I have watched this show for years.....love both Bridget and Julia so much.....but also I really really like Jack! He seems to be the nicest man and always so pleasant. Just wanted to give him the recognition. Thanks!

If you have an Asian supermarket near you, there is a much wider and better selection! The sauce aisle is a treasure trove for any of you who love Asian food.

I once forgot about an unopened bottle of soy sauce for 5+ years. I knew they were made from fermentation so I figured it was still ok to use. Literally the best soy sauce I’ve had in my entire life.

“And the winner is Kikkoman” Oh, so, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing then.

I recently watched a Chinese cook explain how they use soy sauces. They use a light (not necessarily low sodium) soy for flavour and dark soy for the colour when cooking. I broke down and bought a bottle of each of the more expensive sauces to try. They look the same colour in the bottle, but, if you bring some up into the bottle neck under a light, you can see the difference in colour. There is a definite difference in flavours as well.

Bad soy sauce costs about $3 a bottle. Good soy sauce is about $3 a bottle at the Asian mart and WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. It's worth finding good soy sauce. Lee Kum Kee makes a Premium, a Mushroom, and a Dark that are all EXCELLENT >.

Japanese: Kikkoman Whole Bean Fancy (imported from Japan) Chinese: Pearl River Bridge (for light or thin soy sauce) Korean: Seimpio Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce Yuginong Premium Look for "Naturally Brewed" and few ingredients and get it from an international market if you can (more choices and less expensive)

Yes, Kikkoman for me too 🤩

Had a Japanese stepmum, so grew up with Kikkoman since I was a little girl. Have had to switch to low sodium (I am now an old lady). I now cook Japanese food for my widowed Father and he, too, prefers Kikkoman lo-so.

Three generations of Kikkoman Shoyu here! 🎌

Jack is an exceptional presenter. Clear, easy to understand, and without any 'ego'. And, I like this better than with an audience "clapping". That was too goofy for me. Oh, and Kikkoman is the only soy sauce brand in my (Thailand) kitchen! Thanks.

I think you'd find a different favorite if tested in Japan/Korea/China etc. with some testers wondering for WHAT purpose is the particular soy sauce being tested.

Kikkoman low-sodium for me. That one is by far my favorite. Cutting down on the salt allows the other flavors to shine through.

Hello- love these type of videos. It helps me to buy without doing all the legwork myself. Thank goodness for this channel.

This is the fourth 'test-video' I've seen from this channel, and they've all been good : useful, not too long, to the point, trustworthy and well produced. Thanks !

Just knew that Kikkoman was going to win. It's fairly affordable as well. However I would still stick with Lee Kum Kee as a personal preference, specifically with the deluxe gold version

It is always very interesting to see how people from a different culture see and evaluate soy sauce.

I always buy kikoman for basic soy sauce needs. I have a general distaste for all la-choy products.

The Ohsawa Nama Shoyu (made by Yamaki Jozo in Japan, traditionally aged in big _kioke_ barrels, for two years if I recall correctly) is definitely the way to go if you're drinking soy sauce. It's the real thing and has excellent flavor, and is now pretty easy to find in US upscale markets, sometimes along similar products like Mitoku Kanazawa Shoyu. But due to it's cost ATK is right that a cheaper mass-market soy sauce like Kikkoman or Yamasa is often the way to go for cooking that requires large amounts of soy sauce, like some chicken adobo recipes I've seen that call for a cup of soy sauce and a cup of rice vinegar. It wouldn't make sense to use the expensive ones. However, Ohsawa can be quite reasonably priced if you're willing to buy a quart/liter jar at a time. It's usually sold for less than $20. If you're just using soy sauce for dipping then that generally means you only ever use a little at a time and big bottles really last. For that kind of use the higher quality "delicately flavored" soy sauces are really worth considering. A bottle might last you a year or more and you'll really taste it when you do use it. Ohsawa Nama Shoyu is also lower in sodium than even the low-sodium versions of the big brands like Kikkoman, which I really like, and it's certainly not low on flavor. It just has more nuance and a better taste in my opinion. That comes from aging for a few years rather than a few months and the differences in fermentation practices and equipment. If you're more adventurous you can get some good Japanese labeled stuff not made for export at an Asian specialty food store or online. The best I've tasted is Yamaroku Tsuru Bishio from Shodoshima, very artisanal, but Ohsawa Nama Shoyu is almost as good, has less salt, is less expensive, is imported to the US and actually available in stores here, and is made in a similar traditional way. But if you're interested in artisanal soy sauce there's great footage of Yamaroku on Great Big Story and in Netflix's _Salt Fat Acid Heat._ Ohsawa Nama Shoyu is genuine high-end Japanese soy sauce imported by Ohsawa and available in US supermarkets, so don't feel like you have to import a bottle yourself from Japan. The flavor of Ohsawa is representative of and similar to the other high-end soy sauces I've tried. It's definitely the easiest and generally the least expensive way to buy such sauce in the US and so is the best value if you want to buy high-end soy sauce in the US. I do recommend buying a bottle of Ohsawa if you want to try a step up from the cheaper mainstream brands produced using modern industrial methods with less aging. It's like a higher-quality olive oil or balsamic vinegar. It can be worth it when you're tasting it, but when used in cooking some dishes it will not always make a significant difference. It's not objectively an expensive food item, just expensive relative to Kikkoman. Small bottles of Ohsawa I see at health food stores for like $6. Bigger bottles give you more ounces per dollar. Ohsawa also imports from Yamaki some tremendous miso that blows away the domestic miso I've tried. You can get it made from brown rice, soybeans, or barley. Maybe more varieties than that. I've only had the brown rice miso but I'm curious about the barley. I'm about to buy more for my miso soup and many sauces, dressings, and broths their excellent miso has worked it's way into in my kitchen. If you want an appeal to a famous authority, Japanese cookbook author and food writer Nancy Hachisu recommends the Ohsawa soy sauce and miso. She's a fan of their supplier Yamaki Jozo and we're all glad that such quality is now available in the US.

Back in the early 70’s Kikkoman couldn’t even give the stuff away to American grocery stores. The salesmen begged them to try and when the purchasers tasted it they thought it was awful. Finally a rep came up with the idea of convincing the supermarket of bringing in a frying pan and stove and cooking some meat marinated with the Kikkoman soy sauce. The aroma attracted the attention of customers and people really liked it and that’s how it took off. Instead of just salt and pepper try seasoning your steak with some soy sauce. Don’t think anyone will regret it.

Soy sause in asia has different purposes. There korean soy sauce which is byproduct of soy paste. Japanese ones are sweeter. They are very suitable for japanese food and dipping sauce. They are made with wheat or burley. Tamari is excellent for sushi. There is also tsuyu. This is more for sauce for udon and soba

Without consciously comparing flavors, I have drifted toward Kikkoman over time.

As always, great show, great presentation from 'the best'. A big thank you to Jack & Bridget. 👍😎❤

We all get used to ingredients and sometimes we want to expand our tastes. I appreciate seeing you try different sources and helping me narrow down what I should try next.

Just bought some Lee Kum Kee double fermented soy sauce...very rich with complex flavor...can’t wait to play around with it

All i knew was VH soy sauce for 23years, then we ran out of some out the house, I picked up kikkomans, we havent switched back

Until around 1990 I never knew that anything but La Choy existed as far as soy sauce. It took a ton of cooking shows and a whole food related tv network to wake everyone up to things like Kikkoman.

I think Chris K. picked Eden Shoyu Soy Sauce years ago, and I’ve been using it ever since. Everyone who tries it seems to love it

Pearl River Bridge is my favorite (It’s Chinese, medium darkness)

Not surprised. my wife (who is Japanese) won't let me buy anything except Kikkoman.

My stir-fry’s are always flavored with 1 tbs Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce, 1 tbs Pearl River Bridge dark mushroom soy sauce, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil and a dash of sugar. On point with authentic Chinese takeout as long as you remember to include some fresh ground ginger root. I could eat fried rice with these flavors everyday. The rice has to be half Tai Jasmine and half American white long grain. So good!

I grew used to using/eating Aloha Shoyu from Hawai'i when I was stationed there. Less salty than most, plus they have a low sodium type also.

My choice is Pearl River Bridge Light Soy first then Kikkoman. Both are available readily in our local supermarket. Honorable mention goes to Aloha Shoyu which is made in Hawaii.

These folks need to grab the 50+ brands in any Asian store. Then we'll talk.

What a great way to spend my Saturday evening

I found so much more respect for this guy when I learned that he is much more to ATK than the taste test guy.

I grew up with kikkoman for almost half my life. But while living in hawaii, I found I preferred aloha soy sauce in the 70s. That still continues to be my go to now even though I now live in calif. So best to one is not best to others.

These tests would be better with a broader range of examples.

Me sipping soy sauce from a mini bathroom cup.... interesting 🧐

my thai wife has a whole cabinet full of soy sauces ie mushroom, light, dark, sweet, golden mountain, etc etc. she uses different sauces and combination of sauces for different purposes. along with fish and oyster sauces. there's a whole science going on there.. i'm a lucky man

You ladies are so inspiring!! I really never enjoyed cooking till I started watching your videos. Keep up the great work!

My favorite is Lee Kum Kee. Ive always found it to have the right balance.

ok so here in Canada we use a lot of China Lily and kikkoman. China Lily is very dark with such great flavor. I've never heard of any of these except kikkoman. thanks kids.

Yamaroku aged 4 years soy sauce is the best tasting sauce in the world! Complex and rich umami flavor. Slight tingly sweet flavor note and rich fermented soy beans flavor. A real nice kick to the salty and savory flavor!

Kikkoman or Yamasa is what I buy, I saw a pic of Yamasa in the thumbnail, I wonder how it tested, I am gonna hazard a guess it was pretty close to Kikkoman.

I wonder if they tested my favorite, Kimlan. I like their pick as well.

Would've done the same thing as Bridget. Grew up with La Choy as the condiment soy sauce of choice, so I know that flavor well. I've bought Kikkoman for about 10 years now, but I have to admit when I go home to the parents ... I'm actually happy to have some of the La Choy again. I think it's merely "what we grew up with" though. And I get why people love Kikkoman.

As a kid growing up in the Great Lakes area, I would have an oriental style food once in a while. I would dash on some soy sauce. Or, thought that I was. My first duty station in the U.S. Air Force was in northern Japan. That was 1961. There, I was introduced to Kikkoman soy sauce. WOW!!! What a difference. If I added one part Kikkoman to five parts water, I would again have the American soy sauce that I had grown up with. Yuck. A new friend that I met there, explained it well. “After Japanese soy sauce, American soy sauce is just a bitter disappointment.” BINGO! He encapsulated the entire subject in one sentence. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

Informative, but I do wish the sample size was much larger.

I wish they said more about how many brands they explored and how they cooked with them. Myself, I like Kimlan. But you need an Asian store to find it. But drinking soy sauce from a glass is just not good--as would be the case, too, with fish sauces.

The best-tasting soy sauce we have found is Lee Kum Kee Soy Sauce.

At the opening, he said they round up 10 best soy, but only four very tested and tasted. I wish more samples were tried. We love the Kikkoman soy and use it almost daily. However, when cooking, we use a variety of Chinese, mostly Lee Kim Kee soy to get a certain flavor or color.

Higashimaru or Yamasa are better, in my opinion but you have to live near a Japanese specialty market. I also found that the kikkoman tamari (black and gold bottle) is much better than the san-j stuff that you normally find, but I can only seem to find it at Japanese markets as well. Kikkoman is definitely the best supermarket stuff by far.

For many of us who regularly use soy sauce/tamari I really wish they done more with the sauces you find at an Asian market. Interesting that Kikkoman came out on top of these four, though. I've used San-J a lot.

I must stick with Tamari since I have gluten issues, but now I understand that I need to add a bit of sweetness to balance it out.

Thank you for sharing! Best presentation video of Soy Sauce! 😊🤗😊🤗

Family favorite has been Kikkoman for over 30 years. I lived in Okinawa for 3 1/2 yrs. The soy sauce from there is not available where I live.

Kukkiman is way, way to salty, I am truly blessed living in Edmonton Alberta. My two local supermarkets have very large Asian sections with over 40 verieties of soy sauces. It gets even better with a dedicated Asian supermarket also nearby called T&Ts

I was SO SURPRISED here...I like Kikkoman, but was prepared to see you talking like Kikkoman was just that "cheap, common, supermarket" brand.....and then you liked it!

My Chinese friend said that Kikkoman was pretty good approximation of what they had in Hong Kong when his parents first came to the US. Of course, there are plenty of others such as Pearl River Bridge on the low end and more expensive ones from Japan.

Lee Kum Kee is my favorite

Finally! Something familiar to me! That’s the one I use!,,,

It would be helpful to add the reduced sodium versions to the test. And the both the reduced sodium and regular version of Tarmari are not meant to be tasted and compared to sips out of a glass. These are flavoring supplements to cooking and in some circumstances and recipes are superior to soy sauce no matter how they sip.

100% agree with your choice. Kikkoman's the only Soy Sauce I use and I've used it for decades. Yes; tried others and never liked them. Your video also reminded me that I used the last bit of my Soy Sauce (Kikkoman) 2 weeks ago and again forgot to buy another bottle. It's now on my list. :)

Wish Jack would have discussed all the fake soy sauces on the market...not just the ones that are not fermented but the ones that do not use soybeans in the process.

What no Kimlan? The true take out soy sauce

My wife is Asian from SE Asia and a great cook. We have a number of true Asian supermarkets in our area but she only buys Kikkoman low sodium.

I may be biased but i highly recommend a Taiwanese brand (only in asian markets) called Kim Lan. They probably have over 20 soy products - pick the ones with no preservatives and no English labeling, normally priced around 5-7usd. I guarantee they are so much better than Kikkoman. The US Kikkoman is very salty and one-dimensional in my opinion, plus we don’t want any soy sauce that needs preservatives in them. The best ones have 3-4 ingredients and all natural ones.

Kikkoman is my choice too.

Why is La Choy even in the test!

I was surprised she was sipping teh soy sauce. I had expected her to dip with a chop stick and taste a drop.

You can find Japanese-made kikkoman in Asian grocers, and if you're in Hawaii you should buy some Aloha Shoyu

I like the Kikkoman low sodium with the green label

I would like to see them do a low salt taste test. Soy sauce has WAY TOO MUCH SALT in it.

In Malaysia we use black soy sauce to mix with rice, chicken, fish, and also potato even we can make it to be sauce for Fried banana, fried sweet potato or fried cassava. And it taste very much great and delicious.

I use Ohsawa Nama Shoyu organic in everything. It’s the best soya sauce in the American market so far.

WaJa Shan? Yamasa? Kimlan? Pear River? Missing some real good ones here.

Yamasa, another Japanese brand, is even better than Kikkoman. It has a more smoky and seaweed like flavour.

I've been using San Jay for the past 3 years now. No bad ingredients. The others have Sodium Benzoate and some Caramel color.

Every Asian cooking class I’ve taken the chefs all recommended kikkoman as a good general all purpose soy sauce They had different recommendations for different purposes (maninades, dipping, soups.etc) but said if cost & availability were an issue then kikkoman was the best I’ve also noticed that several of the Asian cooking channels I follow they have that industrial size bottle of kikkoman soy sauce to refill their soy sauce bottles

Did you test Yamasa? If so, where does it rank? I like Kikkoman but prefer Japanese soy sauce to Chinese soy sauce. IMO, Yamasa is by far the best. I’m surprised it wasn’t at least on the table. Cheers.

I like using the San-J Reduced Sodium Tamari.

Like wine, garlic, vinegar and bitters, some foods are rather assertive by themselves - they need other elements to bring out their hidden flavors - soy sauce needs to be traditionally brewed and aged, regardless of what it is made of (wheat vs no wheat) and used sparingly in order to utilize it's subtle characteristics - this taste test illustrates how complex flavors can be

This shows how the label tells us what we taste.

Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy is good

I grew up with La Choy, but matured to Kikkoman.

My Thanksgiving turkey game changed when I found Kikkoman's video on using it in a brine. Happy to see it winning out!

Kikkoman is just standard mass Japanese (American) produced soy sauce. Kikkoman tastes different depending on where it’s produced. Kikkoman also makes light soy sauce not to be confused with lightly salted which is just watered down, and sweet soy sauce. Further there are “boutique” brands and techniques that are much better and costly. Then of course there are many different Chinese and Korean soy sauces. Soy sauces are a bit like wines all being different.

I'll stick w my Pearl River brand thx

Kimlan yellow bottle is the best out there. It's cheap and tastes amazing for cooking.

To me, Hawaiian shoyu tastes better than any in this test. It's less salty and a bit sweeter. It makes the perfect "Shoyu Chicken."

For a moment i thought this was a ClickHole video and was waiting for something wild to happen

Did you test Pearl River Bridge(mushroom flavored soy sauce) brand?

Thanks 😘

I was in a Vietnamese restaurant and asked the owner which soy sauce she used, she said, "Kikkoman."

I grew up with Kikkoman, and it's good, but I've happily used San-J reduced sodium Tamari (white label with red circle) for decades. I love to try special varieties for different things, but the San-J Tamari is my go-to.

I like tamari sauce, I don't consider tamari the same as soy sauces, different characteristics...

when i get takeout and they try to give me soy sauce thats not kikkoman or yamasa i dont take it. The're going to be the cheap hydrolyzed soy protein soy sauces.

They also don’t mention that there’s two ways to ferment soy sauce. The organic soy sauce is fermented for two years using traditional cedar vats - some of which are over a century old. However most fermented soy sauce is made in stainless steel vats and usually fermented less than a year. The BBC website had an interesting article about a month ago about efforts in Japan to preserve the traditional process.

Foodtown Teriyaki Sauce - truly unique ingredients... nothing else like it!