Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce deserves a special mention, even though the most commonly available commercial products have a poor reputation because they are oversalted and full of added MSG. A true oyster sauce is made by a slow reduction of water in which oysters have been cooked. The result is a thick, caramelized brownish liquid, to which no salt is added, and consequently there is no fermentation. Nevertheless, oyster sauce has large quantities of free glutamate, typically 900 mg per 100 g, which is due to the large glutamate content of the fresh oysters themselves.