The Most Expensive Soy Sauce in the World

The brown paste is the base for the world's most expensive soy sauce, and it won't be available for sell for another 20 years. While some popular soy sauce brands are less expensive than bottled water, Kamebishi's 20-year aged soy sauce can cost up to £99 for only 55 mL. It's because of koji, a thick soybean mash that's essential to the flavor of this soy sauce.

Kamebishi uses a more than two-century-old recipe to dry and age koji in the city of Higashikagawa, Japan. Lactic acid fermentation takes place, resulting in a variety of flavors such as sour, sweet, umami, salty, and bitter. The balance of these five elements becomes the taste of soy sauce.

So what makes this method worth preserving and why is Kamebishi soy sauce so expensive?

Bean Steaming

This soy sauce's complexity is achieved by fermenting it for days and maturing it for years. Because of this traditional method, the company is able to generate flavors that are not possible in mass-produced soy sauces. The chief of production, Teppei Okada, described the 20-year-aged soy sauce as sour in the first tasting rather than salty.

Soybeans are the most basic ingredient in high-quality soy sauce. The never-ending cloud is emitted by the machine, which is steaming soybeans within. The soybeans were soaked in water in the morning. Along with draining all of the water, the cold air and steam must be replaced within. It's a seemingly simple first step that has the potential to make or break the entire product. Steaming the beans with cold air inside will result in uneven steaming. It will affect the taste of the finished soy sauce. The beans should be soft and ready after 18 hours of soaking and steaming.

Koji Preparation

Steamed soybeans must be combined with barley and mold spores to create one-of-a-kind koji. Teppei begins by preparing the barley in a dry room dusted with finely ground wheat.

Unlike other soy sauce manufacturers, Kamebishi grinds it to a fine powder. Teppei mixes koji mold spores into the ground barley. The steamed soybeans are then hand-tossed with the barley and koji powder. The mold produces enzymes that break down the proteins and starches in the beans and barley into amino acids and sugars. This natural fermentation process gives the dark color and distinct flavor of artisanal Japanese soy sauce.

Mushiro koji method

Kamebishi is currently owned by Kaori Okada. She's the 18th generation of her family to run this business. Kamebishi is one of the world's few breweries that still employs the traditional mushiro koji method. Brewers use this approach by arranging koji on a straw mat and watching it for three days and three nights. During that time, workers check the temperature of the koji every hour.

Teppei warms the room on the first day to raise the temperature of the koji. The purpose of this step is to heat the koji in order to stimulate fermentation. By the second day, the fermentation should be so active that the koji produces its own heat.

As it grows, the koji becomes so big that it must be shaken off the mats, dumped on the floor, and remixed to prevent the beans from sticking together. The stronger the enzyme, the more powerful it is at breaking down the substance, which is why it tastes so good.

Moromi aging

The koji ages in the barrels, where it fully transforms. The paste-like combination that will age into the finished soy sauce is known as moromi. It's made from koji, salt, and water. Salting isn't merely for flavor. While aging in cedarwood barrels, salt protects the koji from microorganisms and bacteria.

The moromi is regularly stirred after it has been prepared to combine the salt water and koji. They leave it alone as it ages, except for the occasional stirring during the hotter months.

Yeast grows on surfaces throughout the summer. Because this would have a not-so-good effect on soy sauce, they mix three to four times a week throughout the summer. It oxidizes and changes color as it ages. Enzymes break down soy protein and turn it into flavor. Wheat starch is also broken down to sugar.

All of Kamebishi's soy sources are aged. The longer they age, the more complex the flavors become, and the final product becomes more expensive. In the instance of Kamebishi, the shortest is 2 years and the longest is 20 years.

Kamebishi even has plans for a 50-year aged soy sauce, which the production hopes to have ready by 2032.

Pressing

However, the sauce must first be pressed before it can be bottled and sold. Mature morumi under the age of 10 years is spread out on cloth and stacked in layers. This is known as "bloating," and Kamebishi call it noru.

The soy sauce is then squeezed into a bucket below by a machine.

But, anything older than ten years is too dry to press using this method. One bottle of soy sauce takes more than a month to produce. A hole is drilled into the end of the PVC pipe and the gauze is attached to it. Then, a bottle, like a milk bottle, is attached to it. The bottle is pushed into the moromi. By osmosis, a drop of soy sauce accumulates in the bottle through the gauze.

After that, the finished sauce is heated to stop the fermentation and pasteurize it for bottling.

Future of Kamebishi

Unfortunately, soy sauce is no longer popular. Consumption has been quite stagnant. So, when Kaori took over from her sister in 2001, she began to innovate in order to strengthen the historic company. They made powdered soy sauce, for example. This is an attempt to broaden the range of applications, such as using it in non-Japanese cuisine.

They even bake pizza and have started serving soy-sauce pizza. The roots of the company are baked into its name.

In Japan, the turtle "kame" and diamond "hishi" shapes are considered auspicious. It is said that the ancestors of the old Okada family were fond of turtles. Until the fourth generation, the Okada family were samurai. In 1753, the fifth generation began making soy sauce. It's dirty, dangerous, and demanding job that falls within the 3D category. It is difficult for today's generation to carry on with this work.

Kaori felt similarly about her own foray into the business.

“I told my father that I did not feel comfortable enough to take over the company. My father said that if that was the case, let’s close the company. I decided to give it my best shot. After my sister retired, I worked hard to acquire various qualifications and studied hard, and here I am.”