Update on Shoyu Completed !!

Teda~. At last, my Shoyu, soy sauce was completed!! Yeah.
The room is full of soy sauce aroma at the moment!!

It looked like this a year ago.

Previous post about making Shoyu is here.

After looking after my shoyu over a year,
now it’s time to squeeze and take liquid from this muddy jar.
Exciting moment!!

What I used is bowl, strainer and cloth.

Then put all muddy bits onto the cloth.

Then squeeze it.

This is shoyu! This is raw soy sauce!!
It is good for eating Sushi or Sashimi.

I kept some in raw, and heated the rest.
Heated it up for 10 to 15 mins for about 85℃.
The purpose of heating up is
1) to kill bacterias (to keep it longer)
2) to get better aroma
3) to get nicer colour, nice dark red.

When you heated it up, the aroma spreads to all over the rooms. Ha ha, it’s a joy.
It required more “looking after” than making miso, but it was fun and interesting to make Shoyu!!

Making Shoyu (Soy sauce)

How to make Shoyu (Soy sauce) at home?

This is Koji to make Shoyu.

Look like….mud.

Shoyu (Soy sauce) is made from “soybeans”, “wheat”, “koji bacteria” and salted water.
Both steamed/cooked soybeans and roasted wheat are mixed with Koji bacteria in the special Koji room called Koji muro (麹室).
This is the one shown as above photo.

For home made Shoyu, you can start from this process by purchasing this prepared Koji for Shoyu.
Once you get this Koji, the making process not that hard.
What you need is LOVE to look after your shoyu, and TIME for slow process.

With this prepared Koji + Salt + Water + fermentation period = Your Soy sauce!! Yeah!

Prepare….Koji, salt, water and a big jar.
In the big jar (My one is bit too small …. difficult to put  hand. Bigger one is recommended)
First, decide how long you want to ferment your Soy Sauce.
(From 6 months to 12 months)
Depend of the fermentation length, you can calculate how much salt you need to your  Soy Sauce.
(From approx 18% to 22 %)

Prepare salted water.

Then pour the salted water to the jar.

Mix them well by your hand in the jar.
(That’s why you need a big jar)

At first, Soy Sauce Koji doesn’t want to be mixed with salted water,
but after while you are mixing it, they become friend with salted water 🙂

This is how it looks at this moment.

Wipe the jar, keep it clean.

Place the jar in the dark + cool place.

Mix Shoyu every day for the first week.
After the first week, mix like this once a week for 6 months to 12 months.

This is the surface of the second day.
Can you see little bubble is coming to the surface?
It’s alive Shoyu, fermenting now ~~.
Taste ? Sharp saltiness.

It is a slow fermentation process.
That’s why it is good ♪
That’s why it has a great flavor ♪
That’s why it has many nutritious benefits ♪

This is the photo of 4 months age.
Surface looks different from the first day, doesn’t it?

Taste already good, but I want to wait few more months to grow.
Looking forward to have my own Shoyu soon !!!