Do you have a Japanese market in your neighborhood? Generally, they have the best selections for soy sauce. I believe the brand I buy is called Yamato (or it might be Yamamoto), and I buy light soy sauce, which is less intense but not reduced salt. I have also salt-free soy sauce, which I use only in cooking. Sometimes in place of soy sauce, I use Chinese black vinegar, which I highly recommend, if you haven't tried it. For another variation, you can try Ponzu sauce, which is citrus (usually lemon or lime or both) juice plus soy sauce. I generally make my own Ponzu sauce, and I find that the addition citrus help cut the salty flavor somewhat.

Lars

I can't give you a distinct answer but maybe I can offer a helpful clue or two.

First, it is not necessarily a brand of soy sauce you are seeking. It is a style or type. Chinese soy sauces are different from Japaneses soy sauces. There are sauces intended for cooking and sauces intended for table use. Some cook books will specify a particular type, such as black soy or light soy, for a given recipe.

Kikkoman makes several kinds, I'm not sure how many. Their web site shows five, but I am sure there are more. Not all are available everywhere. I think Kikkoman is a high quality product but that doesn't mean it is to your tasted. Apparently it is not. I buy their general purpose type by the gallon can. Kikkoman soy sauce, as well as their other sauces are Japanese style. I use it when a special type is not called for, which is most of the time.

A lot of experimentation is required to get a grip on this subject. If wine labels are confusing, soy sauce labels are more so. There is no systematic terminology and important information is often in a language many of us don't understand. For example, the recipe may call for black soy but, even though your Asian food store may have a suitable soy, it may not use the term black soy on its label.

I certainly can't claim to be knowledgeable beyond what I have said here. For me there is still a lot of guesswork involved. Have fun!

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Kikkoman Soy Sauces

You might prefer the Kikkoman Tamari for a milder less-salty flavor, but my principal recommendation would be to buy soy sauce in the smallest bottles you can find and try out different types until you find one more to your taste.

If you try out a brand that's too strong or salty for you, it can always be diluted for a cooking sauce while you keep looking for the perfect dipping sauce brand and type.

Carol

Lars, where do you find a completely salt free soy sauce? What's the brand name?

My very favorite soy sauce in made in Hawaii.......Aloha Shoyu.
I always bring a few bottle back when we visit.
It can be ordered through their website or through the ABC stores.

When cooking with soy sauce I rely on it to provide the salt. I add little or no granular salt. I like dipping sauces to be fairly salty. Just one guy's preferences.

Jim

In NYC area, we have many very large supermarket style Chinese stores.

In these stores you will find a dizzying array of soy sauces and soy sauce-like sauces; Soy sauce for chicken, sauces for fish, soy sauce for dumplings, -----

All are worth trying out.

dcarch

And...
some soy sauces are just concoctions mixed together and bottled. China Lily (in Canada) is one, while other sauces, the Kikkoman ones for instance, are true, brewed soy sauces.

We use a lot of mushroom soy, sure a different taste.

Good thing they are only a couple of dollars each, right?

Just because the containers on the table say, "Kikkoman," it doesn't necessarily follow that the soy sauce is actually Kikkoman. Many restaurants buy the bottles because they have the neat pour spouts, but then fill them with a cheaper brand.

Chinese soy sauce and Japanese soy sauce brands tend to have a different flavor. Also, many cheapie Chinese restaurants will cut their soy sauce with salt water and msg to pinch pennies.

If you go to a restaurant on a regular basis that has the soy sauce you like, tell the waiter that you like their sauce and ask what brand they use.

I'm going to check out this little Asian store and see what they may have. It's very small though, just a tiny Mom and Pop store but I bet they have more selection than the grocery store which is about NOTHING!

Yeah Rachel...I was thinking that too, probably the cheapest jug of soy sauce known to mankind...HAHA! Well it's good though. They may even dilute it with water to stretch it farther!

I could not find a soy auce I liked until I went to the sodium reduced. Even at that 1 TBSP provides 32% of your daily sodium requirements! Can't imagine what the saltier version must contain!

I prefer Kikkoman low sodium.

I haven't tried a large variety of soy, just wanted to comment on my preference on what I have tried. I noticed that when I went to a Chinese restaurant that had the squat Kikkoman bottle on the table that I really liked it. It is short, has a red lid and you can pour from either side of the lid. I noticed that the Kikkoman in the tall bottle from the supermarket didn't taste nearly the same. There is nothing on the bottle to say they are different, but they definitely are. I only use the clear, squat bottle at home now. And the restaurants I have eaten in did not put a different brand in theirs, it's just like the supermarket brand.

I like San J tamari. I'm not enough of a soy sauce expert to say if it's more Japanese style or Chinese, but I do like the flavor of this one.

I bought some real cheapo Chinese stuff at an oriental grocery once; it might have been authentically Chinese, but it was nasty.

Here is a link that might be useful: San J tamari

We had a thread not long ago on this same topic. I like the San J low sodium tamari.

Lars, I bought a bottle of black vinegar (Koon Chun brand) at your suggestion a while ago. I did not like as a substitute for soy sauce and haven't found a use for it. Any suggestions? It only came in HUGE bottles so I have a lot of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Low sodium tamari.

"Good thing they are only a couple of dollars each, right?"

Good point. Becoming a soy sauce connoisseur is a whole lot cheaper than becoming a wine connoisseur.

Jim

Beverly, so you did find the small bottles like they put on tables and it tastes different? Because that's the type bottle I always see in the restaurant. I wonder where you can find this? Was it in a regular grocery store or an Asian market? I wonder why it tastes different. If I can't find that, I'm going to buy either that Tamari or low sodium and go from there. You know as with almost everything as of late...you can't buy the same things that you used to buy...everything's different. I know I never had a problem with soy sauce before.

Hey if there was an older thread about this same thing, could you link me to it puuuuuleeeez ;)

After using San J Organic Tamari...I am spoiled..I love the flavor..it's not strong, over powering or anything like Kikoman..(which I have in the house because my husband likes it.)...

Forgive me for belaboring the point I tried to make originally, but soy sauce is not like ketchup, IMO. It's more like wine. Once you decide Heinz is your favorite ketchup, you only have to stock one ketchup. If you decide you like Ravenwood Zinfandel you will still buy other wines on occasion. I think it's the same with soy sauce.

The remarks comparing regular Kikkoman from different package sizes is interesting. It's not logical that soy sauce of the same brand in different size packages would have different flavor. OTOH, it would not surprise me at all.

Jim

Shambo, the soy sauce I bought is Shirakiku Brand Saltless Shoyu, and the ingredients are water, soybeans, wheat, alcohol to preserve freshness. As you can see from the link below, saltless shoyu is not popular in Japan, but I think it is fine when mixed with other soy sauce or for use in soup.

Sorry for the delay in answering your question.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Japan forum on soy sauce

Most of the soy sauces that we can find on the shelves aren't actually soy sauce, at least not in the traditional sense of the word.

Most are laboratory concoctions of nastiness that are manufactured. Label says "Naturally brewed?" Don't believe it until you...

Read the label.

If one of, if not the main, ingredient is hydrolyzed vegetable protein, put the bottle down and get thee to an oriental market for some of the real stuff.

Lars, thanks for the information. Interesting forum discussion too. But, to quote Roseanne Roseannadanna, "It's always something!" The alcohol preservative and the increased potassium make it unsuitable for me to use. Too bad!

The saltless soy sauce that I have did not have added potassium, but if the alcohol is unacceptable, then it would still be unsuitable.

Here are some Japanese premium soy sauces:
720ml soy sauce fermentation
Various
You can print the pages and take them to the market with you. This is what I have done in the past.

Lars

Lars, thanks for the latest information too. I might eventually visit one of the Asian markets in Sacramento. It'd be fun doing some hands on research.