Healthy Boy formula 5? SHould be okay!

you can get this in a normal store the label may be in yappanese and the store is only in yappsville

Hmm, I don't think that'd made a good sub cuz GM sauce doesn't have sugar. I'd say regular shoyu would be a better sub.

Hi Pai,

Growing up in Burma we consumed a lot of Thai products and our own seasonings have are closer to Thai than any other. Brands like Healthy Boy, Dragonfly and Maekrua have been staples in my life for ages. As I now have many children in my extended family I pay much closer attention and read the labels of almost everything I buy. Some of my favorite soy sauces and oyster sauces have preservative that I’d rather avoid if possible. I’ve tried many products from other countries that don’t have these ingredients- some are better than others but none taste like my favorite Thai brands. With all that being said I’d love if you could look into Thai brands that aren’t using things like sodium benzoate or postassium sorbate for example. There must be big and mid-sized brands moving away from them— or am I doomed to the substitutes that don’t taste as good?!? Thank you as always for your entertaining and useful content!

Hahaha, the question is not dumb, it's the packaging! You're supposed to use a knife and slice off the tip, which means your bottle will be permanently open. So you will have to cover it with plastic wrap after that. Not civilized, I know, but this was the traditional packaging and it literally never got an update, lol!

I finally found the butterfly brand black soy sauce but can’t figure out how to open it. Is there a secret to this?

I have been looking for an explanation of the different label colors on the healthy boy brand. Can you help explain their different label colors? Apparently their color is somekind of line.

Michael 🙂

Hi Xupachai, I use the black soy sauce. Sweet soy sauce is something different, and I don't refer to the sweet soy sauce as black soy sauce 🙂

Hi Sharon! Is it Healthy Boy Brand? (dek som boon). If so, you can use that black soy sauce in any of my recipes that call for black soy sauce. It is used in small amounts so it shouldn't impart much taste at all, it is used mostly to add a dark colour to dishes, especially stir fries. So you can use it in pad see ew, for example.

Hi Pailin, I‘m currently in Hua Hin, where we escape the cold German winters.
I do cook while here, and get to explore many of your wonderful recipes with great access to fresh produce and condiments.
I went to Villa Market which has a large selection of soya sauces….armed with my Google Thai translator. I was looking for black soya sauce-called for in an online recipe-I think it was someone else’s-oops! Anyhow I ended up with
something called „Black Soya Sauce Formula 2“, a Thai product an employee pointed me to. Its not what I expected, the ingredients say 75% molasses, 12% soya, 12%salt plus iodine. It is thin, dark,strong not sweet, tastes metallic. I kinda expected a slightly sweet, somewhat thick soya sauce. Any idea what this is and what its used for? I‘d be hesitant to use it in recipes calling for dark soya sauce because it tastes strange. Maybe i dont know how to use it.

Hi! So you can use it to make anything on this site that calls for black soy sauce such as Pad See Ew, Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles) and various soups and stews. If you do a search for "black soy sauce" the recipes should come up. Generally we use it in small amounts to add a darker colour to dishes, so fried rice, soups, stews, anything.