The story of soy sauce

Japanese soy sauce, or shōyu, was first discovered as a byproduct of kinzanji-miso (above) and quickly became an essential flavouring in Japanese cuisine. Yuasa in Wakayama is home to Japan’s first shōyu factories, which began to flourish during the Edo Period (16031868). At Kadocho soy sauce factory, Kano Makoto and his son, Tsunenori, are sixth- and seventh-generation brewers, making shōyu in the same place, using the same methods as their forebears.