Soy

Soy is a thick and piquant sauce made from the seeds of the Soy Bean (Soja hispida), a plant of the natural order Leguminosæ, sub-order Papilionaceæ. It is a native of China, Japan, and the Moluccas, and is much cultivated in China and Japan. It is also common in India, although probably not a native of that country. The seeds resemble those of the Kidney Bean, and are used in the same way. The Japanese name is Shōyu (see JAPAN, Vol. VI. p. 286). Soy is made by mixing the beans softened by boiling with an equal quantity of wheat or barley roughly ground. The mixture is covered up and kept in a warm place to ferment, then put into a pot and covered with salt. Water is poured over the mass, stirred daily, then poured off and filtered.