Soy Sauce facts

Soy Ceremony

A virtual taste test

At Kikkoman, we’ve been following the same time-honored natural brewing process to make soy sauce for more than 300 years. So it should come as no surprise that we’re a company with a healthy respect for tradition. We invite you to participate in a virtual “Soy Ceremony,” to understand why this process is so important to us and how it impacts the quality of soy sauce, and ultimately, the quality of your cooking.

Here’s a gold lacquered tray (at right) bearing two ceramic tasting dishes. Each dish has a bull’s eye pattern on the bottom of the dish. In one dish you pour a small amount of non-brewed soy sauce. In the other, the same amount of naturally brewed Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

1. See

The bull’s-eye pattern in the dishes immediately reveals the first major difference. You notice that Kikkoman is delicately translucent with an attractive, reddish-brown color, which you can see through the pattern; the non-brewed soy sauce is black and opaque. No bull’s-eye is revealed there.

2. Smell

Next swirl the sauces as you would fine wine and take in their aromas. Kikkoman’s is slightly sweet, rich, a bit earthy, decidedly appetizing. The non-brewed soy sauce has an acrid, chemical aroma.

3. Taste

Now sample a few drops of Kikkoman, letting its flavor spread across your tongue. You’ll be struck by its complexity, its delicate balance of flavors, the play of salty, sweet, sour and savory on your palate. That’s because Kikkoman has more than 285 flavor and aroma components. Now try a taste of non-brewed soy sauce. It has a sharp, overpowering, unpleasant flavor.
Once you experience the difference, there is just one last step: cooking. When you cook with naturally brewed Kikkoman, you quickly discover that it is more than just an Asian flavoring. It’s a remarkable flavor enhancer that rounds out the flavors of other ingredients, adding depth and richness to all kinds of foods, from burgers to green salads, soups to casseroles.

So don’t stand on ceremony. Pick up a bottle of Kikkoman and start creating a few flavor traditions of your own.