hey everyone I'm Nima and welcome to my YouTube channel I'm sure you have heard
about soy sauce before or you might have actually used it but you're not exactly
sure what it is how it's made where it comes from what is the best way to use
it what is the best way to keep and store it and a lot more so if you want to get
the answer to all those questions you're in the right place and keep watching this video
what is soy sauce so it's basically a dark brown liquid which originated in China about 2000 years
ago and uh soy sauce is a very important component in Chinese and Japanese Cuisine and you would
rarely find a Chinese food which does not have any soy sauce in it soy sauce is basically salty it's
very salty very Umami and if you actually taste soy sauce like if you actually pay attention to
the taste of soy sauce you'll see that it's a little bit sweet and bitter so it's salty
Umami a little sweet and a little bitter this means that it has a very nice balance which means
it's an excellent condiment and that's why if you go to Asian restaurants you see that small bowls
filled with soy sauce next to their like uh main courses that's why it's an excellent condiment
it has a very nice balance of salty Umami sweet and bitter how to use soy sauce well you can use
soy sauce in your marinades but watch your salt content like if you have already added salt to
your marinade and you add soy sauce the outcome will be over salty you know just watch your
salt content and you can use soy sauce in your marinades you can also use it in soups and stews
which gives a very nice depth of flavor depth of umami flavor but this time you gotta watch your
um watch the color like if you're making a white soup and then you add soy sauce to it it will make
it darker which will ruin your soup you know and one thing that I really like about the
soy sauce is that heat does not affect it what do I mean by that so let's say you're making a
soup and you add a little bit of soy sauce at the beginning of cooking process if you taste
the soup at the end of cooking process you can still taste the soy sauce in it so heat does not
affect it if you think you've learned something watching this video so far please hit that like
button down below so YouTube will show this video to more people who are interested about soy sauce
thank you how is soy sauce made well I have to say that soy sauce has been made in a lot of different
ways with different methods different ingredients in different regions and a lot more but authentic
soy sauce usually follow the same steps you know and authentic soy sauce is usually made with
water salt yeast soybeans and wheat at first they would basically rinse the soybeans and make sure
they're clean and then they would boil them for about four hours to soften them up and when the
soybeans are softened it basically like speeds up the fermentation process the fermentation
process happens quickly and then they would add the yeast to the wheat and then they would let
it sit for two days after two days the yeast is fully activated and then they would add all the
ingredients in a wooden barrel what are the other ingredients water salt wheat and yeast together
and the cooked soybeans they would add all that in a wooden barrel and then for the next six weeks
every day they have to open the barrel they have to stir it make sure the yeast is alive make sure
everything is good and then close the barrel again for the next six weeks they got to do this every
day and then after six weeks it's good everything is good the yeast is activated they would close
the barrel and then let it sit for about a year for about 10 to 12 months and then after that
the soy sauce is ready they would basically press the mixture so all the soy sauce is out they would
strain it and then they would pasteurize it and then it's ready for sale you know but nowadays
soy sauce is not made like the traditional way nowadays everything is industrial and everything
happens quickly you know what I mean so they would basically add all the ingredients to in
a container soybeans water yeast or salt and wheat and then they also add one more ingredient which
is acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein what does this ingredient do it basically breaks down the
soybeans and then the process happens way faster but does it taste the same no of course not the
traditional way has a more complex flavor and color but the Modern Way the Industrial Way they
often add some food coloring to it as well because in like three to five days it won't have that like
rich dark brown color you know what I mean so they often add food coloring to it as well I'm
sure a lot of people have seen about is soy sauce bad for you or not well the only concern that you
should have about soy sauce is the salt content and look or the sodium content you know and the
thing about the soy sauce is that it has more salt than you can taste so which means like let's say
you're making something and then you add a little bit of salt and then you taste it again it's good
right but you add a little bit of soy sauce you taste it it's good but you've added actually a lot
more salt so how does that happen well soy sauce is basically a fermented liquid right and it has
other flavors in it as well it has soybeans it has wheat it and these two basically combine together
and you don't really taste all the salt which is in soy sauce so soy sauce has a lot more salt in
it and for people who have high blood pressure you basically like have to minimize the usage of soy
sauce you know has to keep and store soy sauce well you basically have to sort it in and like
airtight container because the thing with soy sauce is that it doesn't spoil but it oxidizes
so it has to be in an airtight container all the time in a dark cool place you can keep it
in the fridge or you can keep it in the cabinet doesn't really matter but as long as it's in the
air in an airtight container you should be good you can keep it for like two or three years you
know alright everyone thank you for watching I hope you learned something watching this video
um if you think you like videos like this make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel make sure
to like this video thank you and until the next video I will see you all later thank you foreign