Have you ever heard of the Korean food company named “Sempio?” It is one of the most popular and famous Korean food companies. They have a 60 year history, and they are especially well known for making good soy sauce. Why am I taking about this now? hehe .. Recently one of my Facebook friends asked me if I am interested in trying some Korean cooking products from her company, Sempio. Wow, the Sempio campany? Since I am like using their soy sauce, I said yes. My expectation was that she would send me several kinds of soy sauces. Then, oh my, they sent me not only soy sauces but also other cooking ingredients too. Thank you very much! The more surprising thing is that they make more than just soy sauce. I like their soy sauce, so I was excited to try their other products. Below are the products they sent me.
This is the soy sauce that Korean people use most often for Korean dishes. I didn’t have to open this new bottle to try it because I always buy the exactly the same thing. This soy sauce is naturally brewed for 6 months and they do not add or use any GMOs or MSG. It tastes good, and at the same time it is healthier than some other brands. For soy sauce, I think this brand is the best. 😀
My husband likes many kinds of Korean food and he thinks that many Korean foods are healthy except that they are salty. I can see why he thinks that and I agree in some point. Many Korean dishes use fermented ingredients such as soy sauce, soy bean paste, and red pepper paste which are salty. So this product has 25% less sodium. It is still naturally brewed. As for taste, this one keeps the good soy flavor but it is less salty. It is good for everybody, but especially for people on a strict diet, patients, children.
Here is another product that I use a lot for my cooking, “soup soy sauce.” I received many questions from people
about what “soup soy sauce” is. In Korean cuisine, there are 2 main types of soy sauce. There is normal soy sauce and there is soup soy sauce. The differences between them are in the fermenting process, ingredients, usage, and the flavor. Usually, we make soup soy sauce at home, but this product is as good as homemade soup soy sauce. You can use it for stew, soup, and some kinds of side-dishes (Muchim: Mix some fresh or cooked vegetables or seafood with some seasonings such as soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, red pepper powder, etc.)
I tried this red pepper paste for the first time. The container says, “extra spicy pepper paste” in Korean. Depending on how many spicy hot peppers you use to make hot pepper paste, the spiciness will be changed. My husband and I did our own taste testing for this one. We compared this with one I already had. (I was using the extra spicy version of the other brand too). Our first reactions were the same. It was very spicy but tasted good. The Sempio brand is very spicy as it should be. The other brand had more of a normal spiciness. I liked that the Sempio brand did not have too much sweetness – some brands of hot pepper paste have an overly sweet flavor. The Sempio brand seems a little salty for me and my husband does not like it if the food is too spicy. So, if you use this brand, you might want to reduce the amount of salt or other salty ingredients in your recipe – and/or – you might also want to reduce the amount of pepper paste that you use to make it less spicy. The plus side of that is this container will last longer than some other brands. Anyway, since we liked the flavor of this extra spicy red pepper paste, we want to try their normal hot pepper paste someday. So if you like really spicy hot pepper paste, I highly recommend that you try this one.
Another fermented product that is used often for Korean cooking is soy bean paste. For this product, they said it has no MGS, food coloring, or preservatives. I like that. They used a special fermentation process that gives good taste and uses 100% pure bean paste. I tried it plain and thought it had a good soy bean flavor but it was a little too salty for my taste. So, I cooked Japanese miso soup using this paste to compare it to the other brand of paste that I was using. When I make miso soup, I usually use Korean soy bean paste, bonito seasoning, green onions, and salt. Since I thought this soy bean paste is a little saltier than the one I had, I skipped the salt altogether and used less soy bean paste for the soup. It came out just perfectly. My husband and I both liked this new soy bean paste flavor more. I use soy bean paste for soup, stew, side-dishes, and as a seasoning for different dishes.
This is organic sesame oil. In Korea, you can buy sesame oil in any grocery store, but many moms like to make their own sesame oil at a mill. Before doing so, they will check the quality of the mill’s seeds first or they will bring their own seeds to make sure that only top quality seeds are used to make their oil. The check the seed quality for two reasons: for health (organic, etc.) and for better taste. Since moving to the USA, I have not had good sesame oil, but oh my, when I tried the Sempio brand of sesame oil, I can see why it is called organic. I liked the flavor, and changed the taste of my dishes in a good way. It is close enough to the one I missed from Korea. I’m not sure about the price, I just guessing it will be a little more expensive than others because it is organic, but I would like to buy this the next time. I’m happy to find a good product in that point. 😀
Apple vinegar and brown rice vinegar are the most used vinegars in Korean cooking. Sempio apple vinegar has no food preservative or MSG and use 100% naturally brewed vinegar. I love sweet and sour dishes so this is an important ingredient for me. 😀
This is corn syrup that is made of 100% corn flour. It’s sweet, sticky, and runny like honey. I did not see much differences from the ones I used before. This gives your dish a good sweet flavor and plus helps the texture of the food become sticky, chewy, etc. I used corn syrup quite a bit for my cooking, but since there is increasing scientific evidence that it is not that healthy, I’m trying to use it less now. You can use small amounts of corn syrup – sometimes you can replace it with sugar or honey to be healthier.
Wow, 100% Italian grape seeds oil with 0% trans fat. I heard that grape seeds oil is expensive. Maybe it because it is very healthy?
They sent me 4 different flavors of noodle soup base. They added 3 recipes you can use this soup base. I’ve already posted one, the buck wheat noodle soup recipe, long time ago. Someday, I will post a dish using their recipe and this soup base. Then I can give a more detailed review. To make this sauce, they use their soy sauce and Japanese apricot extract. So this one is bonito flavored soup base.
This one is anchovy-kelp flavored soup base.
This one is soup base for buckwheat (soba) noodles.
This one is clams and seafood flavored soup base.
These 5 unique vinegar drinking bottles are very new to me. When I just looked at them for the first time, I thought they were different kinds of vinegar for cooking. Soon I found out though that they are for drinking. You mix some of liquid with water (1:1 or 1:1.3 ratio) and drink it. Vinegar is though to be good for health and they added additional flavorings such as honey, berries, or red ginseng to make it taste better. I’m not sure about how healthy it is since I only drank it several times so far, but it is unique and made me feel cool. I think the idea for this product is neat. 😀 Aha, you can use this for making salad dressing also. So this one pictured is honey drinking rice vinegar.
This one is quince and citron drinking rice vinegar.
This one is mixed berries drinking rice vinegar.
This one is red ginseng drinking rice vinegar.
This one is prun drinking rice vinegar.
This is gourmet seasoning sauce. They sent me 2 different kinds. It is naturally brewed soy sauce added with the boiled down natural sauce from cooking onions, ginger, garlic, pears, apples, beef, etc. This one is specially good for soup or stew. I already tried it for my seaweed soup. I basically made the soup in the same way, but reduced the normal soy sauce amount and added some of this seasoning in place of the missing soy sauce. It turned out pretty good, so I’m going to use it for different kinds of soups and stews later. You can think of it like this – in a well flavored dish, you can add extra flavor to make it even more tasty. Sometimes if you don’t have enough time to make your own broth, as many of my recipes ask for, you can get a similar flavoring from simply using this seasoning sauce. It is a shortcut for a quick and easy dish. Hehe, that doesn’t mean skip making broth all of the time though, because making your own broth give you the best flavor for your dish. =P Anyway, I was happy about the result, so try it someday if you can find it in a Korean grocery store. This is especially for soup and stew. It has seafood extract in it, you will not like this particular flavor of sauce if you are a vegetarian or do like seafood, in which case, you can check out the sauce below.
This one is made especially for frying or boiling down food in soy sauce or other seasonings. They sent me one extra for each of them, so I’m thinking about giving them away in a contest soon. ^_^ Why I give away only those two bottles? Am I too greedy to use them all? It is because I want to try them all and give you good reviews. 😉
They have a nice English website that has a lot of information about their products and related recipes using their products.
The short conclusion is, so far I’m very satisfied with their products, and I’m willing to start to use their products for my cooking. It was sweet of her to send me different kinds of new products to try and use in my cooking. I hope that this post will be helpful for you when you do a little Korean grocery shopping if you don’t know what to get. Thanks. 😀
Sempio is doing some contest now, I will post more about it soon. The winner will receive a $500 dollars prize. You will be interested in it. 😉
Hey great Post, Aeris!
I only buy Assi, because that’s what my mom trusted, but I will try Sempio in the future (especially the organic sesame seed oil).
In the future, it would be awesome if you could buy a few different brands of soy sauce (or something) and do a comparison test 🙂
hi Dexter,
Thanks for your comment.
Actually, I’ve tried Assi brand for the first time after I moved to the U.S.A..because in Korea there is no assi brand. I really surprised they have almost everything for Korean cooking ingredients. anyway.. yes I highly recommend you try the Sempio organic sesame oil.. good product… haha.. yep.. this posting gave me a good idea to try taste testing and do reviews of different brands.. they will be very helpful to people who are not familiar with Korean ingredients. 😀
Or people like me, who tries something once, then will never move away from it as long as it works 😛
hi Dexter,
haha.. companies will love a customer like you. 😀 how about blog.. if you like my recipes.. you will never move away ??? hehe thanks for comment.
I too love Sempio’s soy sauce. I haven’t tried their low-sodium version but the next time I see it I will. And I completely agree with your opinion of their kochujang – it IS a bit saltier (less sweet?) than some of the other brands. Great post!
hi BusyShrew,
^^ Thanks for your comment. I’m happy that people like review post..hehe
It seems my nearest Korean grocery store sells every brand of gochujang except Sempio! LOL!
When I buy gochujang i read the ingredient label. If glutinous rice flour or corn syrup is first on the list and then chili pepper, it will be sweeter. If chili pepper is first on the list, then you know it will be spicier. : )
Wow, I didn’t know that. I should try reading the ingredients. Thanks for the info.
Wow great food review. Like DaeJangGeum sampling the products ;).
Interesting how Koreans make their own sesame oil. That must taste really good.
hi Poeh
haha.. DaeJangGeum… I like that. 😀 Yep.. that tastes really good.
BEAUTIFUL!!! just love Korean cooking 😉
hi CRS,
Nice to meet you !!
Thanks for your comment.
Great review! I also enjoyed looking at the Sempio website. I’m looking forward to trying the lower-sodium soy sauce one day.
hi Suzanne Sutherland,
Yep.. I liked their site a lot too.. I want to try some of their recipes someday. 😀
Hi Aeri!
I buy their Gochujang and regular soy sauce. I think I buy a different brand for soup though. I can’t remember the brand. I received the drinking vinegar as a present(?). It tasted odd at first but eventually I got used to the sharp smell and taste. I actually like it now.
hi MrsDarth,
Oh.. happy to see you today.. How’s your family …especially your princess? Bryson started to eat solid food… As you asked me before..I will share good baby food recipes with you too.. 😀
Could you mind if I ask where you live in? I am looking for a job here, Sempio. I know this company’s HQ is in CA. I’ve heard from someone that there is one branch in NY or New Jersey, but i am having a hard time looking for this company’s phone number. Just curiosity.
hi sophia,
I’m living in a small city in PA.. I’m not working for Sempio..but I think you can visit their website and contact with them. ^^ Good luck for your job.
Hi!, very nice site. Well, I think you could help me with a little mes I’ve got. I bought some sempio noodles, but actually I don’t know lol how to cook tyhem (of course I know, I have to cook them in water and that, but it seems I have to do something else). I bought them on koprean supermerket in SAntiago de Chile where I live and the shopgirl just spoke Korean… anyway the noodles are: http://www.sempio.com/sempio/products/new/NewProduct_read01.asp (the red ones)
Hi JOn,
Nice to meet you. I guess that you are living in Korea? They have English webpage too.. so you can get the information in English. I found this for you.
http://www.sempio.com/eng/products/View.asp?mc=020201&cate1=PONO&cate2=PONON2
It has the direction in English for the noodles.. that looks yummy… someday I will try too..hehe thanks 😀
Does the soy bean paste contain GMOs? I have a hard time buying it because I can’t read Korean, and I want to by one without GMOs. If this one does have them do you know one that does not? Could you tell me the Hangul for no GMOs so I know what to look for on packages. thank you very much.
Hi zod,
I just checked the ingredients. Nope, it doesn’t have GMOs.. the ingredients are soy bean, water, salt and koji starter (I researched what is koji starter..it said.. that’s some liquid or powder to help fermenting process for soy bean paste, soy sauce..etc).so this sempio brand is good to use for you. GMOs is 유전자 변형 식품 in Korean. ^^
Aeri, Thanks for posting this review. Sempio products are sold at our local Hmart (fortunately only 15 minutes from where I live) and I bought the Honey Black Rice Vinegar Drink (for a change from Bacchus). As an aside, they also sell canned 번데기 at the Hmart, which brought back memories of street vendors standing next to their boiling kettles.
hi John L,
Wow, you are lucky.. it takes us 45 minutes to go to a Korean store. 😥 haha.. bacchus.. do you like it? Many people like it in Korea..but I don’t.. to me it tastes like a medicine..and my friends and family thought I’m strange..because they think it’s delicious. anyway.. how was the taste of canned 번데기.. hehe Thanks for your comment.
I live in Santiago de Chile. There’s a big Korean community here, so there are some supermerkates owned and oriented for Koreans. oh! I looked for the directions before and I couldn’t find them! silly me! thanks for the help. And ASAP I try them I’ll tell you how good they tasted
hi JOn,
That’s cool that you have Korean markets.. that’s what I really want around here. yep.. try them and let me know 😀 thanks
Hi! Aeri
I was ver yimpressed with your post !
and I think your sister in law is very cute!!
I live in Vancouver because my husband study film in Vancouver.
I also very interest in cooking and have a korean show.I tohink I will be
your big fan from now on!! haha
You are very cute! I will watch your progress!!
Miran Song from Vancouver
y
hi miran song,
^^ Nice to meet you. So are you a Korean too ?? wow.. if your husband is studying filming..he can record video for you.. that will be cool ~~~
If you start to Korean cooking show.. please let me know..I will love to watch it.. thanks 😀
my keyboards are must be crazy. so many words are in wrong order!! haha
hi miran song,
haha.. no worries… I make many English mistakes even my keyboards are not crazy.. ^^ hope to see you again~~
Hi again!
I just back from outside(actually I am from cosco haha) .
I just talked about you to my husband and he was very curious who u r so.
I am going to show your blog to him
tonight after he finished homework.
Anyway, I am so glad that I meet you through blog!!
I will welcome you anytime if you
have any chance come to Vancouver!
You can stay at my place if u like!
I m living in front of sea so its very
nice!
Maybe we can exchange receipe later!!
근데 난 맨날 음식 할때마다 한번도
안해본거 하고 그래서 일관성이 없어요!!히히
good night!!
by the way, where is PA? far from Vancouver?? he he so 무식!!
hi miran song,
한국말로 답글 남겨도 될것 같아서 한글로 남겨요..호호호.. 저도 밴쿠버가 어디에 있는지 이름은 들어봤는데 잘 몰라서 남편한테 물어봤다는.. 벤쿠버는.. 미국 서부쪽에 가까이 있다고 하더군요.. 펜실베니아는 미국 동부니까.. 벤쿠버와는 상당히 먼것 같아요.. ^^ 암튼 또 뵈요..
i do use their products!! they are good!!
its good u do the review. now, i dare to buy some of those u listed cos i was clueless how u use them 😉
hi layping,
yep.. I was happy and surprised to try many of their products..because they were good.. you can try someday. hehe
i hope i can try all of them…hehe ^ ^ v
hi layping,
lol yep.. try as much as you can.. ^^
I went to the korean supermarket & got confused with the soybean paste. They were the Sempio brand too. There was the regular soybean paste & then the fermented kind. What is the difference?
hi Jessica,
I got confused too.. soybean paste is fermented food.. maybe you saw different kinds of soybean paste.. such as something for normal cooking like soup .. or main or side-dish… and something for wrapping meat.. the korean name is ssamjang.. sorry for poor answer..but I can’t guess well what you looked at over there..
Hello Aeri,
This is my first time on your blog and it is great! Your recipes all look delicious, and your instructions are really easy to follow 😀 .
You mentioned here that Koreans often make their own Soup Soy Sauce at home. Is there any way that you could show how to do this?
Since I have not had time yet to look through all of your blog you might have posted this already. If that is the case sorry ><
Thank you C:
hi Leilani,
Nice to meet you !!! Thanks for your comment. about your question..in old days.. moms used to make soy sauce at home.. but not any more.. people usually buy soy sauce in a store..because it’s time consuming..and complex to make at home.. ^^ sorry for poor answer.. thanks
Hi! Thanks for all of this great information. We just bought the flavored drinking rice vinegars that you show above. We are wondering if you know whether or not they have to be refrigerated after opening?
Thanks!
hi Morgan Siem ,
Yes.. you have to keep them in the refrigerator once you opened it.. ^^ enjoy !! thanks
Hi Aeri,
I am going nuts I cannot find any Korean ingerdients where I live in China now! I used to cook Korean food at least 2-3 times a week! I am dying here! LOL
hi Rae1968,
I’m very happy to see you again. I wondered about you..
Oh~~ really.. that’s sad.. how long will you stay over there ??? 🙁
We will be here at least one year maybe 2. I am going to have to send for a care package soon! I least I can keep in touch with you on your blog!! 🙂
hi Rae1968,
okay.. so How’s your life over there ??? I hope everything is great. yep.. please keep in touch with me here. ^^ have a great week.
Hi Aeri! I just came across this review and noticed that I’ve been using the Sempio Gochujang as well recently. My food that I’ve been cooking with has tasted so much more tastier. I didn’t realize that it was the extra spicy gochujang, but the taste awakes my taste buds! My 2 year old LOVES spicy food and it matched her taste perfectly! I love Sempio products! They never fail! 😛
hi Aeri
thanks for Sempio product info. I live in southern california and just got a bunch of their products including the soup base noodle.
had no idea what i got exactly wanted to try something new. 😀
Thanks Aeri. This will be very helpful. Quick question, is there a white vinegar that you like to use for cooking? Also, is the Korean brand apple vinegar less acidic than the American brand? Thanks so much.
Hi Kitty,
Mainly I like to use Korean brand apple vinegar or brown rice vinegar for my korean cooking..but I think it is also good enough to use white vinegar. 🙂 I think acidic is not much different between them..just apple vinegar has a little different (Additional) flavor in it.
Hi,
I came across your blog while u was searching for reviews on sempio products and I found your post really useful.I recently ordered sempio’s soy bean paste online and when I opened it, it was chocolate brown in colour. Since I was expecting some think like shiromiso I was a bit surprised. Now m not sure if its safe to use or gone bad 🙁 . The label shows that it won’t expire for a few more months. I would really appreciate it if you could clear my dilemma.
Thank you
hi Bhavana,
Korean soy bean paste is different from Japanese miso. Korean soy bean paste is darker in color and has stronger flavor. I think that your soy bean paste is okay. You can use it without worry. Thanks
I purchased sempio brow rice vinegar. the ingredientsare : Water, Brown Rice Extract, Naturally brewed vinegar and acetic acid. It does not list the strength in grains or acidity in English. The bottle does not state that it was brewed from rice. It concerns me that Acetic acid is used to increase it’s strength. Can anyone tell me if this is real brown rice vinegar or just brown rice extract used for coloring? Thank you!
Hi Santiago,
I will ask about your question to Sempio and give you an answer later. thanks