111. Kinpo 100ml

Making environmentally friendly soy sauce

Made without pesticides or additives, it is made with whole soybeans and wheat from Kyushu, sun-dried salt, and aged for two years in wooden barrels introduced in 2022. It is characterized by its well-rounded taste and fruity aroma.

Ingredients: soybeans (from Saga Prefecture), wheat (from Kumamoto Prefecture), salt

I needed wooden barrels to create the flavor I wanted.

Jinfang Soy Sauce Brewery discontinued brewing in wooden barrels 40 years ago and switched to FRP tanks. However, fourth-generation owner Keizo Okuda felt that "I still needed wooden barrels to make the beautiful soy sauce I wanted," so he purchased two wooden barrels at the wooden barrel auction held at Yamaroku Soy Sauce in Shodoshima in 2022, during the Wooden Barrel Fermentation Culture Summit.

When he first visited Yamaroku Soy Sauce, he said, "I never imagined that the bacteria living in the wooden barrels would be so fuzzy. They are truly living creatures!" He added, "This will be my first time using wooden barrel brewing, but looking at it from the perspective of the company's 100-year history, it marks a revival of wooden barrel brewing. I have kept the bottom board of the wooden barrel used by my grandfather, so I would like to have the bacteria living on this board live in the new wooden barrel, connecting the history of my brewery. With the help of these bacteria, I would like to create soy sauce with the flavor I am currently aiming for."

Attention to ingredients

Kinpo Soy Sauce values ​​local production and consumption, and is extremely particular about the ingredients it uses.

They use Fukuyutaka soybeans from Saga Prefecture (grown without pesticides), Chikugoizumi wheat from Kumamoto Prefecture (also grown without pesticides), and sun-dried salt from Australia (certified locally as organic). Generally, the larger the whole soybean, the more protein it contains, but soybeans grown using natural farming methods tend to be smaller because they are grown slowly in an environment without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Nevertheless, they use soybeans that are sweet and delicious even when steamed and eaten as is. The soybeans are carefully washed by hand to remove any insect damage or discoloration that machines cannot detect. They are then slowly aged in wooden barrels for two years, in harmony with nature, in the rich Kyushu climate.

Differences in flavor depending on aroma and aging period

Okuda says that when he compared the wooden barrels and FRP tanks, he noticed a difference in the number of microorganisms living there and the scent. "When I first brewed in the wooden barrels in the first year, I could smell a refreshing lemon scent, and in the second year, I could smell a sweet pineapple scent. I was surprised that this difference in scent wasn't noticeable when brewing in the FRP tanks." There also seems to be a big difference in taste depending on the aging period, with one year of aging resulting in a fresh taste and two years of aging resulting in a mellow taste, and Okuda feels that the soy sauce he is aiming for has the mellowness of two years of aging.

I feel a soft sweetness

Kinyo is a Kyushu soy sauce that doesn't contain any sugar or other sweeteners. However, you can still taste the soft sweetness with a mellow saltiness. The warmth of the sauce brings out the sweet aroma and adds depth to the flavor, so if you use it on grilled rice balls or rice balls with roasted sesame seeds, you'll be hooked on the fragrant aroma!