Soy Sauce

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Soy sauce is a traditional food product originating from East Asia. Popular in the local cuisine, in recent decades soy sauce has gained wide popularity in our country. The history of soy sauce began in China thousands of years ago. For religious reasons, Chinese monks are replacing meat and milk with soy products.

Initially, soy was used to make vegetarian milk, cheese (tofu) and, of course, soy sauce. The facts show that 2000 years ago the technology of preparation of soy sauce was transferred to Japan. Soybeans are traditionally grown in Southeast Asia, and from there it is distributed in Russia and then in Europe.

In Bulgaria soybeans began to be cultivated at the beginning of this century. This is fibrous soybean, which is an annual plant, 25-200 cm high. 4 subspecies of fibrous soybean are cultivated - Manchurian, Japanese-Korean, Indian and Chinese. The most widespread is the Majura soybean, from which the varieties Dobrudzha soybean, Cuban soybean and others are known.

Types of soy sauce

Delicious and fragrant soy sauce is obtained from soybean seeds after specific treatment, the addition of water, and sometimes (in most cases) with the addition of salt. In addition to the classic dark soy sauce, light is also produced. It technologically ferments in a shorter time, is saltier and has a weaker taste. Its advantage is that it does not change the color of the dish. In Asia, various spices are added to soy sauce.

On the Old Continent, the most popular is the Chinese sauce, in which the main spice is star anise. Japanese sauce has no taste or aroma and contains only salt. Junesian soy sauce is sweeter and tastier because it contains aromatic spices and sugar.

Composition of soy sauce

Real soy sauce does not contain cholesterol and successfully replaces salt, spices, butter, mayonnaise. In addition, it is low in calories - there are 70 kcal per 100 grams. Soybean seeds contain a large amount of protein, very similar in composition to dairy.

They contain glycine instead of legume. However, glycine is more valuable because it has organically bound sulfur, which is needed for blood formation. In the quality soy sauce we can also find potassium and phosphorus salts, enzymes, provitamin A, vitamins B1, B2, C, K.

In general, soybeans are the first cereal in terms of fat and protein content. Their amino acids are similar in composition to those of meat.

How is soy sauce made?

The technology for the production of real and pure soy sauce is as follows: mix soybeans and wheat grains, which are flooded with salt water and left to ferment naturally for months. It is important to note that in the real soy sauce no artificial enhancers, flavors or preservatives are added. The color, sweetness and glutamate in real soy sauce come naturally from the breakdown of proteins and starch.

Umami or the fifth taste is actually the substance that emphasizes all other flavors and it is the reason for the secret of soy sauce, with which everything becomes so delicious. This production technology ensures that the soy sauce simultaneously retains the beneficial ingredients of soy, and those substances in it that create reserves for this cereal - indigestible proteins and phytic acid, are broken down into amino acids and minerals.

Thus, naturally fermented sauce has all the advantages of soy, but not its disadvantages. In high-quality soy sauce, natural extracts, such as garlic, dill, and others, can be added to the above ingredients in various combinations to change the taste.

The only benign way to speed up the preparation of soy sauce is to add specific microorganisms to the fermentation mass. This gives the sauce its characteristic sweet taste and accelerates its "ripening" by about 12 times. These two types are considered the safest and even useful.

But modern production technology calls into question the usefulness of soy sauce.

We often tend to put cheap in our shopping cart soy saucewhich has almost nothing to do with the technology described above. Poor quality soy sauce has some of the good features of a real product. In the cheap option, soybeans are boiled with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, and then quenched - a technology that requires a short time and brings big profits. Most types of soy sauce on the market are prepared this way.

Selection and storage of soy sauce

The low price of soy sauce is a guarantee that you are buying a low quality product. In most cases in the cheap soy sauce, which is often even available in plastic bottles, has the addition of preservatives and all sorts of E's. Choose soy sauce only in dark glass bottles! In plastic packaging, the sauce loses its taste and aroma.

Pay attention to the contents of the bottle - it should not be just dyes and flavors, but only natural ingredients. An indication of a quality soy sauce is the amount of protein, which should be up to about 8%. If you want a quality soy sauce, the label should say "produced by natural fermentation". Every other product ensures that it has the addition of chemicals.

Another quality criteria soy sauce is its color. If you expose the bottle to light, the color of the sauce should be light brown in color, slightly clear, which means that it is natural. Very dark sauces are fake.

Soy sauce in cooking

The essence of the existence of soy sauce is that it is a pleasant company for almost every dish we put on our plate. As a rule, this has an exception - soy sauce is not only suitable for cakes, because it has a pronounced salty taste.

Soy sauce is used to season dishes with meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, mayonnaise and various other sauces. It is an increasingly common ingredient in salad dressings or meat marinades. Rice is the first friend of soy sauce - even if only cooked and flavored with the dark elixir, the rice becomes incredibly tasty. That is why it is a mandatory supplement to sushi.

Benefits of soy sauce

Only the real one soy sauce can bring benefits to human health. Poor quality products are 100% harmful. Studies show that dark soy sauce can counteract the aging of human cells more effectively than red wine and vitamin C.

The sauce obtained by fermenting soy contains substances that are 10 times more active than red wine and 150 times more than vitamin C, slow down the oxidation of human cells.

It has been found that along with its antioxidant properties, soy sauce significantly improves blood circulation and slows the development of cardiovascular and other diseases.

Harm from soy sauce

The advice of experts is not to abuse the use of soy sauce, as it has a high salt content, which is known to be a factor in raising blood pressure. Preservative substances such as sodium benzoate are used in lower quality sauces. Monosodium glutamate, which has been shown to be harmful to the body, is used to enhance the taste. Often to further thicken the soy sauce, it is mixed with starch, which even takes away from the flavors and aromas of the sauce.