Many vegans debate whether soy sauce is actually vegan, and I’ve noticed some confusion stems from the claim that soy sauce contains anchovies or fish sauce, but that’s not true for mainstream soy sauce.
In general, soy sauce is suitable for vegans as it’s made from soybeans, a member of the legume family. However, you should do always your due diligence by checking the ingredients of each soy sauce, and when in doubt, check with the brand to verify if it’s truly vegan.
We’re going to look at soy sauce in detail and learn how it’s made.
What is Soy Sauce?
Soy sauce is an Asian condiment that is available in different varieties that range from light to dark, and from thick to light.
Made from fermented soybeans, soy sauce won its place as a kitchen staple throughout East and Southeast Asia before taking over the West in the late 50s thanks to Yuzaburo Mogi, which is, at the time of me writing this article, the current Chairman and honorary CEO of Kikkoman, the world’s largest producer of soy sauce.
Yuzaburo Mogi increased the popularity of soy sauce in the West by hiring chefs to create recipes that included the sauce. He then sent those recipes to local newspapers, which encouraged housewives to cut them out and go shopping for the ingredients.
Weirdly enough, even though it was the Japanese that popularized the sauce, the roots of soy sauce can be traced back to a sauce called “jan” in ancient China.
“Jan” started with people pickling raw ingredients in salt to preserve them, and they were based on fruit, vegetables, grains, seaweed, meat, and fish. The variety made from grains like rice, wheat, and soybeans is believed to be what eventually led to soy sauce.
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Varieties of Soy Sauce
There are several varieties of soy sauces and it’s impossible to tell exactly the origin of them all; however, you can say that they stem from two countries: China and Japan.
In both countries, soy sauce is made from cleaned and soaked soya beans, then steamed, and mixed with a yeast culture and wheat flour before being fermented for up to two years, filtered, and finally bottled.
Chinese Soy Sauce
There are three types of Chinese soy sauce:
- Light soy sauce is a thin, reddish-brown liquid taken from the initial extraction. It’s light and has a delicate but salty flavor with a rich soy aroma. This one is widely used in Chinese cuisine, along with rice vinegar and Shaoxing wine.
- Dark soy sauce has been left to mature longer and had caramel added to it. It has a darker color, and it’s also sweeter than the lighter variety. Yes, it’s used to flavor a few Chinese dishes, but it’s mostly used to darken the color of sauces, fried rice, noodles, etc.
- Thick soy sauce is made with sugar and more wheat during the fermentation process. It’s sometimes thickened with starch, and it has a very sweet flavor. It’s often used in stir-fried dishes and dips.
Japanese Soy Sauce
There are also three types of Japanese soy sauce:
- Usukuchi is lighter than most soy sauces, but it’s not lighter in taste. It’s actually saltier than the Chinese light soy sauce, and it’s made from equal amounts of soybeans and wheat.
- Temari is dark, thick, and less salty, but it still has a strong flavor. It’s a byproduct of the production of miso paste and unlike other soy sauces, it contains no added wheat. However, it’s made with a higher volume of soybeans.
- Shoyu is a variety that is aged for up to two years, and it’s typically the most flavorful. Unlike Temari, it contains added wheat and tends to be used as an all-purpose cooking soy sauce.
They’re different from Chinese soy sauces so if you’re planning to cook Japanese dishes, then it’s probably a good idea to strictly use Japanese soy sauce, otherwise, you might not end with the exact taste you’re looking for.
How is Soy Sauce Made?
Today soy sauce is made using two methods: the traditi