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Taste testers rank
Eden most sassy soy

Most brands familiar here
get snubbed by testers at
Cooks Illustrated magazine

Star-Bulletin

File photo Locally available Kikkoman soy sauce was "recommended with reservations."

"When it is good, its flavor should resonate the way sound does from a gong struck by a padded hammer."

What are we talking about here? A rare truffle oil, a fine champagne, a smooth, rich chocolate?

Soy sauce.

Cooks Illustrated, the bimonthly publication that examines cooking as both science and art form, compares brands of soy sauce in its January-February issue.

Cooks Illustrated regularly provides the sort of in-depth culinary investigation that might involve mashing hundreds of lemons in an attempt to find the single best way to make lemonade.

In this case, 15 tasters evaluated a dozen brands of soy sauce. The sauces were first given a dipping test, served with plain rice and tofu. Second, they were stir-fried with chicken and small amounts of sugar, garlic and ginger.

The singular soy, rated "highly recommended," was Eden Selected Shoyu, for its "toasty, caramel-y and complex" balance of flavors. Eden is made in Japan, where it is brewed outdoors in cedar vats for about three years. It sells for $2.59 per 10-ounce bottle at mainland health-food stores.

Of brands widely available in Hawaii, Kikkoman was rated "recommended, with reservations"; Yamasa and La Choy were rated "not recommended." Hawaii's Aloha Shoyu was not among the brands tested.

The criteria: Flavor, aroma, consistency, complexity. Saltiness was expected, but a good sauce had to go beyond that. This standard was set for the ultimate soy: "In a dipping sauce it can provide a quick, bright flavor that dances off the food it cooks. In a braise its presence might be more surreptitious, an underbelly of flavor nuances."

Makes you appreciate shoyu in a whole new way.

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