Gluten-Free Soy Sauce

チビキ 小麦を
使わない丸大豆醤油
photo courtesy of
Amazon Japan

Soy sauce is such an important part of Japanese cooking (and dining) that one of the first things I searched for when I made "the switch" was gluten-free soy sauce.  Fortunately, it didn't take long to find it.  It's called チビキ 小麦を使わない丸大豆醤油, or Ichibiki (brand) no-wheat-used soy sauce.  Notice that this product is wheat-free, not gluten-free.  I bought it on Amazon, and it's not terribly expensive.  The taste is a little different from standard soy sauce, and seems a little saltier (if that's even possible), but it does the job.

I keep one or two of these 33ml sauce bottles in my car, and bring them to Hamazushi when I take my daughter there.  By the way, you can request an allergen printout at the register, and it will tell you which of their products contain wheat (or other allergens) and which are possible cross-contamination risks.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find that list online.  Also, the copy that I have is 4-5 pages long, and it's a chart with the most common allergens.  Next time I go, I may ask if they can print out a chart that only shows the products containing wheat.