Sweet bean sauce

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Sweet bean sauce also known as sweet bean paste, sweet soybean paste, sweet flour sauce, or sweet noodle sauce, is a thick, dark brown- or black-colored Chinese sauce made from wheat flour, sugar, salt, mantou, and ground fermented yellow soybeans (that is, what is left of the soybeans after the fermentation of soybeans into soy sauce).

There are many different types of sweet bean sauces depending on the different compositions and the different method of production, and each variation represents the unique local style of a particular region, and even within the same geographical region, different manufacturers produce different kinds of sweet bean sauce. For example, in northern China, the use of sugar is far less than in southern China in terms of the amount added, while the usage of mantou flour as the main ingredient is a much more common practice. Traditionally, in these regions, a good brand of sweet bean sauce is considered top quality when its sweet taste results not from the addition of sugar, but as a direct result of the fermentation of the starches contained in the sauce's ingredients.

A jar of commercially available sweet bean sauce

Similar to the better known hoisin sauce, sweet bean sauce is sometimes used in dishes such as Peking Duck and as a replacement for yellow soybean paste (黄酱; pinyin: huángjiàng) in zhajiang mian; in Beijing cuisine, yellow soybean paste is the traditional accompaniment for these two dishes. Sweet bean sauce is sweeter than yellow soybean paste, which is saltier.

Sweet bean sauce can be found in typical Asian supermarkets under various English names, but with a common Chinese name.

Sweet bean sauce's Korean equivalent is the chunjang (hangul: 춘장; hanja: 春醬) used in the dish jajangmyeon (hangul: 자장면; hanja: 炸醬麵).

External links

• Peking duck served with sweet bean sauce (the dark sauce in the bowl on the upper left is sweet bean sauce)
• Peking duck served with sweet bean sauce (the dark sauce in the two small white dishes)
• Photo of sweet bean sauce (the dark sauce in the white dish)
• Packaged sweet bean sauce
• Sweet bean sauce (on the left, mislabeled in English as hoisin sauce)

See also

• Zhajiang mian
• Hoisin sauce
• Jajangmyeon
• Peking duck

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