For Vegetarians

Va Va Voom Vegetarian

Looking for ways to boost the flavors of your favorite vegetables and vegetarian dishes? Try naturally brewed Kikkoman Soy Sauce. A vegan ingredient, Kikkoman is made from just four premium natural vegetarian ingredients – soybeans, wheat, water and salt – slowly fermented like a fine wine to create a savory condiment with complex, meaty flavors and aromas.

“We know it’s important to our vegetarian consumers to have confidence in the ingredients used in Kikkoman Soy Sauce,” says KIKKOMAN SALES USA, INC. President Ken Saito. “Kikkoman Soy Sauce uses only vegetarian ingredients and fermenting processes.”

A Natural Flavor Enhancer

During its months of natural fermentation, Kikkoman Soy Sauce develops more than 285 flavor and aroma components that not only add flavor, but actually bring out the sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors in other ingredients. And there’s more. Rich in amino acids, Kikkoman adds umami, the elusive “fifth flavor,” often translated as “savory,” “brothy,” and “delicious.” It’s the quality you sense in reduced meat stocks, bouillon, slow-cooked mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, tomato sauce and other umami-rich ingredients. Boosting the umami flavors of vegan and vegetarian foods makes them more satisfying. And Kikkoman makes umami as easy as “pour and stir.”

The key to beefing up the flavor of vegetarian dishes with Kikkoman is to start with a modest amount and add as you go. Especially when preparing non-Asian dishes, you’re not looking to add a distinctive soy sauce flavor, but rather a mellow savory “undertone.” Start by reducing the amount of salt in the recipe and replacing it with Kikkoman Soy Sauce or Less Sodium Soy Sauce. You’ll find that it helps unlock the flavor potential of other ingredients. That’s the umami effect.

Tasting is Believing

To get the hang of this age-old flavor enhancing secret, try this simple taste test.

1. Put 1/4 cup of warm low sodium vegetable broth in each of two small bowls.
2. To one bowl, add 1/4 tsp. Kikkoman Soy Sauce
3. Taste the plain broth first, letting the flavors spread on your tongue and palate.
4. Now taste the Kikkoman-enhanced broth. Notice that you don’t really taste soy sauce, but that the broth has more depth and a richer flavor. Just think what a dash of Kikkoman can do to other vegetarian foods.

The Original Vegetarian Seasoning

Soy sauce is thought to have originated in China more than 2,500 years ago. The Chinese brought it to Japan, along with the influence of Buddhism, in 1250. The Buddhist religion forbade the use of meat- and fish-based sauces, which traditionally played a great part in flavoring foods, and soy sauce quickly became a popular seasoning throughout Japan. The Japanese also changed soy sauce from its original form by adding wheat to it. No wonder soy sauce has been used to give vegan and vegetarian foods more “oomph” for more than two millennia.

How Kikkoman Soy Sauce is Produced

Kikkoman Soy Sauce is brewed in America at two meticulously run plants in Walworth, Wisconsin and Folsom, California. We start the process by carefully selecting and blending U.S.-grown soybeans and wheat. A proprietary yeast culture starts the process, along with wheat, soybeans, water and salt. Then, like a fine wine, it's fermented and aged for months to develop its full flavor, aroma and delicate, reddish-brown color. Once the fermentation is complete, the resulting liquid is filtered, pasteurized and bottled as soy sauce.

Vegetarian Tips

Try these tips to help you produce satisfying vegetarian meals. With the delicious flavor of Kikkoman Soy Sauce, you'll never feel deprived of great taste!