Soy sauce is a salty liquid condiment traditionally produced by fermenting soybeans and wheat.

It is thought to have originated from a Chinese product called “chiang” over 3,000 years ago. Similar products were developed in Japan, Korea, Indonesia and across Southeast Asia.

It first came to Europe in the 1600s through Dutch and Japanese trading (1, 2).

The word “soy” comes from the Japanese word for soy sauce, “shoyu.” In fact, the soybean itself was named from soy sauce (1).