JAPAN’S FOOD CULTURE
Photos: Consumer Co-operative Kobe (all dishes), By MATSUMOTO Nakako Soy Sauce Information Center (soy sauce), Kadocho (soy sauce storehouse)
Characteristics of Soy Sauce Western sauce covers up ingredients and gives the main taste and flavor to a dish, In China, vegetables, legumes and soy sauce, like varnish, allows the ingre- seafood used to be salted and fermented dients to be savored at their best. to make paste (called hishio in Japanese) even before Christ. Liquid pressed out of Production Methods & Types of hishio is said to be the origin of soy sauce. Soy Sauce A variety made from soybeans was brought to Japan, which later developed Soy sauce is made by mixing steamed Regular soy sauce Light-color soy sauce into the unique Japanese soy sauce thanks soybeans and roasted wheat, and adding to the mild climate and good water of soy sauce koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae and Japanese Cuisine = Taste of Soy this archipelago. Because fresh fish and sojae) to this mixture, which is then Sauce vegetables are always available in Japan, allowed to cultivate for 44 hours. This koji the Japanese prefer lightly seasoned dish- is mixed with salt water, and allowed to Japan, a Buddhist nation, used to es so as to savor the taste of ingredients ferment for six months. The liquid abhor eating animal meat. However, themselves. Soy sauce can be used in any pressed out of the mixture after fermenta- food culture of the West, which brought of these dishes. Moreover, soy sauce is the tion is soy sauce. Koji, which is often called Christianity to Japan, lessened the best seasoning for enjoying cooked rice, a treasure box of enzymes, is a type of Japanese abhorrence for meat. With the which is the staple food of the Japanese. mold that produces numerous enzymes. dawn of the Meiji era (1868-1912), the Soy sauce is a seasoning in which the These enzymes break down the ingredients Japanese rapidly adopted Western civi- three key elements of taste, color and fla- to produce constituent elements of taste lization, and eating meat was one aspect vor are exquisitely balanced. Although it and flavor. The elements include 15 vari- of it. Not to be left behind by the wave is a salty seasoning, it has a very complex eties of sugar and acids each, 20 varieties of of the introduction of Western civiliza- taste because it contains at the same time amino acids and as many as 300 types of tion, the Japanese seasoned beef with soy a little sweetness, acidity, umami (a sub- aroma. Using different types of koji is the sauce to make “gyu-nabe” (beef pot), tle, tasty flavor coming from a combina- reason that tastes and flavors of soy sauce which later developed into sukiyaki (see tion of numerous amino acids) and even made by different producers vary and why a hint of bitterness. Its unique aroma Japanese soy sauce tastes and smells differ- whets the appetite. It is even said the ently from Chinese or other foreign vari- reason that the use of spices did not eties of soy sauce. Salt content is 14%, but develop in Japan unlike in the West is soy sauce tastes milder and less salty than because soy sauce was always there. The the figure suggests because the acids and Japanese have been able to eat raw fish umami elements moderate the saltiness. as sashimi (sliced raw fish) and sushi for Soy sauce mainly comes in two vari- many years thanks to soy sauce. This is a eties: regular and light-color. In Japan, it good proof that the aroma of soy sauce is called dark or light because of its color. acts as a spice that masks the fishy smell. The more common variety is regular soy Soy sauce is clear, reddish brown. Its sauce. Light-color soy sauce is made by A “gyu-nabe” (beef pot) restaurant scene beautiful color is compared to purple, adding more salt to the ingredients to contained in the book “Agura-nabe” published which is said to be a noble color, and curb fermentation and is used when one in the beginning of the Meiji era (possessed by soy sauce itself is sometimes called wants to emphasize the colors of the National Diet Library) “murasaki” (purple). When fish or meat ingredients or soup. It is often used in the right photo above). People tend to be is roasted or grilled, basted with soy Kyoto cuisine, which pays special atten- very conservative in their dietary habits sauce, it acquires a beautiful glaze. tion to the beauty of dishes. In recent and preferences, and are reluctant to Nevertheless, soy sauce is a seasoning years, as patients with hypertension or change them. By seasoning meat with that knows its place, meaning that it cardiac conditions who have to control soy sauce, the Japanese gradually got does not assert itself. Instead, it makes the intake of salt have increased, reduced- used to eating meat. Today, the ingredients taste their best. Therefore, salt soy sauce in which the salt content is Japanese diet has become very western- there is a saying: “While Western sauce only half of that of the ordinary type of ized, with Japanese eating more dairy is paint, soy sauce is varnish.” While soy sauce has come to be produced. and meat products. For example, the
A time-honored soy sauce brewer’s storehouse: The 150-year-old facility is still in use as the key to the taste is the yeast living 42 JAPAN SPOTLIGHT • January / February 2008 inside its walls and floors. JAPAN’S FOOD CULTURE consumption of traditional salty pickles Japanese food as tempura and sukiyaki, Chinese-taste soy sauce is widespread, has declined dramatically as people eat which served as a major engine for the but before long Japanese soy sauce will more and more vegetables in salads. rapid spread of soy sauce in the United become equally popular. However, the mainstream salad-dressing States. Soy sauce first won popularity is one made with soy sauce. When in that country when it was used to Dishes Using Soy Sauce Japanese-style steaks or hamburger glaze chicken to make teriyaki. Teriyaki steaks are served, they are always sea- burgers made their debut in the United The Japanese seldom use only salt to soned by soy sauce. The use of soy give a salty taste to a dish. Soy sauce is sauce easily and conveniently transforms used for almost all dishes. Raw food, foreign cuisine into Japanese dishes. such as sashimi, is dipped straight into soy sauce, while soups and boiled, broiled, grilled or pan-fried foods are seasoned with soy sauce. A teaspoonful (5 cc) of soy sauce contains 1 gram of salt. In a sautéed dish or a gratin, going easy on butter or cheese and replacing salt with soy sauce give depth to their taste and fla- vor because of the amino acids and other substances contained in soy sauce. The “Teriyaki chicken” result is a dish that is not only tastier but States rather than in Japan. also has fewer calories. “Japanese-style hamburger steaks” More recently, health-consciousness has brought a Japanese-food boom, Matsumoto Nakako is professor emeritus, Soy Sauce Spreading Globally which spread the use of soy sauce Kagawa Nutrition University, where she taught around the world. Major soy sauce from 1966 to 2006. She specializes in food In Southeast Asia, China, Japan and makers have plants in the United States, acceptability and her principal themes of other areas where the staple food is rice, Singapore, Taiwan, Europe, China, etc. research have been the history of food in Japan unique indigenous varieties of soy sauce for local production. Today, the use of and Japanese food preferences. suited to the local climate are being produced and used Examples of soy sauce used together with other seasonings as a seasoning. Today, the
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