Nom Nom Nom? - Homemade Soy Sauce

[Deleted08]

pennilessparenting.com/2011/08/homemade-soy-sauce-experiment.html

 

Nopurplekoolaid has rejoined the new Free Jinger

 

You want to make soy sauce from mold? Come on in!

[Guest Anonymous]

pennilessparenting.com/2011/08/homemade-soy-sauce-experiment.html

(for those that struggle with DOTs)

[Guest Anonymous]

I lost her half way down.

I don't use soy sauce much, but the good stuff is not all that expensive in the Chinese supermarkets here. Not sure what she's going on about....

[Jencendiary]

This woman is a lunatic.

[DamnPrecious]

I took the blue pill. I'm squeamish.

[twin2]

Ahhh, nothing like starting out the week with a science fail:

But with soy sauce, you don't eat the mold. You kill it by placing it in such a salty brine that these microbes die, and then you let it ferment in the heat of the sun for at least a month, preferably more.

Um, the fermenting is done by microbes. If you kill the microbes, no fermenting, no soy sauce. When you set it the heat of the sun, the microbes get all kinds of happy, eat the starch from the beans then secrete the goodies that create soy sauce (well that and the bacteria and yeast that come along for the ride and eat the beans as well). Microbes need salt in certain amounts for nutrition.

[Deleted03]

I lost her half way down.

I don't use soy sauce much, but the good stuff is not all that expensive in the Chinese supermarkets here. Not sure what she's going on about....

isn't she the onliving in Israel? I'm sure it's more expensive there, like anything else (hence the recent protests)

[Deleted03]

Ahhh, nothing like starting out the week with a science fail:

Um, the fermenting is done by microbes. If you kill the microbes, no fermenting, no soy sauce. When you set it the heat of the sun, the microbes get all kinds of happy, eat the starch from the beans then secrete the goodies that create soy sauce (well that and the bacteria and yeast that come along for the ride and eat the beans as well). Microbes need salt in certain amounts for nutrition.

I wonder if she ever eats cheese or yoghurt... I mean bacteria, bacteria!

There is a type of bacteria, that you can only find in one place everywhere in the world.... in the belly button! ;) We are covered in bacteria... not all bacteria are bad... humph.

[Jencendiary]

Since it's back to school week in a lot of places, perhaps we should suggest she send her kids off on the big yellow bus if she's going to fail biology like this.

And I don't care how expensive soy sauce is. It's better than eating something that grew under your kitchen counter.

[longskirtlotsakids]

Another post of heres:Telephones: Need or want?

Yes, this "need" is right up there with things like dentistry and daily showers. You wanna live in the 1800's? Fine, but don;t whine when you get lice or your kid dies of cholera.

[maybeizfundie]

Huh. As a science experiment, I would totally do this with my kids.

Not sure I would eat it though. She's actually right about mold, people eat it all the time, and she didn't say the sun kills all microbes, just the mold stuff. But as much as my dad loves stinky, moldy cheese, it's not genetic and I've never been able to bring myself to eat that. So I couldn't eat her version of soy sauce. The pictures...augh. Ew. Can't do it.

[Mompom]

Well, there might be something to the brine. Some of the recipes for old fashioned sauerkraut just call for cabbage and salt. This is gross, but really, kind of fascinating. I wouldn't do it, I'd just buy the bottle, but I know lots of fermenters and it's pretty miraculous seeming what fermentation and time can do.

She's right about wild yeasts too. For example, you can just use the yeast in the air to properly ferment sourdough. So fascinating. There's no freaking way I would eat her soy sauce, but still... I don't think it's toooooo weird these days with all the food hobbyists.

Check out the book Wild Fermentation.

[twin2]

Huh. As a science experiment, I would totally do this with my kids.

Not sure I would eat it though. She's actually right about mold, people eat it all the time, and she didn't say the sun kills all microbes, just the mold stuff. But as much as my dad loves stinky, moldy cheese, it's not genetic and I've never been able to bring myself to eat that. So I couldn't eat her version of soy sauce. The pictures...augh. Ew. Can't do it.

Neither the sun or the brine kills the mold. Microbes like to grow in the heat and they need the brine for nutrition. If there is too much salt, the can die, but if the die, they don't ferment. Trust me, I TA'd microbiology for two years, I've grown my fair share of critters.

[maybeizfundie]

Oh, I don't disbelieve you. :) I wasn't sure about the sun killing mold, that did seem odd, but wanted to point out that she wasn't saying it killed everything in there.

[dormouse]

I can't see the link, it takes me back to her main page. But her homemade vinegar and rendering chicken fat make me nauseous. I agree that soy sauce might be more expensive in Israel than in the US or Canada, but even if the price doubled, I still wouldn't make it. I would simply use less.

[Guest Anonymous]

All I want to know is whether or not she named the mold. Therese? Is that you?

[trebello]

Yeah, delurking again because it's microbiology...

What twin2 said. There is no fermentation without microbes. The reason this works is that many fermenting organisms work best at high(er) temperatures that also slow the growth of spoilage organisms. They also tend to be more tolerant of salt (ditto for slowing growth of others). Some organisms that fit the bill (also responsible for yogurt, cheese and sauerkraut) - Lactobacillus spp., Streptococcus spp., and Leuconostoc. Some yeasts are also tolerant to both conditions (yea fungi!!!).

And I do think she should name the organisms Therese.

Signed,

Theresa

[duplessis3]

I posted about her ages ago! She's decided she's gluten intolerant and can smell the wheat in soy sauce. She is not using wheat flour but rice flour. Who knows what she will end up with?

How was it discovered she lives in Israel - she's always very careful to be mysterious about where she lives. (And what her religious beliefs are.) They live below the poverty line, btw, and she's pregnant again.

Oh, and you can make rice krispies at home - I looked it up. Rice crackers too.

[trebello]

Oh, and I should have added that fermenting stuff in the sun is a really, really bad idea. Inconsistent temperature can lead to deadly contamination.

There are also lots of brands of soy sauce that are gluten-free. I will gladly send her some, if she would take them from a heathen atheist.

[Olivia]

Yeah, buying gluten-free soy sauce at $5 a bottle is a much better bargain to me than a) all the time involved in this project and b) eating something that I saw originate from mold-cakes.

[Wolfie]

I do some fermenting here (yogurt and cheese, and my parents did yogurt, wine and vinegar), but I think that there is a lot more control in the molds in "real" soy sauce than she is doing.

Vinegar mothers are pretty gross looking.

[Deleted08]

Oh, and I should have added that fermenting stuff in the sun is a really, really bad idea. Inconsistent temperature can lead to deadly contamination.

There are also lots of brands of soy sauce that are gluten-free. I will gladly send her some, if she would take them from a heathen atheist.

Ditto. My Mom in Law left her batch of yogurt cheese in the sun (it was way hotter than normal) and she got a BAD case of food poisoning.

[Wolfie]

Ditto. My Mom in Law left her batch of yogurt cheese in the sun (it was way hotter than normal) and she got a BAD case of food poisoning.

Oh yeah. I use either a cooler with hot water that is very closely monitored, or a yogurt maker. Both are much more predictable than the sun.

I worry more about no control over what mold is forming on the soy. (I'm also an avid canner, so the thought of botulism is very scary)

[dormouse]

How was it discovered she lives in Israel - she's always very careful to be mysterious about where she lives. (And what her religious beliefs are.) They live below the poverty line, btw, and she's pregnant again.

It's just assumptions, but someone mentioned it on the other thread about her, because she's foraging mustard greens, and looks like she's wearing a wig.

[Jessica]

She posted on the old board before. She's Jewish (Orthodox?) and lives in Israel.