About

Soy sauce is made of simple ingredients. Soybeans, water and salt form the base, with Koji and other invisible spores enabling a seemingly alchemical transformation into the prime example of our fifth basic taste- umami.

Cultivated over the centuries, it’s truly a cultured expression of the power of fermentation. It’s been woven into the culinary fabric of societies around the world, complimenting cuisines and adding evocative flavors that are as unique as the people who prepare them. There are parts of the world where a taste of the local soy sauce could be your sextant, an edible signpost revealing your position by a swirl and a splash- or maybe just reading the label.

In Japan, it’s shoyu and tamari; China, jiang you; Korea, ganjang. When the flavors start to sidle from savory to sweet, with hints of anise, maybe some cinnamon, you’ve crossed over to kecap manis in Indonesia. What’s been missing in this gustatory mouth map is a soy sauce that places you in the West.

We have mountains that capture the snow, feeding the underground rivers of spring water. We have deserts, once covered by ancient oceans, now desolate repositories of blinding salt pans. We have the Plains- miles of soybeans dropping off the horizon in all directions.

With all the basic ingredients assembled, one can tap into the cultures that founded, migrated, settled, and ate here. The result is a soy sauce with the flavors of Western culture and cuisine, encapsulated in a truly global elixir. This is what I want SoyOry to be, and I love what I’m making. I hope you love it too.

About Scott

I grew up saying that "food only exists to give condiments texture". I credit my dad for this as our fridge was always full of various bottles and jars of all kinds of flavors, colors and viscosities, from savory to sweet. There was always a kitchen cabinet full of the 'no refrigeration required' oils, vinegars and assorted spices as well. Clearly this stuck with me as my fridge and kitchen cabinets today still reflect a large, diverse and somewhat eclectic mix of the 'magic in a bottle' that are condiments. 

Years of cooking, brewing beer, and eating my way through whatever deliciousness presents itself left me wanting to do more with food. Being far too lazy to open a restaurant or run a food truck, I wanted to do something that wasn't easy to do, or widely done.

Being a huge fan of both high-end sushi joints and strip-mall Chinese restaurants, I've had my share of soy sauce. Going down the online shopping for soy sauce rabbit hole, I was forced to make space in my kitchen cabinet for a growing collection of soy sauces, of all ages and hailing from many different parts of the world. I was hooked, and have spent the last two years making my own.

What you see here is the culmination of my desire to bring what is normally a mass-produced, under-appreciated global condiment to a more local, small scale food enhancement using local-when-possible, organic-when-possible ingredients, fifteen gallons at a time.

My Process

The key to making a great sauce is rooted in the consistency of the process- the right temperature, the right environment, and the right amount of aeration at the right time. As I work for a living (this is my passion but doesn't pay the bills), I needed something that's dedicated to this process and routine. Enter Roy, my saucy automator. He's not a robot of the Bender-esque "bite my shiny metal ass" type. He doesn't have any arms, or legs, and his head unit is separate from his 'body'. What he does best is use a series of air bladders to 'stir' the sauce on a defined schedule, around 1,460 times during the fermentation cycle. If you'd like to get to know Roy a bit better, give him a call at 541-782-7697. He's pretty liberal with sharing his employee discount.

The Ingredients:

Organic Soybeans- Midwest, USA

Rainshadow Farms Organic Soft Winter Wheat- Oregon, USA

East Cascades Well Water- Sisters, Oregon

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

Shoyu Koji- Tokyo, Japan

The Timeline:

72-hour inoculation and incubation in cedar Koji trays

6-12 month aging in salt brine with regular agitation

2-4 weeks of flavor infusion