Soy sauce is the perfect way to instantly add a kick of salty flavour to your meals. Whether you’re adding it to a delicious stir fry or dipping sushi in it, the options are endless, and there are so many different brands to choose from.
It’s cheap too, with a bottle costing as little as 64p from Asda. Light soy is used for adding flavour to meals, whilst dark soy is for colour. But no matter what kind you have at home, storage is everything – and one common mistake could make it lose its taste.
If you’ve got a bottle of this condiment at home, chances are you keep it in the cupboard. However, according to the food storage experts at Cookology, this might not be the best idea.
They say that soy sauce should ‘somewhat surprisingly’ be kept in the fridge, once it has been opened. This will allow it to keep its flavour for longer, meaning you can keep adding that delicious umami punch of flavour to your meals.
This was echoed by the soy sauce pros at Kikkoman, who said: “It’s best to store opened soy sauce in the refrigerator to help the flavor and quality remain at their peak for a longer period, and to prevent color deterioration.”
However, if you have been storing it in the cupboard all this time, don’t panic. Soy sauce has an extremely high salt content, making it an ‘inhospitable’ environment for harmful bacteria that could make you unwell.
Keeping it in the fridge is more about preserving its taste than improving its hygiene.
Keeping your soy sauce in the fridge can also help prevent it from oxidising. This is the process that happens as a result of contact with oxygen, turning the sauce darker in colour.
A low-temperature environment, like the one in the fridge, can stop this from happening.