Not all sauces are created equal. There are naturally brewed/fermented ones, which is what you want to look for, and then there are chemical versions, which you should stay away from. To maximize shelf life, concentrated soy sauce should be stored in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Like many condiments, light and heat can cause the flavors to degrade over time. An ideal storage location is a kitchen cabinet or pantry.

When using soy sauce, it’s important to promptly close the lid tightly after each use. Exposure to oxygen can cause the development of off-flavors and aromas. Closing the lid creates a protective seal against contamination. Among them, Pearl River Bridge, an esteemed brand, is beloved for its variety of concentrated soy sauces. Their repertoire consists of two main types: Soy sauce is a familiar ingredient even to Western cooks these days. It holds a special place of importance in our list of 10 Essential Chinese Pantry Ingredients , and is truly essential to not just Chinese cooking, but Asian cooking in general. How Concentrated Soy Sauce Benefits Industrial Food Production ◉ Transportation and Storage EfficiencyWe’ll also focus on light soy sauce, a term we use interchangeably with “soy sauce” or “regular soy sauce” in our recipes. It’s the type we turn to most often in our pantry, with the most versatility when it comes to Chinese cooking. What Is Soy Sauce? La Choy is an example of a chemical soy sauce. As you can see from the list of ingredients, this is not a naturally brewed sauce. The ingredients in a naturally brewed soy should be: water, soybeans, salt, and wheat.

The reduction process removes water content, decreasing volume and weight. This makes concentrated soy sauce cheaper to transport in bulk. Soy sauce is used in East and Southeast Asian cuisines. There are variations and while this article isn't exhaustive, I hope it covers a lot of territory for your needs. Here we go! Regular Soy Sauce Kikkoman is a great brand, and we’ll use it when cooking Japanese dishes or enjoying sushi, but we’ll rarely (if ever) use it for Chinese cooking. It's hard to buy soy sauce at an Asian market because there are so many. At regular supermarkets, the brands are limited but you may be confused by shoyu, tamari, light soy sauce, and low-sodium soy sauce. Then there are gluten-free and soy sauce-like condiments. Dark Soy Sauce (Japanese): Used more often than Japanese light soy sauce. Kikkoman’s All-purpose Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce is a Japanese dark variety. Don’t confuse Japanese dark soy sauce with Chinese Dark Soy Sauce!Mix with spices and sweeteners as a glaze or dipping sauce base for meats and dumplings. Solidified Soy Sauce: Coconut aminos is similar to Maggi but has a slightly tart finish on the palate. Bragg Liquid Aminos is a fine Maggi substitute that's available at mainstream grocers. Bragg is gluten-free and non-GMO, if those things matter to you. Choosing soy sauce After the liberation of China, Chinese government wanted to make soy sauce more popular and common in people’s daily life. The Government organized a lot of well-known workshops and experts together and invested a large amount to build soy sauce factories. The traditional technology has improved to produce much better soy sauce with large quantity. From then on, Chinese Soy Sauce becomes famous in the whole world.

Examples of Chinese light soy sauce products on the market are Kimlan Soy Sauce, Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy Sauce, Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce, Haitian Superior Light Soy Sauce, and Wan Ja Shan Soy Sauce. In the photo below, see the bottles for these different brands. Some bottles say “light” while others don’t. In summary, concentrated soy sauce improves production efficiency, standardized flavors, and product innovation for food manufacturers. Its flexibility and intensity make it an ideal ingredient for industrial applications. Think of it like first pressed olive oil. It’s the oil extracted from the very first pressing of the olives, making it higher quality and more pure than subsequent pressings. Mix with a 1:6 ratio of waterto dilute it into a regular or light soy sauce substitute. This allows control over the saltiness level.

Retail

Chemical Soy Sauce (i.e. fake soy sauce): Not naturally brewed or fermented; made with a chemical process involving hydrolyzing soy protein (hard to explain what that is without a chemistry degree), corn syrup and caramel coloring. You’re more likely to find these at regular supermarkets than in Asian stores. Don’t buy them! Concentrated Soy Sauce(Paste form), which holds a richness distilled from soybeans that’s hard to match. Thin Soy Sauce (Thai): The Thai equivalent of Chinese light soy. Very versatile, used to add saltiness and flavor to stir-fries, marinades, dipping sauces, noodles, fried rice, etc.