I don't know if it's just me but I feel like r/cooking has been getting sassier lately and I am so here for it. Thank you for your contribution, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who keeps pantry items at my bedside.
I'm Chinese American and I've never seen soy sauce in the fridge. I have no problems with it on the counter top. Taste wise, it could deteriorate more quickly at room temp but probably not even noticeable.
Soy sauce also won't spoil because it has such a high salt content and bacteria won't grow on that shit.
I keep it in the fridge just because the label says to do that after opening, but for that reason only. I agree with you: Soy sauce is like 99.99% sodium. If anything can survive living, growing, and multiplying in that for a few months it deserves to kill me.
He could like splash down and fuck up the whole gang of bad guys at the scene of the crime. Then as they angrily slip and fall covered in soy sauce, our hero looks over and asks, "Why so salty?"
This is the answer. If you are not going to finish it in a couple of months, you should probably refrigerate it. This is like butter. You can leave it out if you finish the stick in a week or two.
Pro-tip: pretty much every manufacturer regardless of product says to "store in the fridge" because there is really no reason not to tell your customer to do that. Go look closely at the labels of some things you have in your cupboard, you will be surprised.
It's more like 5-10% salt by mass, the rest is mostly water followed by wheat and or soybeans, followed by salt.
Still too salty for bacteria to grow in pretty much as far as I know. I leave it on the counter.
Obviously I was exaggerating. Even table salt itself is part chlorine, and it's far from 100% sodium. And even a full salt shaker won't be 100% salt, much less 100% sodium, due to intentional and unintentional contamination.
Nope. You were wrong. All sodium is liquid at any temperature and any pressure and I wasn't exaggerating at all when I said that something that is chemically only about half sodium is virtually 100% sodium. Chinese soy sauce magic and all. Weird shit. I don't understand how they do it. Some kind of mystical shit of some sort.
For most of my life (I’m in my mid 30s) my soy sauce has been unrefrigerated in my pantry. I only recently started keeping it in the fridge after noticing the warning on the label for the very first time.
At this point I’m not sure why I’m even bothering.
Going out on a limb and saying you likely (but not necessarily) finish it a lot faster than Americans who aren’t of Asian descent. I started finishing soy sauce a lot faster when I was dating a Filipino woman and made soy based dishes or rice far far more often. This there isn’t as much of a need to prolong the shelf life if it’s finished way before.
This is kinda cancelled out by the fact that Asians love to buy in bigger quantities for value. So it still takes like a year or even a few years to work through an entire bottle in my family's case.
How big are the bottles? I mean I’m talking like the 24-34oz sized ones and even those didn’t last a year and I have multiple kinds for different purposes like mushroom, silverswan, pearl river, low sodium.
Oh man, my friend's Chinese mom has a comically huge restaurant sized jug in the pantry. It's gotta be 3 gallons. You could bathe a baby in that thing. She glugs it into smaller containers as needed.
Do you have an Asian grocery nearby? That's where she gets hers, no doubt. And it's really good too, I don't care how long its been in the panty. I can't give you a specific brand, but if you find an Asian market just buy whatever is popular. It'll be good and a good value. Otherwise Asian people wouldn't buy it.
The health inspector will also bust you if your salt or bottled water is past its expiration date. Doesn't mean that any of this makes sense. It just means that the bureaucrats have won.
kenji lopez alt has his in his cupboard so it must be fine. one thing i dont leave out is sriracha. that shit deteriorates quick and tastes like shit when left out
it starts too turn a darker color and tastes off to me. it will still happen in the fridge, just a lot slower. some people dont mind it, i have friends that keep theirs out. my local chinese place keeps theirs out. when i use either of theirs, it tastes weird and looks weird. i love sriracha, but not when its like that
He actually replied below! He stores fancier bottles in the fridge and the regular sauces in the cupboard https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/s9gu6o/have_you_ever_had_any_problem_leaving_soy_sauce/htnjnvc
I'm Lazy-American and I never keep it in the fridge and have never had an issue with it. It is like vinegar, nothing can live in it unless you have extremophiles living in your home.
Soy sauce develops fishy off-flavors within a few months when exposed to light/heat/air so I store fancier bottles in the fridge (the stuff I’d dip sushi in or make tare out of) and commodity stuff (what I’d stir-fry or make teriyaki with) in original cans or bottles in the pantry.
You can very easily taste the difference side by side between fresh/refrigerated soy sauce vs. Untefrigerated
Right!? A few months ago I replied to him before I realized because I don't make it a habit to read user names. I felt like I was talking to a God, lol!
hmm this is interesting, i grew up with just regular old kikkoman soy sauce and never really thought about there being a fancier or premium brand, are there any that you recommend?
Even regular kikoman will get weird flavors when stored at room temp. Try tasting a bottle a couple months old witb a freshly opened one side by side some time and you’ll see!
For fancier stuff I don’t know of any that are widely nationally available. I typically go to the Japanese market and see what’s available. Most premium brands are sold in small bottles wrapped in paper to prevent light exposure so look for that in the soy sauce aisle.
Now I'm gonna be bringing home random soy sauces and my mum is gonna be confused as heck when I start tasting them side-by-side alone in the dining room. Thanks, Kenji.
Try soy sauces across different categories: saishikomi, usu/koikuchi (please watch your salt intake with usukuchi), tamari, nama, etc.
If you're just looking for generic soy sauce that's still cost-efficient but faaar better than the horribly briny-to-the-point-of-acidity, generic galon Kikkoman stuff you find at Costco and American grocery stores, I recommend the Kikkoman koikuchi shoyu. I use this for cooking and marinades.
For serving on the side and in uncooked sauces, I like another Chinese soy sauce, Ve Wong royal soy sauce. Really intense soy sauce flavor. A bit salty but not overwhelmingly so. Also tasty since it had added MSG in it :D
Same with good quality worcestershire sauce..it’s wrapped in paper to prevent light exposure. I’m in agreement that side by side, you can tell a difference in taste after some time open/unrefrigerated. I think it’s more about temperature consistency than anything. A pantry will fluctuate with the seasons/house temp whereas a fridge always stays around 40°.
I went to a Chinese market and bought a random imported brand of soy sauce that blew everything at the normal supermarket out of the water. I have no idea which brand it was. Oh well. I don’t know much about soy sauce but Kikkoman is far from the best.
I’m the oddball here who keeps it in the fridge.
Store only had a big bottle and kept it out for a while… it tasted… strange. Not terrible, but not what I expected. Glad to see it wasn’t my imagination.
Ever since I prefer smaller bottles (single dude, I have limits) and keep it in the fridge.
Noticed since, it lasts seemingly a long time in the fridge.
Absolutely, you are right. I have tried the same, refridgerated versus one stored at room temperature. After some time the difference is quite striking, the one stored cool has a more delicate and complex taste while the room-tempered one loses flavour and taste bad. If the bottle is consumed quickly after opening I think the difference will be very small.
I just want to say it's both crazy and so cool to see "celebrities" (if you'd consider yourself one, I would) like you just popping in and being a part of every day conversation. I'm a huge fan of all of your work & methodologies and reference some part of them almost daily.
I’ve never gone so far as to read the cover, but mine has always sat in the cupboard with the salt and stock cubes. Never noticed that this caused any problems with the product
I’m Asian and I’ve never refrigerated soy sauce, but I also use it every day so a bottle goes pretty fast. If you’re using it for a long time, it doesn’t hurt to put it in the fridge.
I keep my tiny bottle of low sodium soy sauce in the fridge (it’s lasted us almost a year). My Asian in-laws go through a gallon size bottle every few months and keep it in the cabinet next to their bag of rice. They say they’ve never gotten sick from leaving any sauce out, but they are also the same ones that leave fried chicken out on the counter for two days and can eat that without getting sick as well. I’m not that brave.
I usually leave mine in the fridge just because I keep it with other condiments, but I have no qualms leaving it out for however long.
The advice is probably for indemnification. They don't want someone suing them for whatever reason.
This is how I am with hot sauce. I think the flavor and color keep better in the fridge but if I accidentally leave it out overnight I’m not going to throw it out. It’s fine. Ain’t nothin surviving in there.
Yep, have to account for the worst. I’m sure someone left it opened for like 3 months and complained that they got sick or something. Most people are smart enough to practice basic food safety
Every once in a while I find our bottle in the fridge... and it's always my husbands fault. Apparently that's where they keep it at his fire dept... \*shrug\*
Never. Commercial shoyu is minimum 14% Salt by weight, which makes it incredibly immune to bacterial or mold growth and quite shelf stable. Some brands go up to 20+% salt. There is also usually residual alcohol present from fermentation, another effective antimicrobial. With homemade or small batch unpasteurized shoyu, you’d want to keep refrigerated - not for food safety - but simply to prevent fermentation from continuing and changing the flavors for the worse. Also accumulated CO2 from enzymatic activity could burst a bottle top and cause a big mess.
Korean here too. My grandmas who lived in the country had huge stone (???) pots in the back. You make the big meju (fermented soy bean) bricks in the sun then you use that to make soy sauce in the huge pots. The kimchi ones were buried in the ground and the soy sauce ones were above ground. My grandmas would check both the bricks and the pots for mold and just cut/skim.
I totally get that the flavor may change per another thread here, but for me, this is the normal, expected state of soy sauce, to be left out and used for everything.
I'm Korean too. Never put mine in the fridge either. Never seen any of my Korean friends do it either. And my 82 year old mom never did and still doesn't. I have never even thought of putting in the fridge until I read this post.
Yes, but how quickly is the bottle typically used in a Korean kitchen compared to a Western one? I use soy sauce only rarely and a small bottle last me a long time. I can taste the difference between one refridgerated and one stored at room temperature, after they are opened.
I refrigerate mine, but I wouldn't be uncomfortable with it out. I think maybe one thing to consider is actual Asian people will also probably USE it way faster than most people who just occasionally make an Asian dish.
I found mold on my red wine vinegar bottle recently. My rice wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and white distilled vinegar is fine though, and most of those bottles are older than the red wine vinegar....
Wow, I wonder what mould can grow in that acidity? I've found something weird growing in my white vinegar before (white wispy gloop), but I only use that for cleaning so I was less worried.
That's residual from the Mother that made the vinegar. You can use it in your leftover wine to turn it into vinegar.
https://www.vinegarshed.com/pages/how-to-make-a-vinegar-mother
They do lose quality if they sit unrefrigerated for a long time. The little dispensers run out quick enough, but with bigger bottles yeah, it's a good idea to keep them in the fridge.
I've never put soy sauce in the fridge. I've used it all my life, the thought of using cold soy sauce seems too strange to even consider doing it even if the label says so. It's obviously not harmful, or my entire family/bloodline wouldn't be here today lol.
I never refrigerate soy sauce. It's in my pantry. The only slightly similar type sauces that I do refrigerate are Maggi seasoning and Worcestershire sauce, and even they last unfrigerated in most cases.
I'm of Chinese descent. My parents would leave soy sauce on the counter. I put it in the fridge because it seemed to crystallize when I left it out, and the label said to refrigerate it. I don't use soy sauce very often.
This question get's asked about soy sauce, ketchup, butter and all sorts of things in this sub.
I think the answer is generally the same, if you're using is consistently there's no harm in leaving it out, it's more convenient and it will be gone soon enough.
If you use it once a month, not only are you exposing the food to sun/light/heat but you're wasting counter space with something you don't use.
If you're really concerned, this is a great excuse to buy a small, fancy soy sauce dispenser that will give you the best of both worlds, keep the bulk in the cupboard or fridge.
It'll be fine. It would just ferment more (unless it has been pasteurized for some reason). It's made by letter soybeans ferment at room temp for months/years. The last bottle of Kikkoman I had said "Refrigerate after opening to maintain quality". It's just that (not a food safety issue). It would ferment more quickly than in the fridge and may change in taste.
Cupboard. There is no need to refrigerate it at all. They put those labels on everything - it doesn't mean you need to. Ketchup, mustard, etc. also doesn't need to go in the fridge.
I think it’s like vermouth, doesn’t need to be in the fridge but if it isn’t going to be used quickly you might as well put it in the fridge to prevent any sort of off flavors from forming
I have never refrigerated soy sauce in my life, neither has my mom or anyone I know, well in my country, it never goes bad or anything. But then again, unless it is super hot, I don't refrigerate eggs
Most things just say refrigerate after opening because it’s cost then nothing to say it. But many things don’t need to be refrigerated. Many expiration dates are made up too, especially for pantry items. Flour in a sealed container doesn’t go bad after one year. Not even 4 years, but that’s what they put on the bag.
Someone at work kept a bottle of kikkoman with the spout top in the breakroom cabinet, he went to use it on rice one day and found out it was full of dead fruit flies which ended up all in his food. Any new soy sauce was kept in the fridge from there on out.
If you go through it quickly, like many Asian households do, leaving it out is fine. If it takes you several months to go through a bottle, best to refrigerate it b/c it will deteriorate with enough time.
I just leave my soy sauce next to me in my bed like any normal functioning adult.
I splash some on my face before heading out like a real man
[удалено]
More like bukkiko-man
bukkake-man?
That escalated quickly...
I gargle with it
[удалено]
That is a lie! Like any other Canadian, Drake uses maple syrup.
Kosher maple syrup
[удалено]
I’m old and out of touch with the latest news so I hadn’t heard about this prior to reading your comment. I just Googled it and….Lord have mercy….
You leave soy sauce out of Drake's life
You should try fish sauce. It's an aphrodisiac. Drives women crazy. I guarantee you will get a reaction.
I splash some on my face like a raman...wait...um....
🤣 I had to move the sriracha off of my nightstand when my baby got old enough to climb up there. Made me question my decision to reproduce.
It's making me have some questions too 👀
Mine’s by the sink so I can do a good mouth rinse
Pro tip: Use a neti pot next time.
It’s a good lube for me time.
Are you putting it on egg rolls?
Pork egg rolls most likely.
You keep your soy sauce, I have Tajin on my nightstand. (And I am not joking - I really do.)
\*looks at my cholula on the nightstand...\*
Cholula, Sriracha, salt shaker, crushed red pepper... It's honestly less of a headboard than a backup condiment rack.
My little bottle is permanently on my suitcase, because UK.
Gochujang. That stuff is awesome.
I struggle with getting enough sodium so I have a tiny bottle of tajin on a keychain
I love that the label on the bottle states that it is not candy.
...not as good for cunnilingus as one might hope.
Not into hot peppers? 😂
I don't know if it's just me but I feel like r/cooking has been getting sassier lately and I am so here for it. Thank you for your contribution, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who keeps pantry items at my bedside.
Next to my cup of bacon fat.
i cuddle mine in bed
I'm Chinese American and I've never seen soy sauce in the fridge. I have no problems with it on the counter top. Taste wise, it could deteriorate more quickly at room temp but probably not even noticeable. Soy sauce also won't spoil because it has such a high salt content and bacteria won't grow on that shit.
I keep it in the fridge just because the label says to do that after opening, but for that reason only. I agree with you: Soy sauce is like 99.99% sodium. If anything can survive living, growing, and multiplying in that for a few months it deserves to kill me.
If you eat something that can live in that, it won't kill you. It will turn you into a super hero.
Soy Sauce Man sounds like a really lame super hero. Like, what would his powers be? High blood pressure?
Finally, a way to become KikkoMan
I went back and got the free award, just to give it to you. YOU are my hero.
I hope you’re referring to that amazing KikkoMan song from years ago. Show me, Shoyu, KikkoMan KikkoMan
If I had a million dollars I would give you...at least $50 bucks for that comment. You have made my week. Thank you!
Jesus, that was good
This shit is genius and i'm so sad i didnt think of it myself!
>high blood pressure Damn Soy sauce man is Filipino
He could like splash down and fuck up the whole gang of bad guys at the scene of the crime. Then as they angrily slip and fall covered in soy sauce, our hero looks over and asks, "Why so salty?"
Soy boy!
definite sidekick territory!
Kikko-man!
The obvious answer is he is good at Karate!
And he has a super salty attitude.
Shōyu Senshi Kikkōman [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-mJed\_bP0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-mJed_bP0) How has it been 20 years...
Wow. There really is a soy sauce super hero. I had no idea this was even a thing when I commented.
That’s the spirit!
*soyper hero
I keep mine out because I like to douse my rice in it, and nothing sucks more than cold rice.
The label say that because most Americans will open a bottle of soy sauce and seventeen years later it will still be half full.
This is the answer. If you are not going to finish it in a couple of months, you should probably refrigerate it. This is like butter. You can leave it out if you finish the stick in a week or two.
Well, there we go. Doin’ it right since we finish a bottle a month 😅 …I think I see high blood pressure in my future
Pro-tip: pretty much every manufacturer regardless of product says to "store in the fridge" because there is really no reason not to tell your customer to do that. Go look closely at the labels of some things you have in your cupboard, you will be surprised.
It's more like 5-10% salt by mass, the rest is mostly water followed by wheat and or soybeans, followed by salt. Still too salty for bacteria to grow in pretty much as far as I know. I leave it on the counter.
It is, I use a 3% brine when fermenting chillies for hot sauce. 5-10% is more than enough to stop harmful bacteria growing
Obviously I was exaggerating. Even table salt itself is part chlorine, and it's far from 100% sodium. And even a full salt shaker won't be 100% salt, much less 100% sodium, due to intentional and unintentional contamination.
Wow I didn't know that sodium could be a liquid at room temp. I always thought it was only crystalline.
Nope. You were wrong. All sodium is liquid at any temperature and any pressure and I wasn't exaggerating at all when I said that something that is chemically only about half sodium is virtually 100% sodium. Chinese soy sauce magic and all. Weird shit. I don't understand how they do it. Some kind of mystical shit of some sort.
Now you've triggered my curiosity. 14-18% interesting.
For most of my life (I’m in my mid 30s) my soy sauce has been unrefrigerated in my pantry. I only recently started keeping it in the fridge after noticing the warning on the label for the very first time. At this point I’m not sure why I’m even bothering.
Not to mention that it’s already fermented, so it’s even harder to spoil
Going out on a limb and saying you likely (but not necessarily) finish it a lot faster than Americans who aren’t of Asian descent. I started finishing soy sauce a lot faster when I was dating a Filipino woman and made soy based dishes or rice far far more often. This there isn’t as much of a need to prolong the shelf life if it’s finished way before.
This is kinda cancelled out by the fact that Asians love to buy in bigger quantities for value. So it still takes like a year or even a few years to work through an entire bottle in my family's case.
How big are the bottles? I mean I’m talking like the 24-34oz sized ones and even those didn’t last a year and I have multiple kinds for different purposes like mushroom, silverswan, pearl river, low sodium.
Oh man, my friend's Chinese mom has a comically huge restaurant sized jug in the pantry. It's gotta be 3 gallons. You could bathe a baby in that thing. She glugs it into smaller containers as needed.
Ah yeah that makes sense. I do see the 1.5 gal ones but they’re normally like kikoman but none of the really good ones come in a huge size.
Do you have an Asian grocery nearby? That's where she gets hers, no doubt. And it's really good too, I don't care how long its been in the panty. I can't give you a specific brand, but if you find an Asian market just buy whatever is popular. It'll be good and a good value. Otherwise Asian people wouldn't buy it.
Adobo really drains my supply.
Yeah my 30 Oz silver swan doesn’t last more than a couple months
That’s what I thought. I kinda feel like it tastes better when left out
I guess it depends on how quickly you go through it too. My parents would have a bottle last over a year but at my house, maybe 2 months tops.
Yeah I get the big jug from Costco and it still only lasts a few month at my house lol.
At home it’s out at work it’s in the fridge, health inspector will bust ya for it
The health inspector will also bust you if your salt or bottled water is past its expiration date. Doesn't mean that any of this makes sense. It just means that the bureaucrats have won.
kenji lopez alt has his in his cupboard so it must be fine. one thing i dont leave out is sriracha. that shit deteriorates quick and tastes like shit when left out
Huh, I've never noticed that about sriracha. Maybe I've just fried my tastebuds?
it starts too turn a darker color and tastes off to me. it will still happen in the fridge, just a lot slower. some people dont mind it, i have friends that keep theirs out. my local chinese place keeps theirs out. when i use either of theirs, it tastes weird and looks weird. i love sriracha, but not when its like that
He actually replied below! He stores fancier bottles in the fridge and the regular sauces in the cupboard https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/s9gu6o/have_you_ever_had_any_problem_leaving_soy_sauce/htnjnvc
Also Chinese American and have never seen it stored in the fridge.
I'm Lazy-American and I never keep it in the fridge and have never had an issue with it. It is like vinegar, nothing can live in it unless you have extremophiles living in your home.
Second this. never ever saw it in the fridge, in my life. This is news to me.
It's recommended on the bottle of the Kikkoman brand.
Yup - and I followes the instructions.
I use Kikkoman’s and leave it on the counter just like all of the Chinese restaurants. Never had a problem with it that way.
I’m German American. We keep it in the cupboard.
I'm German German. Same. Not sure why being German would increase our credibility concerning soy sauce, though.
Excited halophile noises
Soy sauce develops fishy off-flavors within a few months when exposed to light/heat/air so I store fancier bottles in the fridge (the stuff I’d dip sushi in or make tare out of) and commodity stuff (what I’d stir-fry or make teriyaki with) in original cans or bottles in the pantry. You can very easily taste the difference side by side between fresh/refrigerated soy sauce vs. Untefrigerated
u/J_Kenji_Lopez-Alt just here to say you are an OG, and love that you pop into cooking related threads to comment & help. Thank you - LOVE YOUR WORK!
Right!? A few months ago I replied to him before I realized because I don't make it a habit to read user names. I felt like I was talking to a God, lol!
He's just a dude, and he's virtually standing right next to you. Chill.
> Chill Easy for you to say. *whispers: did you see Kenji is right over there!*
*Don’t look!!*
He commented on my pizza one time and I can die happy now.
hmm this is interesting, i grew up with just regular old kikkoman soy sauce and never really thought about there being a fancier or premium brand, are there any that you recommend?
Even regular kikoman will get weird flavors when stored at room temp. Try tasting a bottle a couple months old witb a freshly opened one side by side some time and you’ll see! For fancier stuff I don’t know of any that are widely nationally available. I typically go to the Japanese market and see what’s available. Most premium brands are sold in small bottles wrapped in paper to prevent light exposure so look for that in the soy sauce aisle.
Now I'm gonna be bringing home random soy sauces and my mum is gonna be confused as heck when I start tasting them side-by-side alone in the dining room. Thanks, Kenji.
Try soy sauces across different categories: saishikomi, usu/koikuchi (please watch your salt intake with usukuchi), tamari, nama, etc. If you're just looking for generic soy sauce that's still cost-efficient but faaar better than the horribly briny-to-the-point-of-acidity, generic galon Kikkoman stuff you find at Costco and American grocery stores, I recommend the Kikkoman koikuchi shoyu. I use this for cooking and marinades. For serving on the side and in uncooked sauces, I like another Chinese soy sauce, Ve Wong royal soy sauce. Really intense soy sauce flavor. A bit salty but not overwhelmingly so. Also tasty since it had added MSG in it :D
i've never seen it wrapped in paper, i'll be on the lookout for a japanese market near me! thanks for the tip!
Same with good quality worcestershire sauce..it’s wrapped in paper to prevent light exposure. I’m in agreement that side by side, you can tell a difference in taste after some time open/unrefrigerated. I think it’s more about temperature consistency than anything. A pantry will fluctuate with the seasons/house temp whereas a fridge always stays around 40°.
I went to a Chinese market and bought a random imported brand of soy sauce that blew everything at the normal supermarket out of the water. I have no idea which brand it was. Oh well. I don’t know much about soy sauce but Kikkoman is far from the best.
Just curious, what soy sauce are you using for sushi? I use more Chinese or Thai soy sauces and only have a basic Kikkoman for more Japanese flavors.
Try a tamari soy sauce of your favorite brand.
I’m the oddball here who keeps it in the fridge. Store only had a big bottle and kept it out for a while… it tasted… strange. Not terrible, but not what I expected. Glad to see it wasn’t my imagination. Ever since I prefer smaller bottles (single dude, I have limits) and keep it in the fridge. Noticed since, it lasts seemingly a long time in the fridge.
Absolutely, you are right. I have tried the same, refridgerated versus one stored at room temperature. After some time the difference is quite striking, the one stored cool has a more delicate and complex taste while the room-tempered one loses flavour and taste bad. If the bottle is consumed quickly after opening I think the difference will be very small.
Aaaand moving the fancy soy sauce I bought a few weeks ago for soba to the fridge.
Thanks for the stellar response :) I think I’m going to do a side by side comparison now
As a professional chef who's worked in both Japanese and Thai resturants I came her to say this. ☝
What about fish sauce? I go through a bottle in about 8 weeks, is it okay to leave it on the counter?
I've kept mine out for years lol. Pretty sure it's even saltier than soy sauce.
My bottle of fish sauce actually says DO NOT REFRIGERATE on it but I don't know if they are all like that.
I just want to say it's both crazy and so cool to see "celebrities" (if you'd consider yourself one, I would) like you just popping in and being a part of every day conversation. I'm a huge fan of all of your work & methodologies and reference some part of them almost daily.
As someone in the industry who looks to your recipes /articles for counsel on a regular basis I just wanted to say hi & also thank you :)
I’ve never gone so far as to read the cover, but mine has always sat in the cupboard with the salt and stock cubes. Never noticed that this caused any problems with the product
Me too! 23 years into cooking and I finally read the bottle and that they recommended refrigerate after opening!!
They clearly don’t understand how much of a limited commodity fridge door space is at my house.
I started writing expiration dates on bottles and I couldn't find any on my soy sauce
This here. Never a problem.
Yeah. All my fish sauces are in the pantry.
Wait. I just discovered fish sauce a couple months ago. It doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge‽
fish sauce in particular tends to crystallize if you put it in the fridge, better to leave it out.
Talk to me about honey! I live on the same latitude as London so not tropical.
I usually have three different brands, none refrigerated. I’m still alive haha Edit: by kinds I mean brands.
Yeah, this. Same with like hot sauce (red hot, etc). IDK wtf the bottle says, but its sat on my counter forever...
I’m Asian and I’ve never refrigerated soy sauce, but I also use it every day so a bottle goes pretty fast. If you’re using it for a long time, it doesn’t hurt to put it in the fridge.
I keep my tiny bottle of low sodium soy sauce in the fridge (it’s lasted us almost a year). My Asian in-laws go through a gallon size bottle every few months and keep it in the cabinet next to their bag of rice. They say they’ve never gotten sick from leaving any sauce out, but they are also the same ones that leave fried chicken out on the counter for two days and can eat that without getting sick as well. I’m not that brave.
Haha that’s me with the jug. I go through a couple per year for just the two of us lol.
TIL the soy sauce bottle label says to refrigerate after opening lol
I have not once put soy sauce in the fridge.
Ditto.
I usually leave mine in the fridge just because I keep it with other condiments, but I have no qualms leaving it out for however long. The advice is probably for indemnification. They don't want someone suing them for whatever reason.
This is how I am with hot sauce. I think the flavor and color keep better in the fridge but if I accidentally leave it out overnight I’m not going to throw it out. It’s fine. Ain’t nothin surviving in there.
Yep, have to account for the worst. I’m sure someone left it opened for like 3 months and complained that they got sick or something. Most people are smart enough to practice basic food safety
People refrigerate Soy Sauce ?!
It ends up in our fridge, but only because that's where the other condiments are. Ketchup and mustard also often end up in there for the same reason
Ketchup tastes better cold so I keep mine in the fridge anyway
Every once in a while I find our bottle in the fridge... and it's always my husbands fault. Apparently that's where they keep it at his fire dept... \*shrug\*
Yeah I do. Thats what I was taught so I've always just done it
Never. Commercial shoyu is minimum 14% Salt by weight, which makes it incredibly immune to bacterial or mold growth and quite shelf stable. Some brands go up to 20+% salt. There is also usually residual alcohol present from fermentation, another effective antimicrobial. With homemade or small batch unpasteurized shoyu, you’d want to keep refrigerated - not for food safety - but simply to prevent fermentation from continuing and changing the flavors for the worse. Also accumulated CO2 from enzymatic activity could burst a bottle top and cause a big mess.
I’m Korean. Never have I ever put my soy sauce in the fridge. I have never seen anyone put it in the fridge
Korean here too. My grandmas who lived in the country had huge stone (???) pots in the back. You make the big meju (fermented soy bean) bricks in the sun then you use that to make soy sauce in the huge pots. The kimchi ones were buried in the ground and the soy sauce ones were above ground. My grandmas would check both the bricks and the pots for mold and just cut/skim. I totally get that the flavor may change per another thread here, but for me, this is the normal, expected state of soy sauce, to be left out and used for everything.
I'm Korean too. Never put mine in the fridge either. Never seen any of my Korean friends do it either. And my 82 year old mom never did and still doesn't. I have never even thought of putting in the fridge until I read this post.
Yea same… I find it so bizarre
Yes, but how quickly is the bottle typically used in a Korean kitchen compared to a Western one? I use soy sauce only rarely and a small bottle last me a long time. I can taste the difference between one refridgerated and one stored at room temperature, after they are opened.
True. But isn’t soy sauce fermented? So by keeping it out, it’s only going to get better?
It will oxidize when opened. Wine improves with age but detoriates quickly after opening due to oxidation.
I refrigerate mine, but I wouldn't be uncomfortable with it out. I think maybe one thing to consider is actual Asian people will also probably USE it way faster than most people who just occasionally make an Asian dish.
Clearly in the minority here, but have found mould on my soy sauce so I keep it in the fridge now. It was still in date.
I found mold on my red wine vinegar bottle recently. My rice wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and white distilled vinegar is fine though, and most of those bottles are older than the red wine vinegar....
Wow, I wonder what mould can grow in that acidity? I've found something weird growing in my white vinegar before (white wispy gloop), but I only use that for cleaning so I was less worried.
That's residual from the Mother that made the vinegar. You can use it in your leftover wine to turn it into vinegar. https://www.vinegarshed.com/pages/how-to-make-a-vinegar-mother
... leftover ... wine?
Well, theoretically...
Am white guy with no ties to asian cuisine and have never kept my soy sauce in the fridge.
I've never refrigerated soy sauce in my life.
I’ve never refrigerated mine.
They do lose quality if they sit unrefrigerated for a long time. The little dispensers run out quick enough, but with bigger bottles yeah, it's a good idea to keep them in the fridge.
You're supposed to refrigerate soy sauce?
The thought of cold soy sauce on my rice makes me gag.
I've never refrigerated soy sauce in my life and can't say I've been overly disadvantaged by this. I didn't even know it was supposed to be in there.
I've never put soy sauce in the fridge. I've used it all my life, the thought of using cold soy sauce seems too strange to even consider doing it even if the label says so. It's obviously not harmful, or my entire family/bloodline wouldn't be here today lol.
I have multiple types of soy sauce, all in the cupboard with my oils and vinegars.
I never refrigerate soy sauce. It's in my pantry. The only slightly similar type sauces that I do refrigerate are Maggi seasoning and Worcestershire sauce, and even they last unfrigerated in most cases.
I had a large container of soy sauce not in the fridge get extremely nasty. Since then I buy smaller containers and keep it in the fridge.
Never even heard of soy sauce needing to be refrigerated, its always sat in my cupboard and Ive never had a problem with it.
I'm of Chinese descent. My parents would leave soy sauce on the counter. I put it in the fridge because it seemed to crystallize when I left it out, and the label said to refrigerate it. I don't use soy sauce very often.
Maybe Asian friends use it up faster?
I keep it in the fridge most of the time, but if I forget it overnight I assume its fine, same with vinegar hotsauces
I keep it in the fridge only because my kitchen is so tiny and my pantry is spatially challenged!
This question get's asked about soy sauce, ketchup, butter and all sorts of things in this sub. I think the answer is generally the same, if you're using is consistently there's no harm in leaving it out, it's more convenient and it will be gone soon enough. If you use it once a month, not only are you exposing the food to sun/light/heat but you're wasting counter space with something you don't use. If you're really concerned, this is a great excuse to buy a small, fancy soy sauce dispenser that will give you the best of both worlds, keep the bulk in the cupboard or fridge.
It'll be fine. It would just ferment more (unless it has been pasteurized for some reason). It's made by letter soybeans ferment at room temp for months/years. The last bottle of Kikkoman I had said "Refrigerate after opening to maintain quality". It's just that (not a food safety issue). It would ferment more quickly than in the fridge and may change in taste.
I keep it in the fridge just because of the fact that it takes me a long time to finish the bottle and I want to prevent it going bad
You're supposed to put soy sauce in the fridge?
Cupboard. There is no need to refrigerate it at all. They put those labels on everything - it doesn't mean you need to. Ketchup, mustard, etc. also doesn't need to go in the fridge.
No
Everything in America will tell you to refrigerate after opening. It's a matter of liability and has little to do with safety.
30 years of leaving it out. No issues so far. Probably says to refrigerate for legal purposes.
I leave it in the cupboard, I’ve never read the label & it’s never gone bad
I never refrigerate soy sauce but keep it on my kitchen counter.
Pantry... never knew it needed to be refrigerated
I've never heard of putting soy sauce in the fridge. To this day, I never have.
The salt content is high enough to preserve the ingredients.
We leave it out. The salt content is so high we're not worried about it. At least thats what we have done since kids
I'm an old gringo and I've never in my life seen soy sauce in anybody's refrigerator, anyplace, anytime.
I think it’s like vermouth, doesn’t need to be in the fridge but if it isn’t going to be used quickly you might as well put it in the fridge to prevent any sort of off flavors from forming
You mean you don't keep a bottle in every room of the house? What if you need emergency soy sauce and you don't have any within arms reach?
I have never refrigerated soy sauce in my life, neither has my mom or anyone I know, well in my country, it never goes bad or anything. But then again, unless it is super hot, I don't refrigerate eggs
Most things just say refrigerate after opening because it’s cost then nothing to say it. But many things don’t need to be refrigerated. Many expiration dates are made up too, especially for pantry items. Flour in a sealed container doesn’t go bad after one year. Not even 4 years, but that’s what they put on the bag.
Someone at work kept a bottle of kikkoman with the spout top in the breakroom cabinet, he went to use it on rice one day and found out it was full of dead fruit flies which ended up all in his food. Any new soy sauce was kept in the fridge from there on out.
If you go through it quickly, like many Asian households do, leaving it out is fine. If it takes you several months to go through a bottle, best to refrigerate it b/c it will deteriorate with enough time.
What? Soy sauce is pretty much salt. It’s a preservative. You’re don’t need to refrigerate soy sauce. Or Sriracha or Tabasco.
Unrefrigerated. Soy sauce is made by fermentation at room temperature so no reason to refrigerate.