Soy Sauce Questions

[pam]

Recipe calls for dark and light soy sauces. Is dark what I would have called regular? Is light what I have in my cupboard called lite? What is the sweet soy sauce that my DIL left in my cupboard after cooking us Thai dishes?

 

[liz-d]

Neither dark or light or sweet are what

you have that is called regular. I think that the "lite" that you have is low sodium, which is different from "light", lighter in flavor. Dark soy is darker in color and stronger in flavor.

I know the sweet soy as kecap manis. very thick and sweet. I have used is in indonesian and thai cooking.

 

[curious1]

Light soy is not the same as lite soy. Lite is a reduced sodium. Chinese soy sauce comes in

different styles,three of them being light, dark, and mushroom. There's a Chinese brand called Pearl River Bridge soy that makes all 3. I believe the dark is aged longer than the light, perhaps someone else knows the specific differences. I never thought to do a taste test on them.
I don't remember seeing Japanese soy labeled as light or dark.

 

[curious1]

Aha! So that's what kecap manis is, I learned something, thank you.

 

[pam]

Thanks to all.

Now I just have to find a source. Will try the local H Mart. I was hoping that Kikomann would fill the bill for one of the types.

 

[curious1]

Pam, I doubt if you could tell the difference if you used Kikkoman's as a sub. I don't think I

would be able to do so.

 

[michael-in-phoenix]

Kikkoman regular is a good, regular soy sauce brand. Kikkoman Lite is the lower sodium version....

...mentioned in the posts above, not to be confused with light soy. I don't think Kikkoman makes a light soy. They are a Japanese brand, not a Chinese, so they may not make light soy.

I use Wei Chuan brand light soy and dark soy. Lee Kum Kee is another brand I trust, along with the aforementioned Pearl River Bridge.

All of those are available here, but only at asian markets.

Michael