Japanese Soy Sauce
Japanese Soy Sauce(shoyu) is traditionally divided into 5 main categories, depending on their ingredients and method of production. These are Koikuchi, Usukuchi, Tamari, Shiroi, Saishikomi. Japanese soy sauce have wheat as a primary ingredient, and this tends to give them a slightly sweeter taste than Chinese soy sauce. Japanese soy sauce often has a somewhat alcoholic, sherry-like flavor.
Japanese 'soy sauce' production was started in the coastal town of Choshi by the Buddhist priest, Kakushin from China in about AD1250. Choshi was a suitable location because of its nearness to the ingredients of salt, wheat and soy beans. The high humidity in the area also helped with the fermentation.
Until the 1640's the Japanese brewed Tamari, which is made from fermented soybeans, salt, and water. Then the Tamari manufacturers began adding wheat to the ingredients. This produces a sauce with more depth of character than the original tamari. This is how Shoyu or Japanese soy sauce as we know it was born.
Japanese soy sauce is best described as full flavored. Japanese soy sauce has atleast 300 identified flavor components and is treated as a table top seasoning, just as us westerners use salt and pepper. By most recent counts there are 2,600 soy sauce manufacturers in Japan. They offer many local variations in colour, flavours or components.
Kikkoman is probably the most well known, while Kinbue is the best we have tasted to date.
Varieties of Japanese Soy Sauce
Koikuchi originated in the Kanto region. Koikuchi is a great one to try first as it can be considered the typical Japanese soy sauce. These days over 80 percent of the Japanese domestic soy sauce production is of Koikuchi. Its production requires roughly equal quantities of soy bean and wheat. The unpasteurized variety is also called Kijoyu or Namashoyu.Usukuchi is saltier in taste and lighter in color than Koikuchi. The lighter color arises from the usage of amazake, a sweet liquid made from fermented rice, that is used in its production. Usukuchi is particularly popular in the Kansai region of Japan.
Tamari is wheat free and popular with those on a wheat free diet, Produced mainly in the Chubu region of Japan. It is much darker in colour and richer in flavour than koikuchi. Tamari is the 'original' Japanese soy sauce. Its recipe is closest to the original soy sauce introduced to Japan from China. Technically, this variety is known as Miso-Damari (this is the liquid that runs off miso as it matures). Tamari is made from water, soybeans, koji, and sea salt
Shiroi soy sauce in contrast to Tamari soy sauce uses mostly wheat and very little soybean. This results in a light appearance and sweet taste. It is more commonly used in the Kansai region to highlight the appearances of food.
Saishikomi is much darker and more strongly flavored. This variety substitutes previously made Koikuchi for the brine normally used in the process. Saishikomi is also known as Kanro Shoyu or 'sweet shoyu'.