Royal Jade is a soy sauce brand from Pingtung, Taiwan. Built on the character of Taiwan-grown grains, it follows a “subtractive” approach with aseptic handling, and brews and ages its soy sauce for 6 months to 3 years.
Royal Jade makes 8 soy sauces: Koikuchi, Usukuchi, Tamari, Saishikomi, Shiro, Black Soybean, Genzui and Shinen, with salinity of about 10% to 16%. See the product pages for sizes and prices.
They differ in ingredients, salinity and brewing time:
| Variety | Ingredients | Salinity | Brewing time | Flavor and character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koikuchi | Soybeans, wheat, sugar | 13% | 1 year | All-purpose; the classic soybean-and-wheat taste, balancing all five flavors. |
| Usukuchi | Soybeans, wheat, fragrant rice | 14% | 8 months | Gentle and savory; supports the food without overpowering it. |
| Tamari | Soybeans, fragrant rice | 16% | 1.5 years | Rich and deep; suits hearty dishes. |
| Saishikomi | Soybeans, wheat | 12% | 2 years or more | Double-brewed, with twice the ingredients brewed a second time. |
| Shiro | Wheat, soybeans | 12% | 6 months | Clear rather than dark; keeps the natural color of the food. |
| Black Soybean | Black soybeans, sugar | 12% (meets the reduced-salt standard) | 1 year | The old-fashioned taste of Taiwan: rich bean aroma and a mellow sweetness. Good for braising and red-braising, and for dressing and dipping. |
| Genzui | Black soybeans | 16% | 1.5 years | Dry-brewed, salt-sealed black soybean hudi-you, with no added sweetness. |
| Shinen | Black soybeans | 10% | 2 years or more | Double-brewed, with twice the black soybeans brewed a second time. |
Based on each variety’s cooking suggestions:
| Cooking method | Recommended Royal Jade soy sauce |
|---|---|
| Pan-frying, simmering, stir-frying | Koikuchi, Usukuchi, Black Soybean, Genzui |
| Dressing, dipping | Koikuchi, Usukuchi, Black Soybean, Genzui, Shiro |
| Steaming | Usukuchi, Shiro, Genzui |
| Slow braising | Koikuchi, Tamari, Saishikomi, Shinen |
| Glazing, stewing, roasting | Tamari, Saishikomi, Shinen |
| Marinating, lu-style braising, red-braising | Tamari, Black Soybean, Saishikomi, Shinen |
We will be adding a series of cooking ideas with more detailed suggestions soon.
You need to register and sign in before buying; when you register, we email you a verification code to confirm your address.
Yes.
For orders under 6 bottles, the shipping fee is shown in your cart and at checkout; you choose how to pay after you send the order.
No. Your card number is entered only on ECPay’s payment page and never passes through the Royal Jade website, and we will never ask for your card number, password or verification code by phone, text message or email. If you receive such a request, do not give out any information, and call or email us directly to check.
Items in stock ship within 3 to 5 business days after we confirm payment. We deliver with Kerry TJ Logistics, and delivery usually takes 3 to 5 business days after dispatch (mainland Taiwan, non-remote areas).
If an item is out of stock, we will email you as soon as we receive your order. You can choose to:
If an out-of-stock item leaves your order below 6 bottles, you can add other items to make up the difference, or wait and have everything shipped together once the item is back in stock.
You can request a return or exchange within 7 days of receiving your order (weekends and holidays included). Contact us within the 7 days and, once we confirm, send the goods back as instructed. The 7 days are a cooling-off period, not a trial period.
See the Return policy page for full details.
Yes. Before you pay, sign in, open My orders and select the order. You can:
Once an order has entered the payment process it cannot be edited for the time being (cancel it and order again if you need changes); orders that have been paid or shipped cannot be changed online either, so please contact us (details in the footer).
Yes. A subscription buys the same products and quantities in every delivery.
Products and places available for subscription are limited; please check the subscription page. To cancel a subscription, please contact us (details in the footer).
Brewed soy sauce is made by growing koji on beans (sometimes with grains) and fermenting it for a long time. Hydrolyzed soy sauce breaks down plant protein with acid and is done in a few days. Semi-brewed soy sauce adds hydrolyzed liquid to the moromi (fermenting mash), which is then fermented and matured further. Blended soy sauce is a mix of two or more soy sauces. Since 2019, all packaged soy sauce in Taiwan must state its production method on the label; see Q19 for details.
The main differences are the ingredients and the flavor:
Most Taiwanese households know soybean-and-wheat soy sauce best; if you want the rich, old-fashioned taste, try black soybean soy sauce.
Wheat provides starch, which feeds the koji mold. It makes fermentation more vigorous and is turned into sugars and aromas, giving the soy sauce a rounder flavor.
These are common Taiwanese names for soy sauce; they differ in how they are made and used:
Note: The explanation of “yin” comes from Sekine Kazuo (1995), 「台湾における醤油の現状」 (The current state of soy sauce in Taiwan), Journal of the Brewing Society of Japan, 90(5), 350–355.
It depends on the ingredients and the method:
The longer the brewing, the more fully the soybean protein breaks down, and the more layered the flavor and aroma.
They differ in how they are made, their color and their use:
First check the production method on the package. By law, packaged soy sauce must state one of these four methods:
Next, check the ingredient list: words such as “acid-hydrolyzed soy protein” or “acid-hydrolyzed amino acid liquid” usually mean hydrolyzed, semi-brewed or blended soy sauce.
A reminder: “naturally brewed” and “additive-free” are not the same. Naturally brewed means no hydrolyzed soy sauce is mixed in; whether flavor enhancers or other food additives are used is shown separately in the ingredient list.
These are quality measures that Taiwan’s national standard CNS 423 uses to grade soy sauce; higher numbers usually mean a richer soy sauce:
CNS 423 sets different standards by ingredient and type:
| Type | Grade | Total nitrogen (g/100ml) | Amino nitrogen (g/100ml) | Salt-free soluble solids (g/100ml) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General soy sauce | A | ≥ 1.4 | ≥ 0.56 | ≥ 13 |
| General soy sauce | B | ≥ 1.1 | ≥ 0.44 | ≥ 10 |
| General soy sauce | C | ≥ 0.8 | ≥ 0.32 | ≥ 7 |
| Black soybean soy sauce | A | ≥ 1.2 | ≥ 0.48 | ≥ 12 |
| Black soybean soy sauce | B | ≥ 0.8 | ≥ 0.32 | ≥ 11 |
| Black soybean soy sauce | C | ≥ 0.5 | ≥ 0.2 | ≥ 7 |
| Soy paste | A | ≥ 1.2 | ≥ 0.48 | Not specified |
| Soy paste | B | ≥ 0.9 | ≥ 0.36 | Not specified |
| Soy paste | C | ≥ 0.6 | ≥ 0.24 | Not specified |
| Light-colored soy sauce | Ungraded | ≥ 1.1 | ≥ 0.44 | Not specified |
| Reduced-salt soy sauce | Ungraded | ≥ 1.1 | ≥ 0.44 | Not specified |
The baseline for naturally brewed soy sauce is Grade C: Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare requires soy sauce labeled “brewed” to contain at least 0.8 g of total nitrogen per 100 ml (0.5 g for black soybean soy sauce), exactly the Grade C total nitrogen for general and black soybean soy sauce under CNS. In other words, Grade C is the minimum for naturally brewed soy sauce and Grade A is the highest. Because the ingredients differ, figures for black soybean soy sauce cannot be compared directly with general soy sauce.
Other rules:
Source: Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, CNS 423 Soy Sauce (revised August 7, 2002; reaffirmed October 2013).
We don’t recommend relying on these alone; Taiwan’s Consumers’ Foundation also describes them as outdated. Here’s why:
The most reliable way is still to check the production method, the ingredient list and the concentration (total nitrogen), and to make sure the maker has a food business registration number.
The bottle material has nothing to do with how the soy sauce is made and cannot tell you its quality or whether it has additives, but it does affect shelf life before opening; glass bottles usually keep longer. The main differences are in filling and sterilization:
When choosing, look at the production method and the ingredient list rather than the bottle.
No Royal Jade soy sauce uses food additives; the ingredients are simple. Here is how the terms you see on the market differ:
Did you know: yeast extract is not classed as a food additive. It has no food additive permit number and is covered by separate rules. Yeast extracts vary by brand; methods published in some makers’ patent filings show that flavor substances such as disodium 5′-guanylate and disodium 5′-inosinate are added during production, so it is not simply something extracted from yeast. Since soy sauce makers mostly buy yeast extract from suppliers and the ingredient list only says “yeast extract,” the makers may not know every detail of how it is produced. If this matters to you, ask the maker where its ingredients come from.
We recommend keeping it in the refrigerator after opening. Unopened, it can be stored at room temperature in a cool place; once opened, soy sauce is exposed to air and oxidizes, and its color, aroma and taste slowly decline. Soy sauce without preservatives or with less salt molds more easily in Taiwan’s hot, humid climate. Royal Jade soy sauce contains no preservatives, so please always refrigerate it after opening.
Please follow the best-before date on the bottle.
We don’t recommend it. Soy sauce is salty, sterilized and contains alcohol from fermentation, so it does not spoil easily; but past its best-before date its quality can no longer be guaranteed, so for your health please don’t use it. If an opened bottle smells off, changes color or grows mold, don’t use it even if it is still within date.
Royal Jade soy sauce contains no preservatives, so please refrigerate it after opening. Store it in a cool place, and try not to leave it next to the stove after use, as the heat makes soy sauce spoil faster.
Some soy sauces on the market come in oxidation-proof packaging such as double-layer vacuum bottles, which keep air out after opening, so their labels may say they can be kept at room temperature once opened. Storage differs by product, so please follow each product’s label.
No Royal Jade soy sauce uses food additives, so of course none contains preservatives.
Some soy sauces on the market do contain preservatives, commonly benzoic acid, sorbic acid, dehydroacetic acid or parabens. They are legal within the permitted limits, but they must be listed in the ingredients.
Soy sauce’s own makeup also helps preserve it: when the salt concentration is high and plenty of other substances such as amino acids and sugars are dissolved in it, its water activity drops and microbes have a hard time growing. This is one reason soy sauce keeps a long time in intact packaging even without preservatives.
Royal Jade chooses not to use food additives to offer one more option for people who want simple ingredients.
But additives alone do not make a soy sauce good or bad. Each additive has a purpose, such as preserving, coloring, or adding sweetness or savoriness.
Some soy sauces use additives as a carryover from the past: before refrigerators were common, preservatives kept soy sauce from spoiling. Any product whose additives are legal and accurately labeled is safe to eat.
3-MCPD forms when leftover fat reacts with hydrochloric acid while defatted soybeans are hydrolyzed with acid. Naturally brewed soy sauce is fermented with koji mold and never hydrolyzed with hydrochloric acid, so it does not produce 3-MCPD, and the same is true of Royal Jade’s naturally brewed soy sauce. Since 2021, Taiwan has limited 3-MCPD in soy sauce and soy sauce products to 0.3 ppm, stricter than the Codex Alimentarius limit of 0.4 ppm; at normal seasoning amounts it poses no harm.
To suit Taiwanese tastes, Royal Jade’s Koikuchi and Black Soybean soy sauces include cane sugar, but no licorice and no added alcohol. In general, sugar and licorice balance saltiness and add sweetness, which suits the Taiwanese preference for a sweeter taste; alcohol helps inhibit microbes and keep quality stable, and can also form naturally during fermentation.
Caramel color is a legal additive used to darken and even out the color of soy sauce, and it must be listed in the ingredients when used. The color of naturally brewed soy sauce comes mainly from the Maillard reaction during fermentation and aging. Royal Jade soy sauce contains no caramel color; its color comes from brewing, aging and simmering.
No Royal Jade soy sauce or farm product uses genetically modified soybeans. All of Royal Jade’s grains are currently grown by us, and all are Taiwanese varieties. Non-GMO soybeans are soybeans whose genetic traits have not been altered by genetic engineering. In Taiwan, foods that use genetically modified ingredients must say so, so you can check the label.
Royal Jade soy sauces range from about 10% to 16% salt, depending on the variety. Based on general soy sauce figures in hospital health education materials, about 6 ml (about 1.2 teaspoons) contains as much sodium as 1 g of salt; Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare recommends that adults keep sodium below 2,400 mg a day (about 6 g of salt). Because salinity differs between soy sauces, the most accurate way is to check the sodium content on the nutrition label. We suggest counting soy sauce in your total salt for the day.
Royal Jade soy sauce uses no potassium salt, and our Black Soybean and Shinen soy sauces both meet the salinity standard for reduced-salt soy sauce. Reduced-salt soy sauce has about half the sodium of regular soy sauce, which suits people who need to limit sodium; under Taiwan’s national standard it must be 12% salt or less and contain no preservatives. However, many low-sodium products replace sodium with potassium. If you have chronic kidney disease, are on dialysis, have heart failure, or take certain blood pressure medicines (such as ACE inhibitors, ARBs or potassium-sparing diuretics), too much potassium may be risky; check the ingredients when buying, and ask your doctor or dietitian first.
The allergens Royal Jade soy sauce may contain are soy and wheat:
In general, the common allergens in soy sauce are soy and wheat, and by law allergen information must appear on the package, so please check before buying. Soy sauce brewed from soybeans and wheat contains gluten, and related products such as soy paste and oyster sauce often contain wheat starch too. If you are sensitive to gluten, choose products with no wheat in the ingredients at all, rather than relying on a “no gluten detected” test report.
Yes, in moderation. Young children’s kidneys are still developing, so keep their salt low, and we don’t recommend adding soy sauce to food for babies under one year old.
If they are clear, hard crystals, they are most likely salt left behind as water evaporates from the soy sauce; they are harmless, so just wipe them off. However, soy sauce is rich in amino acids and other nutrients, so microbes grow easily once it is contaminated; if you see fuzzy white patches or small white colonies, it may be mold or bacteria, so please don’t use it.
To be safe, we recommend not using it. If opened soy sauce is left at room temperature, a thin white film, sometimes called “white bloom,” can form on the surface; it is usually salt-tolerant yeast. Such yeast is common while soy sauce ferments, but it gradually disappears once fermentation is complete in the salty, concentrated moromi. When a film appears on opened soy sauce, you cannot tell at home where the microbes came from or what state they are in, so we don’t recommend using it. To prevent it, refrigerate after opening and close the cap tightly right after each use.
No. Insects come from outside, usually because the cap was not closed tightly and the smell of the soy sauce attracted flies to lay eggs; it has nothing to do with whether it is natural. If you find insects, please don’t use it. Always close the cap tightly after use and keep the bottle in the refrigerator.
It is not a quality problem; it is normal, so just shake before use. When soy sauce is cooked, the higher the temperature, the more its proteins and amino acids change structure and form sediment made mostly of peptides. Sediment usually appears at two stages:
So whether there is sediment, and how much, reflects each maker’s process; it cannot tell you whether a soy sauce is more natural. If there is also an off smell or a change in color, stop using it, and feel free to contact our customer service.
Yes, it is normal, but it means the flavor has declined.
We recommend refrigerating after opening and using it up soon. Low temperatures slow the Maillard reaction and oxidation, helping the soy sauce keep its flavor.
All Royal Jade soy sauce is naturally brewed, so the actual flavor varies with the batch and the brewing time. Ingredient batches, seasonal temperature and humidity, and fermentation time all affect the flavor, so each batch is slightly different; this is part of what makes Royal Jade naturally brewed.
Royal Jade soy sauce contains no food additives at all. In general, the aroma compounds in naturally brewed soy sauce evaporate easily with long cooking, while products with more starch or sweeteners tend to scorch and change flavor. For stir-fries, we recommend pouring it down the side of the wok just before you finish, for the fullest aroma.
A common ratio is about 1 part soy sauce to 3 to 5 parts water, adjusted to how salty the soy sauce is; a little sugar encourages the Maillard reaction, making the braising liquid more fragrant and better colored. Every household’s taste is different, so feel free to adjust to your own preference.
Yes, but adjust the amount. Soy paste was originally soy sauce thickened with glutinous rice or starch; most products today use chemically modified starch. It is sweeter and thicker, good for dipping and for thickening and coloring sauces. Swapping one directly for the other changes the saltiness and thickness, so adjust the amount to suit the dish.
