when kept away from direct sunlight .

Chinese

Chinese soy sauces (Mandarin Chinese: jiàng yóu/Cantonese: jeong yau (simplified Chinese: 酱油; traditional Chinese: 醬油) or chǐ yóu/si yau (豉油)) are primarily made from soybeans, with relatively low amounts of other grains. Chinese soy sauce can be roughly split into two classes: brewed or blended.

Most Chinese food take-out soy sauce (also called soya sauce) in the United States is not really soy sauce; it is not fermented, but is a combination of ingredients, depending on the manufacturer, including corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, vegetable protein, and sodium benzoate.

Brewed

A bottle of commercially made light soy sauce

Soy sauce that has been brewed directly from a fermentation process using wheat, soybeans, salt, and water without additional additives.

Blended

Additives with sweet or umami (savory) tastes are sometimes added to a finished brewed soy sauce to modify its taste and texture.

Japanese

Japanese supermarket soy sauce corner

Buddhist monks from China introduced soy sauce into Japan in the 7th century,[16] where it is known as shōyu (醤油 shōyu).[17][18]

Shōyu is traditionally divided into five main categories depending on differences in their ingredients and method of production. Most, but not all Japanese soy sauces include wheat as a primary ingredient, which tends to give them a slightly sweeter taste than their Chinese counterparts. They also tend towards an alcoholic sherry-like flavor, sometimes enhanced by the addition of small amounts of alcohol as a natural preservative. The widely varying flavors of these soy sauces are not always interchangeable, some recipes only call for one type or the other, much as a white wine cannot replace a red's flavor or beef stock does not make the same results as fish stock.

Some soy sauces made in the Japanese way or styled after them contain about 50% wheat.

Varieties

Newer varieties of Japanese soy sauce include:[19]

All of these varieties are sold in the marketplace in three different grades according to how they were made:

All the varieties and grades may be sold according to three official levels of quality:[20]

Soy sauce is also commonly known as shoyu, and less commonly shōyu, in Hawaii and Brazil.

Indonesian

Main article: Sweet soy sauce
Left, ABC brand Kecap manis sweet Indonesian soy sauce is nearly as thick as molasses; right, Kecap asin

In Indonesia, soy sauce is known as kecap (old spelling: ketjap), which is a catch-all term for fermented sauces, and cognate to the English word "ketchup".[21] The most popular type of soy sauce in Indonesian cuisine is kecap manis or sweet soy sauce. The term kecap is also used to describe other non soy-based sauces, such as kecap ikan (fish sauce) and kecap inggris (worcestershire sauce). Three common varieties of soy-based kecap exist in Indonesian cuisine, used either as ingredients or condiments:

Korean

Traditional Korean soy sauce
Main article: ganjang

Korean soy sauce, (called Joseon ganjang, 조선간장, in Korean) is a byproduct of the production of doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste), so Bacillus subtilis is used for fermentation. It is mainly used in making soups, seasoning, and dip sauce. Joseon ganjang, thin and dark brown in color, is made entirely of soy and brine, and has a saltiness that varies according to the maker. Wide scale use of Joseon ganjang has been somewhat superseded by cheaper factory-made Japanese style soy sauce, called waeganjang (hangul: 왜간장/倭간醬). According to the 2001 national food consumption survey in Korea, traditional fermented ganjang comprised only 1.4% of soy sauce purchases.[23]

Burmese

Burmese soy sauce production is dated back to the Bagan era in the 9th and 10th century. Scripts written in praise of pe ngan byar yay (ပဲငံပြာရည်, literally "bean fish sauce") were found. Production increased during the Konbaung dynasty, circa 1700, when there was bolstered migration of ethnic groups from the north to boost and modify the production of silk in Amarapura. Thick soy sauce is called kya nyo (ကြာညို့, from Chinese jiàngyóu.

Filipino

In the Philippines, soy sauce is called toyò in the native languages, and is a broad term used for both the Japanese shōyu and Chinese jiàngyóu. Philippine soy sauce is usually a combination of soybeans, wheat, salt, and caramel color. It is thinner in texture and has a saltier taste than its Southeast Asian counterparts, similar to Japanese variety.

Toyò is used as a marinade, an ingredient in cooked dishes, and most often as a table condiment, usually alongside other sauces such as fish sauce (patís) and sugar cane vinegar (sukà). It is often mixed and served with the juice of the calamansi (× Citrofortunella microcarpa; also called calamondin, limonsito). The combination is known as toyomansî, which can be comparable to the Japanese ponzu sauce (soy sauce with yuzu). Toyò is also a main ingredient in adobo, one of the more famous dishes of Filipino cuisine.

Hawaiian

Soy sauce is a very popular condiment and marinade for many dishes in the Hawaiian cuisine. Aloha shoyu is soy sauce made in the Islands.[24]

Malaysian and Singaporean

In Mandarin Chinese spoken in Malaysia and Singapore, soy sauce in general is referred to as dòuyóu (豆油), a Mandarin transliteration of the Hokkien term for the sauce or jiàngyóu (醬油); light soy sauce is jiàngqīng (醬清). Angmo daoiu (紅毛豆油, lit. "foreigners' soy sauce") is the Hokkien name for Worcestershire sauce.

Malays from Malaysia, using the Malay dialect similar to Indonesian, use the word kicap for soy sauce. Kicap is traditionally of two types: kicap lemak (lit "fat/rich soy sauce") and kicap cair. Kicap lemak is similar to Indonesian kecap manis but with very much less sugar while kicap cair is the Malaysian equivalent of kecap asin.

Taiwanese

The history of soy sauce making in Taiwan can be traced back to southeastern China, in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. Taiwanese soy sauce is known for its black bean variant, known as black bean soy sauce (黑豆蔭油), which takes longer to make (about 6 months). Most major soy sauce makers in Taiwan make soy sauce from soybeans and wheat. Some make black bean soy sauce.[25]

Vietnamese

In Vietnam, Chinese-style soy sauce is called xì dầu (derived from the Cantonese name 豉油) or nước tương. The term "soy sauce" could also imply other condiments and soy bean paste with thick consistency known as tương. Both are used mostly as a seasoning or dipping sauce for a number of dishes. Vietnamese cuisine itself favors fish sauce in cooking but nước tương has a clear presence in vegetarian cooking.

Nutrition

A study by the National University of Singapore showed that Chinese dark soy sauce contains 10 times the antioxidants of red wine, and can help prevent cardiovascular diseases.[26] Soy sauce is rich in lactic acid bacteria and of excellent anti-allergic potential.[27][28]

Soy sauce does not contain the level of isoflavones associated with other soy products such as tofu or edamame.[29] It can also be very salty, having a salt content of between 14–18%. Low-sodium soy sauces are made, but it is difficult to make soy sauce without using some quantity of salt as an antimicrobial agent.[30]

100ml of soy sauce contains the following nutritional information according to the USDA:

Carcinogens

Soy sauce may contain ethyl carbamate, a Group 2A carcinogen.[31]

In 2001 the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency found in testing various soy sauces manufactured in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand (made from hydrolyzed soy protein, rather than being naturally fermented) that 22% of tested samples, contained a chemical carcinogen named 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol) at levels considerably higher than those deemed safe by the EU. About two-thirds of these samples also contained a second carcinogenic chemical named 1,3-DCP (1,3-dichloropropane-2-ol) which experts advise should not be present at any levels in food. Both chemicals have the potential to cause cancer and the Agency recommended that the affected products be withdrawn from shelves and avoided. 3-MCPD and 1,3-DCP.[32][33][34][35] The same carcinogens were found in soy sauces manufactured in Vietnam, causing a food scare in 2007.[36][37]

In Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society writes, "Health Canada has concluded that there is no health risk to Canadians from use of available soy and oyster sauces. Because continuous lifetime exposure to high levels of 3-MCPD could pose a health risk, Health Canada has established 1.0 part per million (ppm) as a guideline for importers of these sauces, in order to reduce Canadians' long-term exposure to this chemical. This is considered to be a very safe level."[38]

Allergies

Further information: Soy allergy

Most varieties of soy sauce contain wheat, to which some people have a medical intolerance.[39] However, some naturally brewed soy sauces made with wheat may be tolerated by people with a specific intolerance to gluten because gluten is not detectable in the finished product.[40] Japanese tamari soy sauce is traditionally wheat-free, and some tamari available commercially today is wheat- and gluten-free.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/soy_sauce "...soy sauce (or soya sauce) forms a basic ingredient in Japanese, Chinese and other Asian cooking."
  2. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/19/salmon-soba-noodles "For the marinade; 1 tbsp soya sauce"
  3. ↑ 'Microbiology Laboratory Theory and Application.' Michael Leboffe and Burton Pierce, 2nd edition. pp.317
  4. ↑ Shurtleff, W.; Aoyagi, A. "History of Soy Sauce (160 CE to 2012)." Lafayette, California: Soyinfo Center. 2,523 p. (8,554 references. 228 photographs and illustrations. Free online).
  5. ↑ Tanaka, Norio. "Shōyu: The Flavor of Japan," The Japan Foundation Newsletter Vol. XXVII, No. 2 (January 2000), p. 2.
  6. ↑ Kurlansky, Mark (2002). Salt: A world history. New York: Walker and Co. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8027-1373-5.
  7. ↑ Tanaka, p. 6.
  8. ↑ Titsingh, Isaac. (1781). "Bereiding van de Soya" ("Producing Soy Sauce"), Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap (Transactions of the Batavian Academy), Vol. III. OCLC 9752305
  9. 1 2 Tanaka, p. 7.
  10. ↑ Warg, Cajsa (1770) Hjelpreda i Hushållningen för Unga Fruentimber, "Soija" pp. 70—71 of the appendix
  11. ↑ Williams, Samuel Wells (1848), The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, Government, Education, Social Life, Arts, Religion, &c. of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants, 2 vol. Wiley & Putnam
  12. ↑ "Tamari, Soy Sauce – San-J". san-j.com.
  13. ↑ Maheshwari, D.K.; Dubey, R.C.; Saravanamuthu, R. (2010). Industrial exploitation of microorganisms. New Delhi: I.K. International Pub. House. p. 242. ISBN 978-93-8002-653-4.
  14. ↑ "Korean Restaurant Guide article on soy sauce". Koreanrestaurantguide.com. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  15. ↑ jzqu20519. "咱へ故鄉 丸莊醬油"
  16. ↑ Wilson, Kathy (2010). Biotechnology and genetic engineering. New York: Facts on File. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-8160-7784-7.
  17. ↑ "Shoyu". Dictionary.com.
  18. ↑ "shoyu". Merriam-webster's Online Dictionary.
  19. ↑ Steinkraus, Keith H., ed. (2004). Industrialization of indigenous fermented foods (Second ed.). Marcel Dekker. p. 22. ISBN 0-8247-4784-4.
  20. ↑ Wood, Brian J. B., ed. (1998). Microbiology of fermented foods 1 (Second ed.). Blackie academic & professional. p. 364. ISBN 0-7514-0216-8.
  21. ↑ See discussion and references at Wiktionary: ketchup.
  22. ↑ William Shurtleff; Akiko Aoyagi (2010). History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in Southeast Asia (13th Century To 2010): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. p. 537 } accessdate = 15 February 2016. ISBN 9781928914303.
  23. ↑ Jung, Soon Teck and Kang, Seong-Gook (2002). "The Past and Present of Traditional Fermented Foods in Korea". Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  24. ↑ "Soy Sauce". alohashoyu.com.
  25. ↑ Chung, Oscar (1 January 2010). "A Sauce for All". Taiwan Review (Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan)). Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  26. ↑ Daniells, Stephen (6 June 2006). "Antioxidant-rich soy sauce could protect against CVD". nutraingredients.com. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  27. ↑ Tanasupawat, Somboon; et al. (18 June 2002). "Lactic acid bacteria isolated from soy sauce mash in Thailand". Journal of General and Applied Microbiology (The Microbiology Research Foundation) 48 (4): 201–209. doi:10.2323/jgam.48.201. PMID 12469319.
  28. ↑ Kobayashi, Makio (18 April 2005). "Immunological Functions of Soy Sauce: Hypoallergenicity and Antiallergic Activity of Soy Sauce". Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering (Society for Biotechnology, Japan) 1 (2): 144–151. doi:10.1263/jbb.100.144. PMID 16198255.
  29. ↑ Shahidi, Fereidoon; Naczk, Marian (2003). Phenolics in food and nutraceuticals, Edition 2. Florence, Kentucky: CRC Press. p. 103. ISBN 1-58716-138-9.
  30. ↑ Hutkins, Robert Wayne (2006). Microbiology and technology of fermented foods. Blackwell publishing. ISBN 0-8138-0018-8.
  31. ↑ Matsudo T, T Aoki, K Abe, N Fukuta, T Higuchi, M Sasaki & K Uchida (1993). "Determination of ethyl carbamate in soy sauce and its possible precursor". J Agric Food Chem 41 (3): 352–356. doi:10.1021/jf00027a003.
  32. ↑ "Survey of 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-Diol (3-MCPD) in Soy Sauce and Related Products (Number 14/01)". Food Standards Agency. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  33. ↑ Junelyn S. de la Rosa (May 2004). "Is your soy sauce safe?". Bar.gov.ph. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  34. ↑ Food Standards Agency (20 June 2001). "Some Soy Sauce Products To Be Removed" (Press release). Food Standards Agency. Retrieved 7 January 2008.
  35. ↑ UK UK Food Standards Agency: Soy advice leaflet.
  36. ↑ VIETNAMNET, Ha Noi, Viet nam. "Soya sauce stirs worry and discontentment among public". English.vietnamnet.vn. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  37. ↑ (AFP) (11 September 2007). "Toxic soy sauce, chemical veggies — food scares hit Vietnam". Google. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  38. ↑ "Oyster and soy sauce". Canadian Cancer Society. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  39. ↑ Celiac Disease Foundation. "Celiac Disease Foundation". Celiac Disease Foundation.
  40. ↑ "Does soy sauce contain gluten?". Soya.be. Retrieved 16 July 2010.

References

Further reading

External links

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