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原文字數:2669

翻譯字數:5055

Is Japan losing its umami?[1]

日本鮮味消亡中？

Soy sauce is one of the most important ingredients in Japanese cooking, but chances are you've never tasted the real thing.

醬油是日本料理中最重要的食材之一，但是，或許你從未嚐過真正的醬油。

The real deal

真品

Yasuo Yamamoto has a secret – or more precisely, 68 of them. On a recent morning on the Japanese island of Shodoshima, the fifth-generation soy sauce brewer slid open the door to his family’s wooden storehouse to reveal 68 massive cedar barrels caked in a fungus-filled crust. As he climbed up a creaky staircase into his dark, cobwebbed loft, every inch of the planked walkway, beams and ceiling was covered in centuries’ worth of black bacteria, causing the thick brown goo inside the barrels to bubble. The entire building was alive.

山本康夫有一個秘密，或許準確地來說，應該是68個秘密。一個近日的清晨裡，在日本的小豆島上，這個第五代醬油釀造師滑開了一扇通往家族木製庫房的大門，揭開了68桶巨大的杉木桶，其上結成一塊佈滿真菌的殼。當他爬上嘎吱作響的老樓梯進入他那又黑又覆有蜘蛛網的閣樓時，這裡每一寸的木板走道、橫樑與天花板都覆蓋著數世紀累積下來的黑菌，造成桶內厚厚的棕色黏狀物冒著泡泡，啵啵作響。整座建築活了過來。

“This is what gives our soy sauce its unique taste,” Yamamoto said, pointing to a 150-year-old wooden barrel. “Today, less than 1% of soy sauce in Japan is still made this way.”

山本指著一個有著150年歷史的木桶說：「就是它讓我們的醬油能夠產生其特殊的風味。現今的日本只剩下不到1％的醬油還在使用這種方法製作。」

Until 70 years ago, all Japanese soy sauce was made this way, and it tasted completely different to what the world knows today. But despite a government ordinance to modernise production after World War Two, a few traditional brewers continue to make soy sauce the old-fashioned way, and Yamamoto is the most important of them all. Not only has he made it his mission to show the world how real soy sauce is supposed to taste, but he’s leading a nationwide effort to preserve the secret ingredient in a 750-year-old recipe before it disappears.

日本所有的醬油在70年前都還是以這樣的方式製作而成的，它的味道與現今世界所知的味道迥然不同。但是儘管在二戰後頒布了一項政府法令，要求現代化生產，少數幾位傳統的釀造師仍然持續以古法釀造醬油，山本正是其中最重要的一位。他不僅將這件事情當成自身的使命，要向世界展示真正的醬油嚐起來是什麼樣子的，他也努力在其絕跡之前，領導日本保存這份具有750年歷史的釀製法中的秘密配方。

Different dimension

截然不同的層次

Soy sauce (shoyu) is arguably the single most important seasoning in Japan’s Unesco-inscribed Washoku cuisine. It’s found in every kitchen, used in nearly every meal and placed on every table in Japanese restaurants from Tokyo to Texas. More than just a flavour, its signature umami savouriness is an entirely different dimension of taste – so much so that umami was added as one of the five basic human tastes alongside sweet, sour, salty and bitter in 1908.

醬油（日文發音為shoyu，以下將以日文中的漢字「醤油」替代）可以說是日本登記在聯合國教科文組織的和食料理中最最重要的調味料。每個廚房之中都能找到它，幾乎每一餐都會使用它，從東京到德州，每一個日本餐館的餐桌上都有它的蹤影。它不僅僅是一種風味而已，它所代表的鮮味更是一種截然不同的味道層次，它甚至特殊到在1908年時，鮮味與甜味、酸味、鹹味和苦味並列為人類的五種基本味道。

When it’s aged and fermented in a wooden barrel, soy sauce can be as sophisticated as a fine wine, but today, most of the world dips its sushi in the equivalent of a cheap cask rosé. That’s because in order to keep up with demand and increase production in the late 1940s, the Japanese government encouraged brewers to ditch the traditional wooden barrels used to ferment food, known as kioke, adapt stainless steel vats and cut the multi-year fermenting process to just three months.

在木桶中陳釀發酵的醬油就像好酒一樣精緻複雜，但是，現今世上大多數人在吃壽司時，沾的卻是相當於廉價酒品的液體。這是因為在1940年代後期時，為了能夠跟上需求的腳步，增加產量，日本政府鼓勵釀造商放棄使用用來發酵食品的傳統木桶，也就是日文中的kioke(木桶)，改用不銹鋼大桶，將多年的發酵製法縮短成僅剩的三個月製法。

According to Yamamoto, a kioke isn’t just a vessel, it’s the essential ingredient needed to make soy sauce, as the grain of the wood is home to millions of microbes that deepen and enrich the umami flavour. Because this bacteria can’t survive in steel tanks, many commercial companies pump their soy sauces full of additives. So unless you’ve visited an ancient craft brewer or artisanal store in Japan, you’ve likely only tasted a thin, salty imitation of a complex, nuanced brew.

據山本所言，木桶不只是一個容器而已，它更是製作醬油所需的必要成分，因為木材的顆粒是數百萬個微生物的家，這些微生物能夠產生濃郁充實的鮮味。而由於這種菌種無法在鋼桶中存活，所以許多商業公司都會將他們的醬油打入大量的添加劑。因此，除非你是去日本古老的手工釀造商或是傳統匠人手工製作的商店，否則你可能只能嚐到從複雜細緻的釀法中所創造出來的淡淡鹹鹹的仿製品。

More than soy

不僅僅是大豆

For the past 150 years, the Yamamotos and their millions of microbes have been making the family’s Yamaroku soy sauce by mixing soybeans with wheat, salt and water, and letting it ferment in a four-year process. But as more and more of Japan’s soy brewers have swapped their wooden barrels for steel tanks, a big problem has occurred: the country is running out of kioke, and almost no-one knows how to build them. In the last seven years, Yamamoto has set out to learn this ancient craft and teach it to others to try to ensure its survival.

過去的150年裡，山本家及其數百萬的微生物是將大豆與小麥、鹽巴和水混合，再將其用四年製法來發酵，才能釀造出這個家族的山六醬油。但是，隨著越來越多的日本大豆釀造商將木桶更換為鋼桶之後，出現了一個大問題：日本快要沒有這種木桶了，而且幾乎沒有人知道該如何製造它們。在過去的七年裡，山本開始學習這種古老工藝，也教導其他人如何製作，試圖讓這種工藝得以續存。

What’s at stake is something much bigger than soy sauce. Until a century ago, Japan’s five main fermented seasonings (soy sauce, miso, vinegar, mirin and sake) were all made in kioke. Today, only 3,000 kioke are used in Japan to make soy sauce, and far fewer are used to ferment the country’s other seasoning staples. When these natural fermentation chambers are replaced with steel vats, you lose the authentic taste of traditional Japanese cuisine. And if they were to vanish completely, so would part of Japan’s cultural and culinary soul.

其實真正處在危險的可遠比醬油要大得多。百年前，日本五種主要的發酵調味料（醬油、味噌、酢、味醂和清酒）可都是在木桶中製成的。如今，日本用來製作醬油的木桶只有三千個，而日本用來發酵其它調味料的木桶就更要少得多了。當這些天然發酵室被鋼桶替換掉後，將會失去傳統日本料理中的正宗滋味。若它們完全消失了，那麼，一部分的日本文化與料理的靈魂也將跟著消失。

“Base seasoning is mostly mass produced. Hardly any real products left,” Yamamoto said. “When the ability to produce kioke barrels disappears … the main ingredients will also disappear. There is a need to preserve the real thing and pass it on to my children and grandchildren’s generations. That’s our mission.”

山本說：「基礎調味料大多數都是大規模生產的。這樣一來，真正的產品就所剩無幾了。當生產木桶的能力消失時……主要成分也將隨之消失。因此有必要去保留真品，將其傳承給我的兒孫後代。這是我們的使命。」

A 750-year-old staple

擁有750年歷史的必備品

Soy sauce is one of the world’s oldest condiments. It originated in China roughly 2,200 years ago and is believed to have been introduced to Japan by a Buddhist monk in the mid-13th Century. Unlike Chinese jiang, which is typically fermented in clay jars, Japanese shoyu has traditionally used wooden barrels, giving it a smoother, more aromatic taste. As a cheap and handy all-purpose seasoning, shoyu quickly became an indispensable staple in Japanese kitchens – and its role in shaping the country’s cuisine has been immense. 

醬油是世上最古老的調味品之一，起源於大約2200年前的中國，據信在13世紀中期，醬油是由一位佛教僧侶將其引入日本的。不同於中國通常是用陶罐發酵而來的「醬」，日本的醤油傳統上是使用木桶，它能為其增添更為滑順香醇的口感。作為一種便宜、方便又多用的調味料，醤油很快地就成為日本廚房中不可或缺的必備品，而醤油更是塑造日本料理的重大功臣。

“There are many Japanese foods that would not exist today without shoyu; for example sushi, sukiyaki (a meat and vegetable hot pot-style dish) and tempura,” said celebrity chef and restaurant owner Masaharu Morimoto. “It’s an essential ingredient.”

日本名廚，同時也是餐館老闆的森本正治說：「若沒有醤油，今日許多日本食品根本就不會存在，像是壽司、壽喜燒（一種肉與蔬菜的火鍋式料理）和天婦羅。它可是個不可或缺的食材。」

According to Yamamoto, since shoyu can either be used as a topping or to enhance a food’s natural flavour, many of Japan’s regional dishes trace their roots back to how shoyu – and the bacteria that flavours it – evolved across Japan. From Tokyo’s traditionally deep and intense shoyu came the briny unagi eel and salty yaki onigiri (grilled rice balls). Kagawa’s sanuki udon noodles are textured by Shodoshima’s creamy shoyu in its dashi broth. In Kyoto and Osaka, where the shoyu is lighter and thinner, there’s more of a focus on vegetables and fish. And in southern Japan, shoyu, like much of the local cuisine, is sweeter.

據山本所言，由於醤油既可以作為澆頭也可以用來增強食物的天然風味，因此日本許多地區的料理都可以追根溯源至醤油以及增添其風味的菌種是如何改變日本的。從東京傳統上濃厚的醤油之中，誕生了醬汁鰻魚飯和鹽味烤飯糰。香川的讚岐烏龍麵使用的是小豆島上細膩綿滑的醤油，為其日式高湯添加質感。京都和大阪的醤油則更為淡薄，更將其重點擺在蔬菜和魚類身上。而日本南部的醤油就像其當地許多美食一樣，更為甜口。

Small beans

小豆

Shodoshima (fittingly: ‘small bean island’) has been a hub of soybean production for more than 400 years. In the early 1900s, there were some 400 soy sauce companies here. Today, 21 remain and, according to the Shodoshima Shoyu Association, more than 1,000 of the 3,000 kioke still used to make soy sauce in Japan are found on this 30,000-person island.

小豆島成為大豆生產的中心已有400多年的歷史。在20世紀初，這裡有大約400家醬油公司。但是，現今只剩21家，而且根據小豆島醤油協同組合[2]的統計，在這個擁有三萬人居住的島嶼上，(先前提到在日本的)三千個木桶中有超過一千個是仍然用來製作醬油的。

Growing up, Yamamoto’s family never ate at restaurants, and it was only when he left Shodoshima for the first time after high school that he first tasted shoyu that hadn’t been brewed for four years by his father. “I thought, ‘what on Earth is this salty soy sauce?’,” he said. When he graduated, Yamamoto’s father told him that after four generations, he couldn’t inherit the family business. Times had changed, the market had shifted and there was no more money.

從小到大，山本的家人從不在餐廳中用餐，直到他在高中畢業後第一次離開小豆島時，他才首次嚐到不同於他父親用四年釀法所製的醤油。他說：「我當時想：『這算哪門子的鹹醬油啊？』。」在他畢業時，山本的父親告訴他，經過四代人的傳承，他已經無法繼承家族產業了。因為時代變了，市場也變了，而且沒錢了。

Dejected, Yamamoto got a job selling soy sauce in Osaka and Japan. “When I went to supermarkets, I saw rows of soy sauce made from artificial flavours,” he said. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to sell any of this’. So I quit that job and came home.” Two years later, Yamamoto’s father suddenly became ill, leaving the future of the family business to fall to Yamamoto.

黯然之下，山本找到一個在大阪和日本販賣醬油的工作。他說：「當我去超市時，我看到一排排由人工香料所製成的醬油。當時我就想：『我不想賣這些東西。』所以我就辭掉了那個工作，回到家裡。」兩年後，山本的父親突然生病了，家族產業的未來就落在山本身上。

Patient process

耐心等待的製法

Instead of adapting steel vats during Japan’s post-war industrial push, Yamamoto’s father had used some of his kioke to produce the cheaper, salt-paste shoyu the government had mandated alongside his traditional soy sauce. The first thing Yamamoto did after taking over the business in 2003 was to dump out the modern stuff and double down on his family’s ancient four-year method.

在日本戰後的工業推動時期，山本的父親並沒有採用鋼製大桶，而是在製作傳統醤油的同時，使用一些木桶來生產政府強制要求的更為便宜又鹹糊糊的醬油。山本在2003年接管產業後所做的第一件事情就是拋棄現代化的東西，加倍努力地使用家族中古老的四年製法。

He starts by placing steamed soybeans and roasted wheat into newer kioke filled with water and sea salt. This mixture, known as moromi, ages for 24 months as the microbes in the barrels, the bacteria in the storehouse and the enzymes in the moromi all work together as secret fermenting agents. In spring, the shed becomes infused with a fruity citrus aroma. In the summer, yeast causes the mash to vigorously bubble. And in autumn and winter, the spores fill the air with an intoxicating liquored fume.

他先將蒸好的大豆與烘焙好的小麥放入裝滿水與海鹽的新木桶之中。這種被稱為「諸味」的混合物，作為桶中的微生物陳釀了24個月，庫房中的菌種與諸味中的酶共同作用下，成為了秘密發酵劑。在春天，小屋中就充斥著濃郁的柑橘香氣。在夏天，酵母會使這些醬油醪激昂地冒著泡泡，啵啵作響。而在秋冬兩季，孢子會使空氣中瀰漫著一股令人沉醉的烈性氣息。

After two years, Yamamoto removes the mash from his newer kioke barrels and uses an antique press to squeeze out every drop of flavour. What trickles out is pure liquid umami. But instead of bottling it right away, Yamamoto pours this robust shoyu into an older kioke barrel to ferment and intensify for two more years. No two barrels taste exactly the same, and by the time Yamamoto eventually bottles them, larger brands will have cranked out 16 steel vats’ worth of the mass-produced stuff.

經過兩年之後，山本從他的新木桶中取出了醬油醪，使用古董壓榨機擠出每一滴風味。涓流而出的是純淨的鮮味汁。但是山本並沒有就此立即裝瓶，而是將這醇厚的醤油倒入一個較舊的木桶之中，再發酵深厚風味兩年。每一桶的味道嘗起來都不太一樣，當山本最終將它們裝瓶時，大品牌早已草草生產出量達16桶鋼桶的東西了。