A Staple for Japan’s Top Chefs.　　yuasa soy sauce

2010年8月5日

Soy Sauce in Yuasa

These days, soy sauce has become a commodity found all around the world. However, for the most part, what is known as soy sauce today only imitates the original. Few people know that 750 years ago, a small town in Wakayama, Japan named Yuasa was the birthplace of soy sauce. Originally, it was discovered by a monk that the liquid produced in the making of miso could be used as a condiment in its own right. Since this discovery, soy sauce was perfected and quickly spread throughout Japan, dramatically influencing the foods created and the tastes of the Japanese people. The original method was long and labourious, but since the industrial revolution in Japan, the process has been streamlined in order to increase production and lower costs. The increased circulation of this product has, however, stripped much from the taste, aroma and experience of soy sauce. Yuasa has continued to produce soy sauce, adhering to the traditional techniques but on a much smaller scale. In its heyday, Yuasa was home to ninety two factories but now only four remain. Pride in the condiment and the town in which it originated has dropped dramatically as large scale production of soy sauce moved from Yuasa to bigger cities and factories.

Our Mission

It is in this situation that our company emerged, with the goal of protecting the traditional practices involved in soy sauce production. We believe that true soy sauce is a product worth the extra labour, and work required in sourcing and incorporating only ingredients of the highest quality. This achieved, we have confidence in saying that we have pride in the resulting condiment. We hope to share the true flavours of soy sauce with the world, and to re-establish pride within Yuasa for our town, our history and our unique product.

Made the traditional way in the birthplace of soy sauce.

Yuasa Soy Sauce Ltd. strives for culinary excellence by incorporating traditional methods of production and all natural ingredients, renowned for their quality.

Yuasa Soy Sauce undergoes traditional fermentation, which takes between one and two years. Over time, this process has gone out of fashion, limiting fermentation time to between one and six months. However, as fermentation time gradually decreased, so has the quality. Not only does Yuasa Soy Sauce not cut corners on fermentation time, but in production we do not use machines when making our soy sauce. We use the traditional methods and thus, we produce it by hand.

The ingredients in the creation of Yuasa Soy Sauce are sourced entirely within Japan and use no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. Of particular note, is the water and the soy beans used. The water that is used is sourced locally in Yuasa and has a mineral content ideally suited to the manufacture of soy sauce. The suitability of its water is one of the major reasons the country town of Yuasa became the only supplier of soy sauce to Japan after its invention. Black soy beans (kuromame) are a unique addition, influenced by a style of production found in a cooking book written 1500 years ago. The beans are grown in Tanba, Kyoto, famous for being one of the only places in Japan producing them. These ingredients help towards creating the subtle complexities of soy sauce that should be considered in the same way they are considered in the purchase of fine wines.

Yuasa Soy Sauce has been received greatly by chefs in Japan and internationally. It has received Belgium’s Mondo Selection award annually since 2006 and is being adopted by chefs in Europe, after coming to Japan to trial the different types available. Yuasa Soy Sauce also sits safely at the top of the Japanese official ranking system for soy sauce, which amongst other things, tests soy sauce for its nitrogen content. Higher levels of nitrogen make for a better quality soy sauce.