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| Latin: |
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| Origin: |
A paste made from soybeans mixed with flour, salt, water, sometimes with alcohol to preserve freshness, or wheat, that is naturally fermented and allowed to age.
Soy sauce, sometimes referred to as light or thin soy sauce (sheng chou) to distinguished it from dark and mushroom-flavored varieties (lao chou), this essential Asian cooking ingredient has been used for more than 3,000 years.
Soy sauces vary in richness of flavor, saltiness, and viscosity depending on the place of their manufacture and the care with which they are produced.
Dark soy sauce, or lao chou, is aged for much longer periods than regular or light soy sauce, or sheng chou, and sometimes contains molasses for flavor depth. Dark soy sauce is used in dishes (never as a condiment) for hearty flavor. It is actually less salty than light soy sauce. This sauce is often labeled "black soy sauce" or "superior soy sauce."
Most of the commercial soy sauce sold in the United States is a nonfermented synthetic product made from defatted soybean meal and grains mixed with chemicals. Real aged soy sauce has a different flavor than commercial, synthetic soy sauce. In Japan, synthetic soy sauce is not recognized by the government, which allows five different types of soy sauce to be labeled as such. Among the synthetic brands, reduced-sodium soy sauce is available.
Commercial soy sauce is readily available in grocery stores in the condiment aisle or Asian food section, and in Asian markets, sometimes in bulk. Store any type of soy sauce at room temperature for up to a year. Soy sauce is available year-round.
Also called Soybean Sauce. |
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| Properties: |
| Salty and sweet in flavor, mild in nature, it is related to the stomach, spleen and kidney channels. |
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| Functions: |
| Nourishes the stomach, clears away heat and removes toxic materials. |
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| Applications: |
| Soy sauce is used to treat bee stings and insect-bite, scald burn, dysphoria (a state of feeling unwell or unhappy) with fullness sensation during the course of febrile diseases. |
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| Dosage and Administration: |
To be used as seasonings for meat or fish dishes. Soy sauce is a condiment, used sparingly to flavor dishes. Use it in stir-fried dishes, or to prepare marinades for meat or vegetables. It can also be used in place of salt in soups and stews.
Once the bottle is opened, soy sauce reacts with oxygen in the air and looses some of its flavor in one month. It is best to keep soy sauce refrigerated in order to maintain its excellent flavor. It should stay tasty for at least 6 months. |
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| Cautions on Use: |
| Eating excessive soy sauce will result in accumulation of phlegm and damage to qi (energy). |
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| Reference Materials: |
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| Modern Researches: |
In every 10O g of soy sauce, there are 39 g of water, 20.9 g of protein, 11.2 g of fat, 2 g of carbohydrate, 24.9 g of ash, 245 mg of calcium, 174 mg of phosphorus, 16.1 mg of iron, 0.05 mg of thiamine, 0.78 mg of ovoflavin and 2.1 mg of nicotinic acid.
Soy sauce has a pH of about 4.8 and contains about 18 percent salt. The high salt content acts as a preservative.
Soy sauce is not a good source of isoflavones (phytroestrogens). Isoflavones are compounds thought to be largely responsible for many of the health benefits associated with eating soybean. Therefore, eating soy sauce should not be expected to contribute to the potential health benefits derived from eating other soybean foods, such as miso, bean curd, and tempeh, which contain higher levels of these compounds. |
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