Hualien Xinwei Soy Sauce: Three generations of inheritors brew a representative Hualien soy sauce with a uniquely sweet terroir

"I want to make a soy sauce that can represent Hualien." This year marks the third year since Xu Huanxun of the Xinwei Soy Sauce Factory returned home. At the start of the year, he collaborated with the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station to launch three flavored soy sauces brewed using traditional methods. He carries the artisan spirit of his grandfather and father, as well as a professional background in food processing. Standing in the bright and airy storefront, he looks at the soy sauce on the shelves with sparkling eyes, and without a word, his passion for brewing is evident.

Grandfather started from nothing; Hualien city has passed down the Tiger Brand soy sauce for nearly a hundred years

After leaving the train station and taking a ride, about fifteen minutes later you arrive at the Xinwei Soy Sauce Factory on Bo'ai Street in Hualien City. The first thing that greets the eye is a large wooden barrel big enough to hold several adults, and beside it a tiger head emblem nailed to the wall. "People who used to come to our home to buy soy sauce all recognized this Tiger Brand." Xu Huanxun gazes at this tiger emblem and begins to tell the story of his grandfather and soy sauce.

"Grandpa originally went to help Great-Uncle make soy sauce, and in the end he opened his own shop too." Xu Huanxun recalls that his grandfather Xu Ri was the youngest in the family. In 1925, his great-grandmother sent Grandpa to see his elder brother Xu Yuan's soy sauce factory, Zhenxinmei. Grandpa had come to assist his elder brother in making soy sauce, but in the end he also forged his own path. In 1927, Xu Ri opened the Zhenfang Soy Sauce Factory with the Tiger Brand.

Unable to withstand the changing times, only the Tiger Brand remains among Hualien's soy sauce factories to carry on the history

"At the time, among Hualien's soy sauce factories, it was popular to use animals as trademarks. Our family was the Tiger Brand, and Great-Uncle's soy sauce was the Deer Brand." Xu Huanxun recounts that in 1960 there were 21 privately run soy sauce brewing factories in all of Hualien, 12 of them in Hualien City, with the others scattered across Xincheng, Shoufeng, Fenglin, Guangfu and Yuli. Besides the Xu family's Tiger Brand and Deer Brand, there were also Weizhen Soy Sauce's "Lion Brand," Donghefa's "Fish Brand" and Dongmengxing's "Eagle Brand."

"But now only our family in Hualien is still making soy sauce." Xu Huanxun says that as time went on, the soy sauce factories in Hualien closed one after another. When he visited the descendants of other soy sauce factories for a curation project, they did not even know the animal trademarks their own families had once used. The glory days of brewed soy sauce in Hualien seem to be gone.

Wet fermentation with repeated stirring and exposure to air

Beside the large wooden barrel in the storefront are soybean koji and wheat koji, and on the wall is the soy sauce production process. "Our family's soy sauce is wet-fermented, different from the dry-fermented black bean soy sauce made one vat at a time in western Taiwan." Xu Huanxun walks through the bright shop, slides open the glass door, and the style suddenly changes as he enters the workspace devoted to soy sauce brewing.

Entering the work area, Xu Huanxun lifts a board and a burst of aroma rushes out. Beneath it is the predecessor of soy sauce, doubanjiang (fermented bean paste). He skillfully grabs a large ladle and begins stirring back and forth, explaining the difference in fermentation. "The handling of the materials beforehand is the same; the difference lies in the step of adding salt."

Xu Huanxun explains that after the koji mold grows on different raw materials (such as soybeans, wheat, etc.), dry fermentation first washes off the surface koji mold, then layers the raw materials and salt one layer at a time in a large vat, so that the sauce from the raw materials is released.

Wet fermentation, by contrast, directly adds the koji-coated soybean koji, wheat koji and so on into brine, and places it in a cellar to maintain temperature, stirring back and forth to expose it to air and continue fermenting. Xu Huanxun says with a smile, "Some of our counterparts on Japan's Shodoshima ferment in wooden barrels; our family ferments in a cellar."

Passed down through three generationsand the artisan spirit of "understanding soy sauce," from the barrels preserved at Zhenfang to those at Xinwei

Xu Huanxun's skillful movements were learned from following his father and grandfather since childhood. "I used to think what Dad cared about most was soy sauce; at night he would get up several times to check the soybean koji." He recalls that when he was young, his father Xu Nandong would wake up once every three or four hours at night, sometimes even sleeping in the work area, repeatedly checking the fermentation of the soybean koji and making appropriate stirring adjustments.

"Even with the same materials and proportions, the flavor differs from year to year, just as the taste of wine differs from vintage to vintage." Xu Huanxun explains that the beans and wheat used for brewing soy sauce are all produced by farmers, and affected by weather and environmental conditions, even the same beans and wheat will differ in their production from year to year, and thus the flavor of the soy sauce changes.

"What impressed me most about Grandpa and Dad is how well they understood the character of each batch of soy sauce." Xu Huanxun says that with the advance of technology, the manual brewing industry that once required expertise has gradually been replaced by automated machine processes. Yet what is precious about artisans like his grandfather and father is their ability to adjust the process based on color, aroma and so on, bringing out the flavor of all the materials to the fullest.

After finishing the stirring, Xu Huanxun points to two large wooden barrels nearby. "After fermentation is complete, it still has to settle, and we draw out the sauce from the middle." The two barrels bear the marks left by time, and they are also relics of his grandfather. "Our family once had a fire, and at that time we only managed to save a few barrels left by Grandpa." After the fire, the soy sauce factory's name changed from Zhenfang to Xinwei, symbolizing a fresh start.

The successor spent his childhood winter and summer vacations making soy sauce, and returned home after working elsewhere as an adult

"Among the children in the family, I'm the only boy, and I always had a feeling I would come home to take over. I just needed to go see the outside world first." Xu Huanxun has felt like the successor since childhood, and so even though he once grew tired of the tedious and repetitive process, he still learned from his father. When he entered university he chose to study food, and after graduating he first worked at a large pharmaceutical company for more than ten years. "The pressure was great then, and I also learned a lot."

"Working at a large enterprise, you have to keep learning, from the product to every detail of the market." Xu Huanxun recalls various things from his working days. What impressed him most was a time the company invited an industry mentor to give a week-long course. The class was held one day, and the next day you had to produce a proposal for assessment. Though the pressure was great, it quickly taught him to think from others' perspectives, and he brought that ability back home with him.

Constant arguments with his father over taking over, and pondering the possibility of soy sauce expressing local terroir

"The soy sauce factory didn't used to look like this. I only renovated it after coming home. Before the renovation I argued with Dad, and after the renovation we were still arguing." Xu Huanxun says that before he formally quit his job and came home, for a period he would come back on weekends to help, and during this transition period he argued constantly with his father, from small things like decor to big things like the renovation, and even the future direction of the business.

Whenever the arguments reached a deadlock, Xu Huanxun would return to Taipei to work. "But later I thought about it, Dad was worried about me, he didn't want me to have too hard a time." In 2018 he made up his mind and formally returned home, and he also began to rethink the future direction of the Xinwei Soy Sauce Factory.

"Can a soy sauce factory, like a winery or a coffee estate, use different flavors to express local terroir?" Xu Huanxun believes that the ingredients determine the flavor of soy sauce, and that yearly climate changes at the place of origin also make crops differ. The uniform taste and mouthfeel of today's large soy sauce factories are hard to distinguish, so he finally decided to aim for brewing a Hualien-flavored soy sauce using local Hualien ingredients.

Local ingredients, special flavors, water and air present different Hualien flavors

Finding raw materials was the first hurdle Xu Huanxun encountered. "Variety, flavor and cost all have to be balanced, and of course we also need favorable weather." Taking soybeans as an example, when buying from friendly, organic farmers, the weather sometimes affects yields. In poor harvest years, he has to look for other cooperating farmers, and since each farmer's crop conditions differ, this is a great challenge to the stability of subsequent processing.

The second hurdle Xu Huanxun encountered was promoting special flavors. "Brewing soy sauce with special ingredients isn't actually hard; what's hard is getting others to like it." He says that even for soy sauce made from the same soybeans, if there is more rain that year, the texture of the beans changes, the taste of the soy sauce differs, and customer acceptance fluctuates. Soy sauces made with local ingredients such as maqaw (Litsea cubeba) and red quinoa have distinctive flavors, and it takes time to cultivate a customer base.

Besides raw materials, Xu Huanxun believes that expressing terroir also depends on water and air. "Hualien's water and air are very clean and stable." He says Hualien's temperature is quite stable, which is a great advantage for soy sauce, whose brewing process requires fermentation.

On site, Xu Huanxun uses four flavors of soy sauce and asks people to sense the differences by color and smell. Among them, "Haicui," brewed with deep ocean water, has an oceanic scent at first whiff; the soy sauce brewed with dried bitter melon is incredibly sweet; the soy sauce with Hualien Hongye maqaw has a lemony fragrance in the aftertaste; and the reddish red quinoa soy sauce has a color like red wine, with a mellow mouthfeel and a sweet aftertaste compared with the original-flavor soy sauce.

Each soy sauce is unique, and many local shops love to use it

"What I fear most is a customer asking me which one is best." Xu Huanxun says with a smile that to him, each soy sauce has its own character, like a father with children of different personalities, and as a father, each child is a unique existence with no so-called "best." "I'll ask the customer how they want to use it, to help them find the most suitable soy sauce."

The footprint of Xinwei Soy Sauce spreads across Hualien City. Many local snack shops, such as Zhou Family Steamed Dumplings, Yexiang Wontons, Bomb Scallion Pancake and Zhang Wei Grilled Meat Egg Toast, have been long-time customers of Xinwei Soy Sauce. Many bloggers writing food reviews online unanimously express their amazement at the sauce. "This kind of soy sauce brewed with time is more fragrant than ordinary soy sauce."

One of the loyal users, "Fanren," started with a food truck and later opened a storefront. When the shop first opened, the owner looked for local Hualien ingredients to use in dishes, happened to pass by the Xinwei Soy Sauce storefront, and bought a small bottle to try. It turned out that one try made them a regular customer. "Xinwei Soy Sauce has a unique sweet taste. In our shop, both the braised pork rice and braised dried tofu are braised with Xinwei Soy Sauce. It's very smooth to use, truly great!"

"Striving to make a soy sauce that can represent Hualien"

Besides making soy sauce, the factory storefront now often holds activities and hands-on courses, letting parents bring their children to learn about soy sauce and make fermented tofu. "Children's sense of taste is sharper than adults'." Xu Huanxun says that letting children understand from a young age where soy sauce comes from and the process of making it by hand is very precious, and is also a way to know food and Hualien better.

"Now I really hope it sells better, so we can use more local ingredients to support farmers." Xu Huanxun looks at the soy sauces on the shelf and counts them off one by one. At present, different soy sauces already use local Hualien soybeans, wheat, red quinoa, maqaw and bitter melon. Currently one quarter of the soy sauce production process uses local soybeans, and he hopes that in the future he can make a soy sauce whose ingredients all come from Hualien.

Xu Huanxun believes that farmers and brewers are both artisans who pour their hearts into their work. Using crops grown with care by farmers, as well as unique local crops, to successfully brew a soy sauce that fully brings out the flavor of all the ingredients, the joy is indescribable. He also hopes to maintain this original intention in brewing every bottle of soy sauce. "Striving to make a soy sauce that can represent Hualien, so that with one sip it feels as if you have arrived in Hualien."