Soy Sauce Fermentation

Soy Sauce Fermentation is the traditional East Asian process for producing soy sauce, a liquid condiment of Chinese origin made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, and brine cultured with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds known as koji. The fermentation gives the finished sauce its characteristic saltiness and pronounced umami taste. Soy sauce was created in its current form about 2200 years ago during the Western Han dynasty of ancient China, and the fermentation tradition has since spread to become a central technique of East and Southeast Asian cooking.