# do i need to refrigerate soy sauce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353 "2001-07-21T20:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nervous\_Knight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nervous\_Knight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nervous_Knight)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/21 "2001-07-22T05:02:14Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Kalt \* > \*\* Do i need to keep it refrigerated?_\* soy-tinley! (Yeah… you’re right, I’m a stooge) ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/22 "2001-07-22T05:14:04Z")
I bravely took my bottle of Kikkoman out of my refrigerator and boldly placed it in my kitchen closet, next to my bottle of (unrefrigerated) ketchup. If i die of soy dysentery or something like that, let it be on all of your shoulders 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/23 "2001-07-22T05:23:42Z")
Kikkoman? We all thought you were talking about Soy Sauce! Maybe you’d better throw it out, now! ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/24 "2001-07-22T08:24:40Z")
is kikkoman considered to be the swill of soy sauce? i had no idea. i am not a soy sauce connoisseur; however kikkoman soy sauce has always tasted fine to me. The only ‘bad’ soy sauces i have had are the light/low sodium ones. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/25 "2001-07-22T11:05:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bare \* > **Actually, I started some rice on the stove first and before pouring all that good looking marinade down the sink, thought to myself, "Self, rice and soy sauce are made for each other, right?"** No, no NO! Rice and soy sauce are NOT made for each other. You should NEVER apply soy sauce to rice. It is just NOT done. Any Japanese person would look at you with horror if you spoiled a nice bowl of rice by pouring soy over it, let alone cooking the rice in it. Even when you use soy on sushi, you don’t wet the rice with it, you just dip the fish side in it lightly. I could probably fix your rice cooking problem, but you aren’t ever going to try this again, are you? I won’t be a party to it if you do… ---
**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/26 "2001-07-22T11:16:11Z")
As **Podkayne** said, nuttin but halophiles (salt loving microorganisms) are likely to grow in soy sauce, and none of them are known to cause food poisoning. **Yet**. (Back before the dawn of time when I started out as a food microbiologist, the same was said of cold tolerant microorganisms. Then, in microbiology’s permanent quest to worry consumers, we discovered that _Listeria_ could grow competetively at fridge temperatures in non-acid foodstuffs and poison people. Heheheh.) I think it is reasonably safe to leave full strength soy sauce out. I do. (Apparently for years, judging by what I found in the back of the cupboard this week! It got heaved on the grounds of taste. Blech). As for aflatoxins, unless knowledge on aflatoxigenesis has changed a lot since I stopped working in food micro, they are unlikely to be formed in processed grain products as they mainly form in the grain while it is ripening **if** conditions are right. Other mycotoxins can be formed in processed products, but that is unlikely to happen without visible mould being present. Commercial peanut butter has a low A[sub]w[/sub] (available water) due to high fat and salt levels so nothing much other than fungi are likely to grow. So, if it looks mouldy, heave it. Or not. Your choice. FWIW, I leave peanut butter out as well as soy sauce. And vegemite. And honey. And butter (which will go off in time, but not at the rate we use it). And whole salami if it needs aging. And tomato sauce (trans = ketchup), but I throw it out if it hasn’t been used for a while and there is a deep discoloured band at the top. And I suspect that may be overcautious. Can I second **Kalt** ’s question - is Kikkomon an inferior soy sauce? Always tasted OK to me, but that could just be my inferior western palate. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/27 "2001-07-22T16:34:58Z")
[http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/aflatoxin/aflatoxin.html#Occurence:](http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/toxicagents/aflatoxin/aflatoxin.html#Occurence:) Aflatoxins are detected occasionally in milk, cheese, corn, peanuts, cottonseed, nuts, almonds, figs, spices, and a variety of other foods and feeds . Milk, eggs, and meat products are sometimes contaminated because of the animal consumption of aflatoxin-contaminated feed . However, the commodities with the highest risk of aflatoxin contamination are corn, peanuts, and cottonseed. You’re right about their being formed in the grain while ripening, so I guess it’s immaterial where you store it. I just quoted a little section out of the website to emphasize that peanuts is one of the main grains that may contain it. ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/28 "2001-07-22T16:55:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Podkayne \* > \*\*I’ve seen Ketchup Gone Bad (next Thursday on FOX!) and trust me, spoiled-ketchup spurtle is considerably more vile than warming-ketchup spurtle. Smells gross, and the ketchup gets all runny. \*\* Did it sound like I was trying to “one-up” **Mangetout**? I’m sorry. I was just trying to share other Condiment Spew Situations. To at least give a nod to the OP: All my soy sauce is in the little packets from the local Chinese restaurant. I leave those in the bread box. -Rue. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/29 "2001-07-22T17:11:53Z")
re: Kikkoman, I have always used the stuff, but recently on a trip to my local Thai grocery store, I came across plastic bottles of Kikkoman soy imported from Japan. The owner told me it was much better and it was cheap - 1L for 3.29, so I bought it. Yum!! It has a much richer more balanced flavour and I’m not going back. ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/30 "2001-07-22T18:13:57Z")
I love soy sauce, but I hate Kikkoman. _shudder_ Could be just me. My favourite soy sauce is dark and aged. I can’t tell you what kind it is, because I’m out of it at the moment, and IIRC, it has little, if any, writing in english on it. I flavour a variety of foods with it. It adds just the right taste. FTR - Sometimes I refridgerate my soy sauce, sometimes I don’t. No one has dropped dead yet here, either. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/31 "2001-07-22T19:28:15Z")
There’s a difference between Japanese and Chinese soy sauces. Chinese soy sauce is made mainly with soybeans while the Japanese version uses about equal amounts of soy and wheat. This makes Japanese soy sauce (like Kikkoman) lighter and sweeter than Chinese soy sauce. Tastes differ; finding the right soy sauce can be compared to finding the right wine or the right single-malt whisky for you. Me, I like 'em both. And I never refridgerate soy sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/32 "2001-07-22T19:38:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mblackwell \* > \*\*People refrigerate peanut butter? \*\* Actually there is a good reason for refrigerating PB. This does not happen with the name brands, but cheap peanut butter will separate if not refrigerated. You are left with the top half made up of a thin very oily goo, and the bottom as a thick dry clay like mess. You then have to re-mix the PB every time you open it. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/33 "2001-07-22T19:43:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by mblackwell \* > > \*\*People refrigerate peanut butter? \*\* > > Actually there is a good reason for refrigerating PB. This does not happen with the name brands, but cheap peanut butter will separate if not refrigerated. You are left with the top half made up of a thin very oily goo, and the bottom as a thick dry clay like mess. You then have to re-mix the PB every time you open it. > \*\* Blasphemy! You’re talking about the real thing. Real PB does seperate, Skippy et. al. contain shortenings to prevent seperation. Real PB is not cheap! ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/34 "2001-07-22T20:12:35Z")
Refrigerated peanut butter is useless! It rips the bread to shreds when you try to spread it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/35 "2001-07-22T20:44:04Z")
Real peanut butter is very very VERY good, and worth the “trouble” of having to mix. Or you can cut out some fat and dump out the oil on top, but then it won’t be as creamy and can get a little hard. Never insult real peanut butter though - it is far superior to the processed homogenized crap you get in cute little jars with red plastic lids. “Choosy moms choose _real_ pb,” not jiff/skippy/peter pan/etc. So, is there some super-dooper $50 (or more?) a bottle “ultimate” soy sauce out there? Like… the Macallan 30 of soy sauces? I’ve always grabbed kikkoman and it has never disgusted me (except the light/low sod. variety)… but what do i know? I have seen $150 a bottle 100 year old balsamic vinegars (see, e.g. dean and deluca catalog and/or website)… maybe soy sauce is the same way? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/36 "2001-07-22T21:31:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalt \* > \*\*So, is there some super-dooper $50 (or more?) a bottle “ultimate” soy sauce out there? Like… the Macallan 30 of soy sauces? I’ve always grabbed kikkoman and it has never disgusted me (except the light/low sod. variety)… but what do i know? I have seen $150 a bottle 100 year old balsamic vinegars (see, e.g. dean and deluca catalog and/or website)… maybe soy sauce is the same way? \*\* What you want to look out for is the [brewed vs. non-brewed](http://www.kikkoman-usa.com/html/soyart/brewed.html) soy sauce. Brewed soy sauce is produced using a fungal fermentation process. Here’s a [recipe](http://www.esprint.com.ph/food/cocosoy/soysauce/soysauce.htm) for making your own soy sauce. It’s from the Philippines, so you’ll have to find the starter cultures locally. Non-brewed soy sauce is produced by hydrolyzing soy beans with hydrochloric acid; it tastes as nasty as it sounds. For expensive soy sauce, try [Goyogura](http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/010300/usn_LA0843.001.shtml), made for the Emperor of Japan himself. I haven’t tried it myself. I don’t think you can get it outside of Noda, Japan, where it’s made. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/37 "2001-07-23T00:01:57Z")
Couple of points: “Refrigerate” does not have a “d” in it. I don’t refrigerate bottled hot sauces, but I do refrigerate salsas, which seem to go bad fairly quickly. Miracle Whip is already “bad” before it’s even opened. Not sure if it gets any worse if it spoils. I like San-J whole soybean, wheat-free Tamari. It’s Japanese. What’s the difference between soy sauce and tamari? I’ve tasted various Chinese, Japanese and other types of soy sauces (in Singapore and SE Asia) and have liked almost all of them. Jill ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/38 "2001-07-23T00:57:59Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Terminus Est \* > \*\* Non-brewed soy sauce is produced by hydrolyzing soy beans with hydrochloric acid; it tastes as nasty as it sounds._\* As I mentioned in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=75312), it’s nasty in other ways too. Some hydrolised soy sauces have high levels of carcinogens. The full story is [here](http://www.smh.com.au/breaking/2001/06/23/FFX3Z1X9AOC.html), and the list of brands to avoid is right [here](http://www.smh.com.au/breaking/2001/06/23/FFXYU3X9AOC.html). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/39 "2001-07-23T02:04:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JillGat \* > **What’s the difference between soy sauce and tamari?** As far as I can determine, shoyu is the Japanese word for the soy+wheat concoction. Tamari is used when there’s little or no wheat. In other words, tamari is Chinese-style soy sauce made in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353/40 "2001-07-23T02:32:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chas.E \* > \*\* > No, no NO! Rice and soy sauce are NOT made for each other. You should NEVER apply soy sauce to rice. It is just NOT done. Any Japanese person would look at you with horror if you spoiled a nice bowl of rice by pouring soy over it, let alone cooking the rice in it. \*\* Then again, the rest of the rice eating world doesnt follow the will and eating etiqutte of the Japanese. The Japanese don’t hold the market on ways to eat or prepare rice. Most Filipinos use soy sauce on rice. My family is Filipino and we ALL put it on rice (every Filipino I know does this as well). Please dont say stuff like that Chas, just because the Japanese dont do it, doesnt meant it’s not “proper”. I wouldnt say what you’ve said is offensive, but it did irk me a bit, especially since you’ve basically dissed my culture with the comment of “if you spoiled a nice bow of rice by pouring soy over it”. This isn’t a flame, more of a reminder to think before you say something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-to-refrigerate-soy-sauce/73353.md?page=3)