Soy sauce facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Soy sauce
A bowl of soy sauce
Mandarin Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	醬油
Simplified Chinese	酱油
Literal meaning	"sauce oil"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin jiàngyóu Wade–Giles chiang4-yu2 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization jeung-yàuh Jyutping zoeng3-jau4
Cantonese/Hokkien name
Chinese	豉油
Literal meaning	"fermented bean oil"
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization sihyàuh Jyutping si6jau4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ tāu-iû
Burmese name
Burmese	ပဲငံပြာရည်
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	xì dầu or nước tương
Thai name
Thai	ซีอิ๊ว (RTGS: si-iw)
Korean name
Hangul	간장
Literal meaning	"seasoning sauce"
Transcriptions Revised Romanization ganjang McCune–Reischauer kanjang
Japanese name
Kanji	醤油
Kana	しょうゆ
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn shōyu
Malay name
Malay	kicap
Indonesian name
Indonesian	kecap
Filipino name
Tagalog	toyo

A bottle of Japanese soya sauce

Soy sauce (US) or soya sauce is a fermented sauce made from soy beans (soya beans), roasted grain, water and salt. It is commonly used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisine. It appears in some Western cuisine dishes, especially as an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. Real soy sauces are fermented with kōji (麹, the mold Aspergillus oryzae or A. sojae) and other related microorganisms. Almost all soy sauce has some alcohol added during bottling. This acts as a preservative to protect it from going bad. For this reason, soy sauce should always be kept in the fridge. It should also not be put in direct light. An opened bottle of soy sauce that has been left unrefrigerated could become slightly bitter.

Although there are many types of soy sauce, all are salty and earthy-tasting brownish liquids used to season food while cooking or at the table. What some westerners can only describe as a flavorful, kind of sweet taste is a distinct basic taste called "umami" by the Japanese and "xian-wei" (鲜味, lit. fresh taste) by the Chinese.

Although this seasoning was first used in China, it is used several cuisines across Asia and is a particularly important flavoring in Japanese cuisine. There are many types of sauce.

Images for kids

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  Shoyu ramen

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  Soy sauce is made from soybeans

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  Soy and wheat with Aspergillus sojae cultures to brew soy sauce

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  A bottle of commercially made light soy sauce

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  Toyomansi, a typical Filipino dipping sauce composed of soy sauce and calamansi spiced with siling labuyo

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  Left, ABC brand Kecap manis sweet Indonesian soy sauce is nearly as thick as molasses; right, Kecap asin

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  Japanese supermarket soy sauce corner

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  Traditional Korean soy sauce

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  Soft serve usually topped with Thai sweet soy sauce served at Yaowarat, Bangkok, Thailand

See also

In Spanish: Salsa de soya para niños