Soy Sauce Enhances Flavor, Naturally

Formulating foods without MSG and HVP becomes a difficult task when coupled with consumers’ demand for the flavor profile and intensity to which they have become accustomed. Nikken Foods Company, Ltd. presents a solution to this challenge with a natural blend of fermented soy sauce and yeast extract that functions as a potent replacer for other flavor enhancers.

For hundreds of years, the Japanese have used fermented soy sauce to enhance flavor. In recent times, it was determined that adding a small amount of yeast extract boosts the flavor-enhancement properties of soy sauce. "Our Natural HVP Replacer #7201 contains soy sauce and 3% yeast extract," says Herb Bench, general manager, North America. ‘There seems to be a synergy between the two ingredients, with the increase greater than expected by the addition of yeast extract alone. An added bonus is the masking effect soy sauce has on the yeasty notes present in the extract."

This kosher ingredient has application in meat products, soups, sauces, gravies, rubs, spice mixes and any other formulations where the removal of alternate enhancers is desirable. Recommended usage is 40% of the amount of HVP typically added. The label statement reads: "maltodextrin, soy sauce, salt and yeast extract."

While there’s no definitive answer as to exactly why soy sauce is an effective flavor potentiator, some insight is offered by examining soy sauce’s processing methods and composition. Fermented soy-sauce production encompasses three main steps:

Rapid myceial growth throughout the soybean/roasted wheat mixture. Three to five days of incubation is required for enzymatic activity to reach its peak, at which time the mixture is added to a 20% to 22% salt brine and inoculated with yeast.

Fermentation. During this three-to six-month phase, slow enzymatic changes in the brine solution produce the finished soy sauce.

"Although there is some thought that soy sauce’s high glutamate concentration explains its flavor-enhancement capability, that doesn’t seem to be the entire picture," says Bench. In spray-dried soy sauce, 19.8% of the amino acids present are glutamate, which translates into 2% glutamate in the soy sauce powder. Typically used at a 1% level, the soy powder effectively adds only 0.02% glutamate to the finished product, an amount too low to explain the degree of flavor enhancement noted. Soy sauce also contains elevated amounts of phenylalanine, alanine, valine and arginine, which may contribute to enhancement properties.