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Soy sauce facts for kids

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Soy sauce
Soy sauce 2.jpg
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
Shoyu
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.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Salsa de soya para niños

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