Fish sauce are made with anchovies, mackerel, scabbard fish and salt. The bigger the fish, the more mercury you might expect, especially if predator fish like scabbard fish. They do not have any additives like sugar, hydrolyzed protein, or preservatives. Vietnamese prefer sauces without a strong smell, and transparent with a deep golden amber color. "First press" fish sauce, meaning the sauce is bottled from the first time the fermenting barrels are drained, also indicates quality. Lastly, when measuring the nitrogen level of fish sauces (N), most fish sauce on the market falls within the mid 20N range. Anything over 30N is
Soup soy sauce beliefs that they drive away evil spirits. As the fermentation progresses, the brine acquires flavour and colour. This aged brine is boiled to become soy sauce, and the rest (aged "meju" chunks) is mashed to become soybean paste. The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's "Food Code" classifies "hansik ganjang" into two categories by their ingredients: Depending on the length of aging, "hansik ganjang" can be divided into three main varieties: clear, middle, and dark. Soup soy sauce Guk-ganjang () or soup soy sauce is a type of Korean soy sauce ("ganjang") made entirely of fermented soybean ("meju") and