Goyogura Shoya is produced in a special, red lacquered plant on the site of the Kikkoman facility just outside Tokyo. It is here that a special soy sauce is produced for the Emperor of Japan's table.
Goyogura is fermented only from Japanese soy beans, wheat, and salt and bottled after a year's production cycle.
Slightly thicker and definitely more intensely flavored than the normal soy sauce, it is an Imperial Household product. Corti Brothers offers it, though it is rarely seen in even the most prestigious stores in Japan.
More about Goyogura Shoyu Soy Sauce.... |
On this same trip, I discovered a little known "soy" sauce, rare even in Japan. This is "Uoshoyu" or "Shotturu" which is Japan's original flavoring sauce known as fish shoyu.
Shotturu is produced by Semba Zenjiro Shouten from a small, fatty, white fleshed fish called Hatahata (Arctoscopus japonicus) prevalent in the cold water off Akita prefecture in the north end of Japan, now the only area producing this seasoning.
Shotturu, adds a wonderful complexity to dishes when used in cooking or as a dipping sauce. It can be added as an ingredient...
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Kanro Shoyu is the rarest. It is a double fermented (saishikomi) shoyu which originated in Yanai city, Yamaguchi prefecture.
It is thick, intense with a deep creamy character, less persistent than the shiro shoyu. It is much prized in the cooking of Kyoto and for use with sushi and sashimi. Known as "sweet dew" it is not well known even in Japan.
One excellent way of using the various soy sauces is a delicious, yet simple first course starting with a small block of very good chilled "silken" tofu (kinogoshi) with good shoyu on one side and extra virgin olive oil on the other. More about Kanro Shoyu Soy Sauce |
