Soy (Japanese, sooja), a sauce prepared in Ja-•pan and China from the seeds of a plant formerly called soja hispida, but now glycine hispida. The plant is erect, much branched, and roughly hairy, has pea-like flowers in axillary racemes, and hairy pods with two to five compressed seeds. In preparing the soy the seeds are boiled with water nearly to dryness, then put in wide-mouthed jars with water and sugar, and exposed to the sun and air. Every day they are well stirred; and when the fermentation is completed the mixture is strained, salted, and boiled, and skimmed until clarified. Soy is in general use as a condiment throughout Cochin-China, China, and other, eastern countries; the Japanese is considered the best. It has a peculiar flavor, neither too salt nor sweet; a thick consistence and clear brown color; and leaves when shaken in a glass a coat of bright yellowish brown upon the sides. It is imported to be used with fish. The Chinese name for the sauce, according to Archer, is kitjap, from which our word catsup or ketchup is derived.