Киккоман: История и производство соевого соуса и соевого молока.

Japanese food manufacturer

Kikkoman Corporation (キッコーマン株式会社) is a Japanese food manufacturer. Its main products and services include soy sauce, food seasoning and flavoring, mirin, shōchū, and sake, juice and other beverages, pharmaceuticals, and restaurant management services. Kikkoman has production plants and offices in Japan, the U. S., the Netherlands, Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Canada. Kikkoman is the most popular brand of soy sauce in Japan and the United States. A plant in Sappemeer began operations in 1997 and now produces over 400 million litres of soy sauce per year.

West Japanese style soy sauce, called [[Soy sauce#Japan, has been a well known condiment for over 300 years. Kikkoman is the largest shoyu manufacturing company in the world, and "the one most responsible for introducing shoyu to the West". Founded contemporarily in 1917, with the merger of eight family owned companies, Kikkoman is based in Noda, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Those companies were founded as early as 1603 by the Mogi and Takanashi families. Kikkoman was originally known as the "Noda Shoyu Corporation" before 1940, when they adopted a single nationwide brand name.

Kikkoman soy sauce is a renowned product that adheres to the traditional method of natural brewing, resulting in a distinctive and nuanced flavor profile. The intricate process commences with an extended soaking of soybeans in water, followed by a high temperature steaming process. These treated soybeans are then meticulously blended with crushed roasted wheat. The introduction of salt not only serves as a potent anti bacterial agent but also functions as a preservative, ensuring the longevity and stability of the soy sauce. Next, a genus of the Aspergillus fungus is added to the mixture and left for three days to create shōyu koji, the base for the soy sauce. This base is then transferred to a tank and mixed with a saline solution, which creates a mash known as moromi. Several months of aging follow, when various organic processes occur including lactic acid, alcoholic, and organic acid fermentation takes place to create unique flavors. The moromi is then mechanically pressed through layers of fabric for around ten hours to extract the raw product. In the last part of the process, the raw soy sauce is left to separate for 3–4 days, then pasteurized using steam, which also stops any enzymic activity. The final product is then ready for inspection and bottling. Kikkoman has a distinctive bottle for its soy sauce, designed by Kenji Ekuan in 1961.

Kikkoman Soymilk is made through the use of carefully selected soybeans cultivated in the great nature and employing the methods to ensure product freshness, Kikkoman has launched a wide range of soymilk products to introduce new ideas to people's everyday meals. Kikkoman Soymilk is the leading soymilk brand in Japan. Beginning in 2018, Kikkoman expanded the business to overseas and began delivering a variety of high quality soymilk products from Japan to the Asia /Oceania region primarily.

Kikkoman started the production of tomato juice and ketchup in 1962. Their Gunma plant has been dedicated to the production of tomato seasonings, while the Nagano plant focuses on beverage production. The new tomato ketchup “Lycopene Rich” was launched in August 2013, it is a product that abundantly uses ripe tomatoes and has since been developed as a series of products providing new value tomato sauce, puree, pizza sauce, tomato beverages, and others. As a division dedicated to the production and sales of fresh tomatoes and vegetable seedlings, Nippon Del Monte Agri Company was established in 2013. The company has increased harvest yields by incorporating advanced technology from the Netherlands and establishing farming methods and technologies optimized for Japan.