Olivier Poels 5:40 p.m., October 27, 2021
Soy sauce was born out of a necessary human obsession: to conserve food.
One of the techniques known for millennia is the use of salt.
In China, these preparations made from fish, cereals or even vegetables were called "jiang".
They have been known since Antiquity, as early as 1000 BC They are the ancestors of soy sauce.
The soy jiang, which was easy to prepare and which can be found around 200 BC, foreshadows what will become of soy sauce. The jiangs arrived in the 7th century CE in Japan, thanks to Buddhist monks. At this time, the consumption of meat is prohibited, as are sauces made from meat. This imperial edict will go a long way to popularize soy sauce.
The recipe we know today was partly developed in the 13th century by a monk, Shinshi Kakushin, who started from another recipe: that of miso (fermented soybean paste) that he will modify. This sauce will be called first "tamari", then "shoyu". The Dutch East India Company will bring soy sauce to Europe. In France, it is found at the table of King Louis XV. Many then think that it is a reduced meat juice.
There are a multitude of different soy sauces, from different recipes and regions.
The principle is to ferment soybeans with generally wheat and salt.
This fermentation can be "forced" and accelerated.
Some high-quality soy sauces ferment for several years.
Fun fact: the sweet soy sauce we find here does not exist in Japan, it is produced exclusively for Western markets.