Tamari is a Japanese sauce made from fermented soybeans that originated as a by-product of miso paste. It is a wider class of soy sauces, and is made with little to no wheat, while traditional soy sauce contains wheat. Tamari has a darker color and richer flavor than the common Chinese soy sauce, and it tastes more balanced and less salty than soy sauce. Tamari has a rich umami flavor and a subtle sweetness, and it can be used in any recipe calling for soy sauce where you want to impart a rich flavor with less saltiness. Tamari is typically made in Japan’s Mie, Aichi, and Gifu prefectures and in the Kyushu area. If a recipe calls for tamari, you can use plain soy sauce instead, but the recipe would taste less of the sauce, at a rate proportional to the amount of sauce for which the recipe calls.