February 17, 2010

Soy Sauce (Shoyu)/醤油(しょう油)

Let me start with the soy sauce I currently use, plus the one my wife happened to buy the other day.
現在使っている醤油と、妻がたまたま先日買ってきた醤油から始めます。

Left: Kikkoman Honjozo Shoyu, the soy sauce that I regularly use
Right: Umami Honjozo Shoyu, from Iwate Shoyu, which my wife happened to buy the other day
左: キッコーマン本醸造しょうゆ(現在、主に使っている醤油)
右: 「いわて醤油」の「うまみ本醸造しょうゆ」(妻がたまたま先日買ったもの)

Label of Kikkoman Honjozo Shoyu:
Name: Koikuchi shoyu (hon jozo) (dark soy sauce (authentically brewed))
Raw materials: Defatted soy flakes (non genetically modified), wheat, salt, soybeans (non genetically modified), alcohol
キッコーマン本醸しょうゆのラベル:
名称: こいくちしょうゆ(本醸造)
原材料名: 脱脂加工大豆(遺伝子組換えでない)、小麦、食塩、大豆(遺伝子組換えでない)、アルコール


Label of Umami Honjozo Shoyu
Name: Koikuchi shoyu (hon jozo) (dark soy sauce (authentically brewed))
Raw materials: Defatted soy flakes (non genetically modified), wheat, salt, seasonings (amino acids, etc.), caramel colors, sweetener (licorice), vitamin B1
「うまみ本醸造しょうゆ」のラベル
名称: こいくちしょうゆ(本醸造)
原材料名: 脱脂加工大豆(遺伝子組換えでない)、小麦、食塩、調味料(アミノ酸等)、カラメル色素、甘味料(カンゾウ)、ビタミンB1

(To be continued)
(続く)

2 comments:

Amato said...

I have a question: hon jozo means: naturally brewed, but:
I wrote, Kikkoman shoyu is naturally brewed but machines are used to speed up the process. If you like all natural shoyu you can only buy in organic food stores.
True or not?

In my post I classified shoyu in dark/light.
Maybe you like to look at it, it isn’t translated yet, but there is a translation tool and the names are written in Japanese.
http://wagashi-net.de/blog/wagashimaniac/wagashi-zutaten-igredients/japanische-kueche/

At home I have right now: Kikkoman, koikuchi and Higashimaru usukuchi and Yamasa koikuchi/usukuchi.
I already had the Kikkoman brand you use. I like Kikkoman shoyu, it’s a nice taste, to be honest, and I like it much more than natural shoyu from organic food store. The taste is more subtle.

Hiroyuki said...

Amato: Thanks for the link. I checked out your post about shoyu and other seasonings. You did a very good job on your blog!
About your question: Hon jozo is classified into three types:
1. Sokujo 速醸 (quick brewing)
2. Ten'nen jozo 天然醸造 (natural brewing)
3. Tezukuri 手造り (hand making)
For 1, fermentation accelerators are used.
For 2, no fermentation accelerators are used, and no food additives are used, either.
I think you are talking about this type of soy sauce.
3 goes even further than 2, and much of the work is done by hand.
from
http://www.s-shoyu.com/kh/kikaku2.htm
(Japanese only)

I think that at Kikkoman, they make soy sauce by brewing for eight months.