Soy Sauce for Eating has a shelf life of 6 months refrigerated. This is because it is still alive and fermenting, and if it is not refrigerated, it will continue to ferment and may leak due to increased internal pressure, like champagne. However, if you open the bottle after purchase, it will continue to ferment and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a year. Soy sauce is also used to preserve food, so it’s not so much a best by date as it is an open by date!
Soy Sauce for Growing should be prepared as soon as possible after purchase. We recommend 4 months in refrigerated storage as the deadline for preparing it. Once it is prepared, it can be stored for 2 or even 3 years. It will not go bad even if it is longer than that. Moromi made using Soy Sauce for Growing is ready to eat starting in the fall, when summer is over and it has been at least 6 months since it was prepared. It will further ferment and age over time, so enjoy tasting it each year to find out which year’s moromi is the best. With a jar press, you can press all of the soy sauce at once. You can also use a tabletop soy sauce press to press as much as you like at mealtime and enjoy the world's freshest soy sauce and moromi together.
Imashibori Shōyu is a moromi soy sauce base that has been slowly aged for two years in the Imashibori workshop. Stored at room temperature, it has a shelf life of six months, but even beyond that, it will not go bad and you can enjoy the changes in flavor. For those of you who don’t want to wait to make your own soy sauce, this is a handy product that you can enjoy as soon as it arrives.
When you receive it, please replace the cap with the included breathable lid.

Imashibori Shōyu is made from soy sauce brewed in our workshop that has been slowly fermented and aged for two years, and is delivered to you ready-to-press. It is a finished product that can be pressed as soon as it arrives, and you can also enjoy the leftover moromi after it has been pressed to make soy sauce. 
On the other hand, Soy Sauce for Growing is made by the customer themselves by transferring the ingredients (domestically grown wheat and soybeans grown without the use of pesticides and cultivated with a thick layer of kōji mold) to the included jar, adding water, and stirring occasionally. Instructions are included with each product, so please refer to them for more details. 

Until very recently, all of the foods that humans have consumed throughout our long history have consisted of natural ingredients. It was normal for each of them to age and decompose over time.
Fermentation has played a very important role in this history. One such role is the storage of food. Meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and grains that would otherwise rot and become unusable after a season are preserved through the power of fermentation, which utilizes the activities of microorganisms to not only prolong shelf life, but also to add nutritional value and taste.
Today, when chemical technology and synthetic substances are used to produce products that do not spoil and do not easily change, and which now account for a large portion of the food in circulation, is a unique time in the long history of the world. Imashibori proposes to reexamine our diet once more, inheriting the wisdom and power left behind by our ancestors.
We are committed to making soy sauce the old-fashioned way: as a “live” food that is transformed through the power of fermentation, something which is rarely seen in this day and age.
Imashibori products are shipped from the Imashibori workshop while still alive, and are delivered to the consumer as soon as possible so that they can begin actively fermenting again.
The breathable wooden lid is symbolic of this process. Just like the barrels that ferment and age over many years in storehouses, the wooden lid will become a sort-of miniature soy sauce barrel that continues to ferment and age in your living room. The lid prevents evaporation and allows carbon dioxide gas to escape during the fermentation process, and is branded with the Imashibori logo.

When making soy sauce, sometimes a white mold-like substance appears on the surface. This is called “film yeast” and is caused by lactic acid fermentation. This is the same thing that appears on the surface of tsukemono (Japanese pickled vegetables) when you forget to mix the bran. This is a sign that the soy sauce is fermenting well. The yeast itself is harmless, but if it builds up on the surface it can spoil the aroma of the soy sauce, so please stir and allow it to settle. In general, soy sauce is so resistant to damage that it is also used to preserve other foods. Even if something like black mold were to develop, it will not spread inside the soy sauce. Simply wipe it off with a tissue or clean cloth.

Imashibori Shōyu is the exact same moromi used to press soy sauce. Since every soy sauce brewery adds water before pressing soy sauce, it is only natural that the moromi is saltier than the soy sauce. We suggest adding water until you do not smell the fish when eating sashimi, but you can adjust the amount of water to suit your taste. We believe that this is one of the pleasures of using Imashibori Shōyu.

The most popular flavor of Soy Sauce for Eating is Olive & Garlic. It tastes great on bread. Mix a little bit of Japanese Pepper & Rapeseed Oil or Chili Pepper & Sesame Oil with boiled vegetables to experience their deep flavor. We are particular about our oils, including the fact that they are extra virgin, so please use our “edible” soy sauces in your cooking. They are wonderful seasonings that are also good for your health.