A Magic Sauce
Shoyu is a magic sauce to make almost any food tastes like Japanese.
If you put a little Shoyu on a boiled egg, it will become Japanese boiled egg.
If you make a sunny side up egg, put it on a bowl of Japanese rice and try it with a little soy sauce, it will taste Japanese.
All-Purpose Seasoning
The most famous shoyu company in the US is Kikkoman.
You see their glass bottles that have a label says “All-Purpose Seasoning” at grocery stores, Sushi restaurants, and Asian restaurants.
You may have one in your kitchen too.
The company was trying to sell their Shoyu products in the US in the 1950s.
An operating officer of the company at that time saw San Francisco Chronicle was advertising Kikkoman Shoyu as “All-Purpose Seasoning.” He thought this was it and informed this with the president in Japan. The company decided to print this phrase on the labels for export products in 1956. The following year, Kikkoman International Inc. (KII) was established in San Francisco.
Shoyu Plant in Wisconsin
Shoyu is made from fermented soybeans, wheat, salt, and water.
Although Kikkoman was making Shoyu in Japan early years, soybeans and wheat were imported from the US. Then bottled products were exported to the US.
The sales in the US were growing, and the company was reorganized to Kikkoman Foods, Inc. (KFI) and started brewing shoyu at the first plant in Wisconsin where abundant and high purity water is available in 1973.
High-End Shoyu
Shoyu is sold in a little plastic bottle that shuts our light in Japan these days. It is stored in a regurgitator once it is opened to maintain the quality. You can find some in Japanese grocery stores in the US. You may want to try it and see if you can tell the difference!
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