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Sauces and condiments from China

Chinese low-salt solid-state fermented (LSF) soy sauce低盐固态发酵酱油

Low-salt solid-state soy sauce is China's fast factory method. Koji of soybean and wheat is mixed with a weak brine into a damp, solid mash and fermented hot, around 40–55 °C, for two to four weeks instead of months. It is quicker and cheaper than high-salt brewing but tastes sourer and less complex.

Fully documentedSauces and condiments15 days – 30 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceIndustrial method. Raw materials as defined in the draft revision of the national standard; brine strength and ratio from the Wikipedia summary.
Soybeans and/or defatted soybeans[gbt18186-draft]
Wheat, wheat flour and/or wheat bran[gbt18186-draft]
Brine13–15 % saltMixed with about an equal weight of koji[WP-Soy sauce]
Starterkoji grown with Aspergillus mould

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 30 days

Start
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What changes: Soybeans and wheat are cooked

Step 1 of 5
Cook the soybeans and wheat
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Aspergillus
Moulds

Output: cooked raw materials.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Low-salt solid-state soy sauce is China's fast factory method. Koji of soybean and wheat is mixed with a weak brine into a damp, solid mash and fermented hot, around 40–55 °C, for two to four weeks instead of months. It is quicker and cheaper than high-salt brewing but tastes sourer and less complex. Made in 5 steps over 15 days – 30 days. The longest step, ferment hot and fast, takes 15–30 days (English Wikipedia) and runs at 40–55 °C (English Wikipedia). Salt is 11–15 % (English Wikipedia). Aspergillus koji mould does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step15–30 daysReported[WP-Soy sauce][gu2009]Ferment hot and fast
Temperature40–55 °CReported[WP-Soy sauce][gu2009]Ferment hot and fast
Salt11–15 %Reported[WP-Soy sauce][gu2009]Mix the koji with brine into a solid mash

What makes this one different

High-salt liquid-state soy sauce ferments a wet mash slowly and cool for months. LSF soy sauce uses a solid mash with less salt and ferments it hot for weeks; the high-salt method ages for 90 to 180 days against 15 to 30 days, and its aroma is richer.

Related ferments

Safety

The draft standard caps ammonium salts at 28 % of the amino acid nitrogen.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Wikipedia records that LSF grew out of salt-free solid-state fermentation, brought to China from the Soviet Union in 1958, which proved too short to give good flavour.

  1. [gu2009] Gu L.-Z. 2009, 酱醅低盐发酵工艺条件的优化研究 (optimisation of low-salt fermentation conditions of soy sauce mash), Food Science 30(9):180–183 (abstract)paper
  2. [gbt18186-draft] GB/T 18186 酱油质量通则 (general rule for the quality of soy sauce), draft revision to replace GB/T 18186-2000, definitions in 4 and Table 2other
  3. [feng2014] Feng Y. et al. 2014, Evaluation of aroma differences between high-salt liquid-state fermentation and low-salt solid-state fermentation soy sauces from China, Food Chem. 145:126–134, doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.07.072 (abstract)paper
  4. [zheng2024] Zheng S. et al. 2024, A method of reducing salt content in fermented soy sauce improves its flavor and quality, Foods 13(6):971, doi:10.3390/foods13060971paper
  5. [WP-Soy sauce] English Wikipedia, Soy sauce (low-salt solid-state fermented soy sauce)wiki