Keeper of secret recipe for US$25 Yuan’s Royal Soy Sauce spills the beans about what makes the Hong Kong condiment special
Yip Tin became assistant to the sauce’s late inventor, a trained biochemist, by accident 38 years ago, and now runs the Hong Kong factory where it is still entirely handmade
In 1979, Tsang Heh-kwan moved her sauce factory, Yuan’s, from Sha Tin to Yuen Long. A young man named Yip Tin arrived as part of the construction team contracted to build the new factory. Thirty-eight years later, he’s still there.
“After we were done with the construction, Mrs Tsang asked if I would stay and work for her,” says Yip. “I was hesitant at first, because I was from a completely different industry, but she persuaded me to stay. I was between jobs, and I thought I’d stay for two or three years, before I went on to another construction project, but here I am now.”
Tsang died in 2012, leaving the business to Yip, one of her two assistants (the other has since retired), along with the recipe for her highly coveted and impressively expensive Yuan’s Royal Soy Sauce, which retails for just under HK$200 for a 125ml bottle at high-end supermarkets such as City’super.
Mrs Tsang always said to us that we should just make enough money for ourselves and our families, and that we shouldn’t overextend ourselves, as you can’t guarantee the quality
The price is a reflection of the investment in time and raw materials needed to produce the soy sauce – a single batch can take more than two years to make. That is in stark contrast to most soy sauces on the market, which take anywhere from a few days to produce, in industrial settings, to three months, for other artisanal makers.
