How to Buy Soy Sauce

Soy sauce remains one of the most essential cooking ingredients for both Asian and non-Asian foods. Determining which brand of soy sauce to buy gets complicated with so many options available. Let these tips guide you in choosing the brand that's best for you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Decide how you're going to use soy sauce. Some people use it as a dipping sauce for dumplings or vegetables. Some use it as a cooking ingredient, especially in glazes.
2. Read the label on the bottles of soy sauce the supermarket sells. Find one with the least amount of sodium if you intend to use it raw. Buy one with the highest sodium content if you want to use it in cooking.
3. Examine the label to see how long the soy sauce was aged. Choose the sauce that was aged for the longest time because aging produces superior flavor in soy sauce.
4. Find a Japanese soy sauce. The Japanese manufacturers use pure mountain water and ferment the soy mixture in cedar barrels for a long time, producing a more flavorful sauce.
5. Buy a more expensive brand of soy sauce rather than the best-selling market brand. Pricier soy sauces taste better because their manufacturers brew them slower and longer than the less expensive brands.
6. Test several different brands. Simmer each separately in a medium-sized soup pot until the sauce turns to a glaze. Taste each to determine which has the superior flavor. Use this sauce when cooking glazes, such as Teriyaki.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose low-sodium soy sauce as an alternative to regular soy sauce when serving it raw as a dipping sauce.
• When cooking with low-sodium soy sauce, add extra table salt to the recipe to boost the flavor.