How to Make Soy Sauce

Soy sauce (ketchup) is a liquid food seasoning, has a blackish brown color, distinctive flavor and aroma. Below I will explain how to make the soy sauce. Firstly you have to prepare the raw materials and equipments that needed, and the production process is following.

Raw Materials (Ingredients):

• 1 kg Soybean (white or black)
• 3 grams yeast
• 2 pieces bay leaves
• 1 stalk lemongrass cutted
• 1 piece lime leaves
• ¼ galangal
• 1 tsp Pokak (Star anise, Illicium verum)
• 6 kgs brown sugar
• 1 ½ liter water (to dissolve the brown sugar)
• 800 grams salt to 4 liters of water

Equipments:

• Pot
• Winnowing (nyiru)
• Straining cloth
• Stirrer spoon
• Bottles (have been sterilized)

Soy Sauce Production Process Flow Chart

Directions:

1. Rinse soybeans and soak in 3 liters of water during one night. Then boiled until the skin of soybean becomes soft, then drain on a winnowing tray and chill
2. Put yeast into cooled soybeans. Stir until blended and store at room temperature (25 ^o ~ 30 ° C) for 3 ~ 5 days;
3. After soybean covered by white mold evenly, add the salt solution. Place in a container and leave for 3-4 weeks at room temperature (25 ^o ~ 30 ° C). The maximum limit of salting process is two months;
4. Pour clean water immediately, cook until boiling and then filtered.
5. Put filtered soy into pot, add sugar and spices. This seasoning (except bay leaves, lime leaves and lemongrass) roasted first and then finely ground and mix until blended.

• The addition of brown sugar for:
1. Sweet Soy sauce: every 1 liter of filtrate requires 2 kg of brown sugar
2. Salty Soy sauce: every 1 liter of filtrate takes 2 ½ ounces brown sugar
6. After all the spices mixed into the filtrate, then cook, stirred constantly. Stop boiling when it boiled and no bubbles exist.
7. After the dough is cooked, filter with the straining cloth. The filtrate that obtained is the soy sauce that is ready for bottling.

Note:

• In the case to prevent the failure of fermentation, the yeast that added should match with the total weight of soy used.
• Once boiled and drained, soybeans should be fully cooled. If not, the fungi (yeast) that were scattered on it will die.