As a seasoning, soy sauce, according to historical data, appeared in one of the monasteries of Ancient China, in which a group of monks decided to take a strict fast and abandon all flour, milk and salty foods. This thick sauce eventually reached Japanese chefs and became an integral part of Japanese culinary culture.
In 1965, the book “Yoshufushi” was published in Japan, where the recipe for making soy sauce was first described. First, the soybeans are carefully selected and evaporated. Then wheat grains are added to them. This mixture is poured with salt water and placed in an airtight container where molds are added. It is they who process the resulting wort and give the sauce a dark color.
The sauce is infused for 2-3 years, then it is pressed to remove waste and poured into sterilized dishes. Some cooks add seasonings to the sauce – garlic, dill or other herbs.
Today, the sauce is prepared in a slightly different way: they no longer make wort and sourdough, but immediately process soy protein by hydrolysis: the beans are boiled with the addition of acids and subsequently quenched with alkali. After a few hours, the sauce is ready.
The harm and benefits of soy sauce
Modern soy sauce is quite dangerous for health, since during the hydrolysis process chloropropanols can be released – substances that cause the growth and appearance of cancer cells. However, such cases are quite rare in world practice.
Frequent use of soy sauce leads to hypertension (high blood pressure), abnormalities in the work of the heart and the identification of pathologies in the work of the thyroid gland. Pregnant women should not use the sauce, as it contains isoflavones that adversely affect the development of the embryo’s brain.
Otherwise, eating soy sauce is important and necessary for everyone, in moderation. It contains many amino acids and vitamins, replaces seasonings and salt, which is important for those who are trying to limit the amount of salt in their diet.
For the most beneficial sauce, it should only be purchased in a glass bottle. The label should not contain an indication of the content of emulsifiers, yeast, sugar and other extraneous components. The ideal composition is soy beans, salt, wheat grains.
The color of a good natural sauce is brown or a lighter delicate shade and it slowly flows down the walls of the bottle.