Soy Sauce-traditional and Instant version

All these while I have been wondering how the soy sauce factories are able to produce so much soy sauce because my understanding about soy sauce production is through slow fermentation processes. It takes months, and you need many big urns for soy sauce fermentation. I think I got my assumption from the old Chinese movies, where households put the urns at their backyard.

In fact, there are traditional method of producing soy sauce in China and Taiwan. I am not so certain about Malaysia. I have been naive. Now, I can only jump into conclusion that for any soy sauce that I can easily buy from the stores be it in sundry shops or supermarket or hypermarket, they must be instant version so that mass production is possible.

Time to make a change in my choice for soy sauce as it is one of the main ingredient in my kitchen, and it is not supposed to cause any harm to my health, because it is fermented.

Chinese Soy Sauce-Flavor Enhancer & Preservatives

I did not expect to see so much additives in the soy sauce I am using!

Camel brand-thick soy sauce
E200(Preservative)
E621(Monosodium Glutamate or Ajinomoto)

Camel brand-light soy sauce
Sodium Benzoate E211(Preservative)

Lee Kum Kee-first draw soy sauce
Disodium 5-Inosinate(Flavor Enhancer), 
Disodium 5-Guanylate(Flavor Enhancer)

汾阳桥-Superior Light soy sauce
Color(E150a)
E621,E631,E627(Flavor Enhancer), 
E202, E211(Preservative)

Maggi-Seasoning
Don't even list the ingredients used!

Soy Sauce and Salt in Chinese Cooking

How much salt am I consuming everyday? 

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council has set a stringent recommended intake of 460-920mg of sodium per day. This corresponds to 1.15-2.3g of salt.

For easier mental calculation,

• 1/4 teaspoon salt = 575 mg sodium
• 1/2 teaspoon salt = 1,150 mg sodium
• 3/4 teaspoon salt = 1,725 mg sodium
• 1 teaspoon salt = 2,300 mg sodium

Based on the recommendation, we should not take more than 1/2 teaspoon of salt daily.

If I only eat 3 meals per day, each meal should not be more than a pinch of salt!

However, I may not touched the salt shaker, but in my cooking, I am using a lot of soy sauce! 

Altogether I have 6 bottles of soy sauce for different purposes. Light soy sauce for marinating meat, a few shake of thick soy sauce to add nice brown colour to the dishes before serving, maggi soy sauce for soft boiled eggs, light and thick soy sauce for fried noodles, first draw soy sauce for stewing chicken, and in fact, every stewed meat calls for soy sauce. 

What are the main ingredients of soy sauce? soy bean, salt, sugar, wheat flour and flavor enhancer and preservatives!

A sodium check on 5g (1 teaspoon) soy sauce

Camel brand-thick soy sauce-187mg

Camel brand-light soy sauce-264 mg

Lee Kum Kee-first draw soy sauce-not available in nutrition fact

汾阳桥-Superior Light soy sauce-393mg

Maggi-Seasoning-Don't even have a label for nutrition fact!

Lea & Perrins-Worcestershire-No nutrition fact label!

No doubt I consume more sodium than I should everyday. How to reduce? This is difficult!

Daily Meal - 2015 Apr 05 Sunday

Breakfast:

1. Mee noodle mixed with gravy

2. one fried egg

3. one cup oats

4. Nescafe

5. two banana

Lunch:
1. Roast pork
2. Stir fried cabbage
3. Stir fried bitter gourd with sliced pork

Daily Meal - 2015 Apr 04 Sat

Breakfast
1. 干捞面 mee mixed with gravy
2. simple soup with sliced pork and choy sum
3. one small cup of oats soak in hot water
4. nescafe wihout sugar

Lunch
1. Left over stewed pig trotter from last night
2. Stir fried cabbage
3. Stir fried sliced pork with onion

Dinner
1. Boiled pork with soy sauce+oyster sauce+ spring onion gravy
2. Stir fried carrot with capcicum
3. Boiled then stir fried 大白菜

Daily Meals - 2015 Apr 3 Friday

I thought it would be interesting to record the food I eat everyday.  Every meal comes with the effort I put in. It is not difficult to cook, but sometimes I just feel lazy. Anyway, I manage to serve 3 meals on the dining table everyday.

Dinner on Friday night:

1. Stewed pig trotter

2. Stir Fried Choy Sum

3. Stir fried celery, carrot and capcicum