Soy sauce
liquid seasoning
Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds (kōji). It is recognized for its saltiness and pronounced umami taste.
Soy sauce was created in its current form about 2,200 years ago during the Western Han dynasty of ancient China. Since then, it has become an important ingredient in East and Southeast Asian cooking as well as a condiment worldwide.
Use and storage
Soy sauce may be added directly to food and is commonly used as a dipping sauce or used as seasoning in cooking. It is often eaten with rice, noodles, sushi, or sashimi, or mixed with ground wasabi for dipping. Bottles of soy sauce for the purpose of seasoning dishes are common on restaurant tables in many countries. Soy sauce is indefinitely shelf-stable.
History
Asia
China
Soy sauce (醬油, jiàngyóu) is considered almost as old as soy paste—a type of fermented paste (jiàng, 醬) obtained from soybeans—which had appeared during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) and was listed in the bamboo slips found in the archaeological site Mawangdui (馬王堆). There are several precursors of soy sauce that are associated products with soy paste.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Soy sauce” as liquid seasoning. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as liquid seasoning. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q229385. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Soy sauce”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Soy sauce primary sources, Soy sauce archive and sauce research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Soy sauce”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Soy sauce” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.