Avoid any soy sauce product that has Hydrolyzed Vegetable Proteins or Hydrolyzed Soy in the ingredients.
Some of the products have Sodium Benzoate as a preservative. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s classified as “Generally Recognized As Safe” (GRAS), meaning that experts consider it safe when used as intended.
Pure Soy Sauce
- Pure SOY SAUCE contains fermented soybean, wheat, salt and water and that’s about it. Typical “soy sauce” contains Hydrolyzed Vegetable Proteins which uses Sulfuric acid to aid in processing.
- This is from an Amazon ad
- Put down the generic soy sauce and experience the real deal. Brewed and aged for 4 years using ancient methods. An example of “good” soy sauce uses 100 year old Kioke wooden barrels
- This is your original Asian umami gourmet soy sauce with simple ingredients of soybeans, wheat, salt, and water. No added preservatives, artificial coloring, Fillers. This is the purest sweet and salty Shout soy sauce in the market.
- Tsurubishio is the flagship series of soy sauce for Yamaroku and is aged the longest between 3-5 years. Served in an easy to open soy sauce dispenser glass container bottle.
- Tsurubishio is characterized as having a rich mellow flavor and is recommended for use in sushi, sashimi, tofu, grilled fish and as a secret ingredient for original dishes. Use it as an ingredient to make Ponzu and Teriyaki sauce or in ramen bowls
- The flavor of Tsurubishio is best described as having a deep, full rounded flavor containing a balanced taste of umami. Unique use with vanilla Ice cream gives it a caramel flavor.
- It costs $1.60 per ounce, while Kikkoman has a pure product (with Sodium Benzoate as a preservative) for about 20¢ per ounce.
Here are the results of an independent study
The 9 most popular bottles of soy sauce that we ordered and the process by which we tested them. (https://my-best.net/13479)
2. Inoue Shoyu Inoue Ancient Soy Sauce (井上醤油店 井上 古式じょうゆ)
3. Oono Umakuchi Soy Sauce (大野 うまくち醤油)
4. Kikkoman Always Fresh Rich Tasting Low Sodium Soy Sauce (キッコーマン食品 いつでも新鮮味わいリッチ減塩しょうゆ)
5. Fujikin Soy Sauce Usukuchi (フジキン醤油 うすくち)
6. Daitoku Shoyu Whole Soybean Soy Sauce (大徳醤油 丸大豆醤油)
7. Choko Chotokusen Murasaki (チョーコー 超特選むらさき)
8. Marunaka Soy Sauce (丸中醤油)
9. Marushima Soy Sauce Junsei Soy Sauce Koikuchi (丸島醤油 純正醤油 濃口)
Hydrolyzed vegetable proteins (HVPs) are applied worldwide for flavoring meat products at a level of 0.2–4.0 g per 1 kg of meat product. The main sources for HVP are soy, maize, or gluten, and soy is the preferred source for meat-flavored HVPs.
Honjozo Soy Sauces had a Strong Savoriness to Them, while Kongo Had More Nuanced, Layered Flavors
A bit about artificial soy sauce:
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) has received wide attention as a flavor enhancer that can replace monosodium glutamate (MSG). The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of added acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein (aHVP) and enzyme-hydrolyzed vegetable protein (eHVP) on consumers’ responses of Korean Doenjang soup. One hundred and twenty female consumers who consume Doenjang soup on a regular basis participated in consumer test of 8 Doenjang soup samples containing a flavor enhancer such as aHVP, eHVP, or MSG. The results indicated that the HVPs showed flavor-enhancing effects similar to those of MSG, respectively. It was also found that consumers preferred specific aHVP- or eHVP-added samples to MSG-added samples. These findings suggest that HVP could be used as a flavor enhancer in Doenjang products such as Doenjang soup.
Soy sauce and other HVP’s produced via aicd hydrolysis process might contain carcinogen and 3-Chloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), a carcinogenic, nephrotoxic, and reproductively toxic agent. This 3-MCPD is produced due to prolonged heating of chloride ions from hydrochloric acid with glycerol, lecithin, and other glycerides. Generally this process is done a atmospheric pressure, which require higher temperature to break down the proteins, another contributor factor is concentration of hydrochloric acid which is generally 4-9 M.
