Artisanal Soy Sauce: Passing on a Fading Craft

[deluxestogie]

Soy sauce is made by fermenting steamed soybeans and roasted wheat with sea salt. The microbes do all the real work. Steel fermentation tanks have replaced nearly every authentic, wooden cask in Japan. The products of these two approaches are different.

This is a wonderful BBC "slide show" about the last Artisanal Soy Sauce maker in Japan. It's also a vibrant echo of what we do here at FTT. Skills of our own endangered craft are happily shared with any who would learn them. [I'm reminded of the fading skills of making Perique, Cavendish and Latakia, of twists, plug and flake.]

http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-secret

This is 16 slides, including one with a short video. The text alongside each slide is somewhat lengthy, and very much worth reading, even if you never use soy sauce.

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

Well, dang it Bob. The last thing I ever thought I'd do is spend $40 on a bottle of soy sauce.

A few years ago, I actually looked into making soy sauce. Even using today's methods, it's nowhere near as simple a process as I anticipated.

 

[CopeCrazy]

http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-secret

Bob

Very interesting!

 

[Traveling Piper]

Soy sauce is made by fermenting steamed soybeans and roasted wheat with sea salt. The microbes do all the real work. Steel fermentation tanks have replaced nearly every authentic, wooden cask in Japan. The products of these two approaches are different.

This is a wonderful BBC "slide show" about the last Artisanal Soy Sauce maker in Japan. It's also a vibrant echo of what we do here at FTT. Skills of our own endangered craft are happily shared with any who would learn them. [I'm reminded of the fading skills of making Perique, Cavendish and Latakia, of twists, plug and flake.]

http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-secret

This is 16 slides, including one with a short video. The text alongside each slide is somewhat lengthy, and very much worth reading, even if you never use soy sauce.

Bob

Well said, Bob. I still hold out hope for a major resurgence in interest of all things artisan.

 

[Charly]

Very interesting, hopefuly there are some good people to save the traditions !
Some practices are centuries old and can vanish in no time in our modern world.... very sad.

 

[deluxestogie]

Of course, ever since Gutenberg, arcane traditions and crafts could be preserved from oblivion. Rather than a "magazine article" bio video, perhaps a detailed video documentary of the actual skills that are being revived would have been worthwhile.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Very interesting, hopefuly there are some good people to save the traditions !
Some practices are centuries old and can vanish in no time in our modern world.... very sad.

We just need to tell the hipsters about it.

 

[GreenDragon]

There is a Kentucky family making craft soy sauce also: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/dining/22soy.html I remembered seeing his shop on a TV show where they hand make it.