Korean Soy Sauce Brands
Korean brands of soy sauces commonly found are: Sempio, Chung Jung One, Monggo, Haepyo and Assi.
Sempio (1946)
sempio soy sauce
Need help choosing a Sempio soy sauce? Read The Best Sempio Soy Sauce to Buy.
other sempio products
Other products from Sempio: Basic seasoning ingredients (vinegar, liquid sugars, oils, salt), canned foods, ready-to-eat packaged Banchan (Korean side dishes), Noodles, Yondu 연두 (liquid 1-step umami seasoning), SoonJak 순작 (dehydrated tea ingredients), Ziller 질러 (dried jerky snacks), Fontana 폰타나 (Pasta sauce, dressing, oil, balsamic vinegar), 100-Years 백년동안 (Aged, health products: black aged vinegar, fruit/vegetable drinkable essence).
You may like more articles about Sempio Soy Sauce (the most widely found Korean brand in North America):
what’s new!
As is the case with most convenience products, I’m sure they are not the best health-wise (lots of added sugars and preservatives). But the marketing and packaging sure are cute! They are marketed as taking little time, getting less dishes dirty, and being the magical final touch to make delicious things. In short? Totally unnecessary but fun to have. New things are fun!
Chung Jung One (1956)
chung jung one soy sauce
Chung Jung One does not use any chemical hydrolyzed sauce in any of their soy sauces. You can feel safe knowing all their soy sauces go through fermentation. They do still use defatted soy powder- which is a common practice in the industry, but they do have some that use whole soybeans. The question is, will your local grocer stock it?
The only one that I have seen available outside of Korea using whole soybeans is their Soup Soy Sauce (Guk Ganjang) 국간장 which is made from Meju (mashed, fermented whole Korean soybeans).
Also I feel an obligation to let you know- after my enthusiastic vote for this company’s ethics- that their first commercial success was MSG for household use. Yep, got nothing against MSG, but I don’t add extra to my foods. So, there it is.
More Korean Soy Sauce articles you may like:
other chung jung one products
They not only have cooking seasoning basics (oils, vinegars, liquid oligosaccharides, pastes, sauces), they also have: all kinds of ready-to-eat (heat and eat) foods like TTEOKBOKKI, soups and stews, sauces. They also make sausages, lots of microwavable bar snacks (Korean bar snacks are more like small tapas- small portions of real dishes). They make their own luncheon meat called “It’s Pam!” which I think is hilarious. And so much more!
what’s new!
In response to the popularity of the air-fryer and ovens in homes (traditionally, Koreans didn’t use ovens in the kitchen), there has been a demand for dips for crispy, baked goods. Chung Jung One has answered and release these super cute bottles late-2020. Creamy lemon, spicy chicken dip and cheese flavours. Haven’t seen them around… yet.
Monggo (1905)
Turns out there is an older company than Sempio. Knock me over with a feather, I’ve never heard of this brand. They do sell many blended (hydrolyzed chemical sauce + naturally brewed soy sauce) soy sauces, however their Yangjo soy sauces do have a fermentation period of 6 months. They seem to mostly do business with restaurants and other businesses as their website looks like a personal blog from the 2000’s. There isn’t much information available either, which is not helpful.
monggo soy sauce
It seems (there isn’t much clear information on their site) their products use a mix of hydrolyzed sauce or are Yangjo brewed soy sauce. Like all other soy sauce manufacturers they use defatted soy powder in most of their products and I don’t see anything extraordinary about this soy sauce.
They do state however that they don’t use any preservatives or artificial sweeteners (which they do not address in detail). I think they’re talking about the fact they add Acacia Honey and Enzymatically Modified Stevia. Some other ingredients that don’t appear in other soy sauces: Inosinic Acid and Guanylic Acid which are in short, flavour enhancers.
Monggo’s claim to fame is that they use “better” sweeteners and use a larger percentage of naturally brewed soy sauce in their chemical blended sauces. Which doesn’t sound like an incredibly strong sales pitch. They seem to concentrate mostly on the business (restaurants etc) market.
other monggo products
I wish I could say that as Korea’s oldest running soy sauce factory, they concentrate their attentions on a few select products. Make fantastic products that are healthy for consumers with little processing. But sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case. It just seems they make soy sauce like everyone else does, use less than 1% Acacia Honey to say they put in a natural sweetener and call it a day.
Company Gossip: In 2015, the second-generation CEO to Monggo Foods was accused of verbal and physical assault by his personal driver. He issued a public apology but had to step down from his duties. His sons now run the company but… leaves a bad taste in the mouth, huh?
sajo: haepyo (1971)
haepyo soy sauce
Under the huge umbrella company of Sajo, there are no less than 6 food companies in operation. Due to this, there is no special attention brought to any special techniques or ingredients used for their soy sauce. They are made like other typical Yangjo (Naturally brewed) soy sauces. Fermented for 6 months, using defatted soy meal and wheat, containing sweetening agents, enzymatically modified stevia, licorice root.
Haepyo’s Jin Ganjang (Jin Soy Sauce) is blended 50% with hydrolyzed soy sauce and 50% naturally brewed soy sauce (which is actually a better breakdown than Sempio’s Jin Soy Sauce). But it has 12 ingredients in it with six of them being unpronounceable, chemical additives.
Haepyo’s Guk Ganjang (Soup Soy Sauce) contains 60% hydrolyzed sauce with 40% brewed soy sauce. This means they don’t have a true traditional Korean soy sauce fermented naturally containing only whole soybeans.
All of Haepyo’s soy sauces are a blend of chemical sauce and naturally brewed soy sauce. The type only determines a different ratio of ingredients. All of their soy sauces are made with defatted soy meal. Their only product that is naturally fermented for 6 months is their Yangjo Soy Sauce.
other products by haepyo
Not to knock it, but they sell pet food too. But then Smuckers (my favourite jam!) and General Mills (Cheerios!) now have pet food divisions. Pet food profits are through the roof, guys!
what’s up!
Because they have such a variety of food products they manufacture, they have their own online supermarket. It’s completely possible to get your pantry and freezer items stocked fully with just Sajo-Haepyo products. But then I read this story “Ship of Horrors: Life and Death on the Lawless High Seas” written by The Guardian. It’s an expose about their fishing operations (spoiler alert: it’s not good) which makes me think twice about mindlessly buying things from Big Food Companies without research.
rhee brothers: ASSI
Assi is an in-house food brand from North American distribution company Rhee Brothers. Started in 1968 by a nostalgic US immigrant longing for dried squid (a common snack in Korea), it has expanded to a thriving family business in Baltimore, Maryland. Bringing more than 4,000 Asian food products to American shelves.
assi food brand
Thanks to their distribution, Asians and Asian food lovers across America and Canada can easily find most cooking basics. Keep in mind though, they are only a distribution company, so the reason you will find so many types of products labelled Assi is because they work with existing suppliers and simply add their brand to it.
Assi Soy sauce
You should think of their products as entry-level products compared to any other brand (that is an actual manufacturing company). They don’t own factories or processing plants so you can’t expect a commitment to one company value. The Assi brand is a trust in the Rhee Bros. company doing the all of the due diligence. However, keep in mind (especially in rural areas) Assi may be the only option available. It’s fine, just don’t expect high-quality products.
Their “regular” soy sauces (those labelled simply Soy Sauce or Low-Sodium Soy Sauce) seem to be chemical sauce blends. Defatted soy meal, wheat, fructose, sugar, caramel colouring (this is a big clue that it is a hydrolyzed sauce). The concern I have is that their “Naturally Brewed” Soy Sauce with Kelp also has caramel colouring and the usual suspects that make it a chemical blend sauce. I’m not sure if they’re referring that they have blended some naturally brewed soy sauce to it, but it’s a bit misleading.
I’ve emailed their customer service to ask more about their soy sauce ingredients and processing. If I hear anything out of the ordinary, this post will be updated.
Reading so much about a processed product makes me really reconsider my buying decisions and what we consume as a family. Unfortunately, I don’t think we can change as people from craving delicious things. However, would it be an impossibility to hold companies accountable for their actions- if they’re not in line with the good of the public? Or is it a pipe dream in this day and age of commercialism and global appetites.
I read an article recently from a Mexican chef begging North Americans to stop eating so much avocado. It takes so much water to devote to the growing of this money-making fruit it depletes the scarce supply left to the population living there. But how much guilt can one feel about what to eat. Let’s then talk about the cruelty of factory farming, GMO seeds and what we’re actually feeding the animals we ultimately consume. Omygod global warming. Anxious venting End.
Does consuming quality soy sauce made with ethically sourced ingredients and responsible processing methods make a difference? Probably not enough. But we should at least know about it, right?
These are the brands of soy sauce I’ve found at my local Korean grocery. Have I missed any? Hope this was helpful in navigating the soy sauce aisle a little easier 😁.