Noda soy sauce

Soybeans, roasted wheat, salt and water: kōji mould seeds the mash, then brine works for months in cedar vats before pressing. Noda in Chiba had everything needed, wheat from the plain, salt from the bay and the Edogawa river to float barrels down to Edo; eight families were brewing there by 1661 and merged in 1917 to form Kikkoman. Japanese cooks distinguish at least five types, notably the dominant koikuchi and the Kansai usukuchi, lighter in colour but saltier.