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Sauces and condiments from Korea

Korean yangjo ganjang (brewed, factory)양조간장

Yangjo ganjang is Korea's brewed factory soy sauce. The Korean Food Code defines it as soybeans, defatted soybeans or grains grown with koji mould, mixed with brine, fermented and aged, with the liquid drawn off. Modern ganjang of this kind uses an added Aspergillus oryzae starter, unlike hansik ganjang, which starts from wild-fermented meju bricks.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedIngredients from the Korean Food Code definition and one brand's label; factories do not publish proportions.
Defatted soybeansOr whole soybeans, or other grains, under the Food Code definition[sempio-501][mfds-jang]
WheatNamed on one leading brand's label[sempio-501]
Koji starter (Aspergillus oryzae)[chin2024]
Salt and waterSun-dried sea salt in one leading brand[sempio-501]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (Aspergillus oryzae starter)

Total time across the recorded steps: 6 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Starting material: soybeans or defatted soybeans and wheat

Step 1 of 5
Prepare 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 oryzae
Moulds
Tetragenococcus
Zygosaccharomyces rouxii

Output: soybeans or defatted soybeans, and wheat.

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

Yangjo ganjang is Korea's brewed factory soy sauce. The Korean Food Code defines it as soybeans, defatted soybeans or grains grown with koji mould, mixed with brine, fermented and aged, with the liquid drawn off. Modern ganjang of this kind uses an added Aspergillus oryzae starter, unlike hansik ganjang, which starts from wild-fermented meju bricks. Made in 5 steps over 6 months. The longest step, mix with brine and ferment, takes 6 months (Sempio Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce 501). Aspergillus oryzae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6 monthsReported[sempio-501]Mix with brine and ferment
AciditypH 4.5–5.5Set[kca2016]Finish and bottle

What makes this one different

Hansik ganjang is made from meju bricks and brine, with no starter, and is a by-product of doenjang; it goes mainly into soups. Yangjo ganjang is grown with koji, and modern ganjang uses an added Aspergillus oryzae starter (Chin 2024).

Related ferments

Variants

  • Honhap ganjang (mixed soy sauce)Yangjo or hansik ganjang blended with acid- or enzyme-hydrolysed soy sauce.
  • Gaeryang hansik ganjangHansik ganjang made from non-traditional meju (soybean, rice, barley, wheat or soybean meal), ripened the traditional way or with Aspergillus, plus brine.

Safety

The Food Code requires the raw sauce to be filtered once fermentation ends, and the finished sauce to be kept free of mould and other hazards after seasonings are mixed in. It sets total nitrogen at 0.8 w/v % or more for ganjang and allows no tar colours.

History and sources

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

Wikipedia says modernised soy sauce (gaeryang ganjang), the class that includes brewed yangjo ganjang, was introduced to Korea during the Japanese occupation and is now the most widely used soy sauce in Korean cooking.

  1. [mfds-jang] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Korea), Korean Food Code, chapter 5.12 Jang (definitions, manufacturing rules and standards)spec
  2. [chin2024] Chin Y.W., Hong S.P., Lim S.D., Yi S.H. 2024, Investigation of microbial community of Korean soy sauce (ganjang) using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and its relationship with sensory characteristics, Microorganisms 12(12):2559, doi:10.3390/microorganisms12122559paper
  3. [sempio-501] Sempio Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce 501, product label as listed by Costco Korea (food type yangjo ganjang; ingredients; 6-month fermentation claim)web
  4. [kca2016] Korea Consumer Agency 2016, 비교공감 제2016-9호 간장 (comparative test of 16 commercial soy sauces against the Food Code and KS H 2118:2014)gov
  5. [wp-soy] Wikipedia, Soy sauce (Korean section; outline only)wiki