This week, Value for Money compares different brands of soy sauce.

Amoy Soy Sauce

€3.04 for 175ml, €13.38 per litre

Highs: This is a mid-range soy sauce which is thick and very sharply flavoured. It is also widely available and, used sparingly, will enhance a fairly robust stir-fry. Amoy also tells us that this has been "brewed from the first pressing of the finest soya beans" which has us immediately wondering if that meant we could call it extra virgin soy sauce?

Lows: Of more pressing concern to us was the salt or even sodium content, something Amoy seems to have neglected to share with us. It did taste incredibly salty, mind you, and while the dark-coloured bottle might look nice it is utterly useless when it comes to working out at a distance how much soy sauce you have left. And the cap broke immediately after we first opened it making it impossible to reseal.

Verdict: A fine option

Star rating: ***

Kikkoman Low Salt Soy Sauce

€2.79 for 150ml, €18.60 per litre

Highs: This is a subtle soy sauce that has a whole lot less salt than either the regular sauce from this company or the competition, so is probably the best option for delicate dishes and delicate hearts. It is fairly light and nicely flavoured. The cap has two holes from which the sauce comes spilling out at a fair old pace, enabling you to douse your stir-fry in double-quick time.

Lows: Once you discard the plastic seal, this bottle is impossible to close, so moving it from one place to another can be a fraught business. The low salt option has a very high cost and we found it hard to justify spending more than six times more on this than on the much cheaper competition.

Verdict: Good but dear

Star rating: ****

Sharwoods Soy Sauce

€1.52 for 150 ml, €10.14 per litre

Highs: This is the second-cheapest of the brands we tried and the one which will be most recognisable to most people. It is very dark and quite thick and tastes all right.

Lows: While we thought some of the other brands were pretty salty - and what else do you really expect from sauces of this nature - it wasn't until we came to this that we knew what a salty soy sauce tasted like. A single portion (around five teaspoons) of this makes up a frightening four grams of salt or two-thirds of your daily allowance. The ingredient list is longer than most of the competition so suddenly the claims of a natural brewing process that appears on the labels of the competition starts to make a good deal of sense.

Verdict: Way too salty

Star rating: **

Pearl River Bridge Soy Sauce

€1.50 for 500ml, €3 per litre

Highs: Costing three times less than the next-cheapest option, this very robust, very dark soy sauce is amazing value for money. If all the Chinese lettering on the label is anything to go by, it is also the most authentic sauce reviewed. Made with just water, soya beans, salt, sugar and wheat flour, it also has the purest ingredient list. It is almost syrupy in texture, has quite a bitter kick and a lingering aftertaste, and a small amount goes a long way.

Lows: It has a very wide spout so pouring it might be a little messy. It is very strong and while there is no information on how much salt is in the bottle, if the taste is anything to go by, the answer is loads.

Verdict: Bargain basement

Star rating: *****

Clear Spring Soy Sauce

€2.69 for 150ml, €17.93 per litre

Highs: This is the organic option and while we were initially a little sceptical about the wholesome claims made on the label - given the innate unhealthiness of soy sauce - and even more concerned by the price, we were soon won over by the taste and its undeniably high quality. It is the most well-balanced sauce we tried. It is mild without being bland and will definitely enhance most foods without overpowering them. It is not too salty and will work well both for cooking and as a table sauce. It is also, the manufactures promise us, a traditional soy sauce, even if it is made in Wales.

Lows: It is expensive and not widely available. Of more minor concern was the size of the spout, which was pretty tiny - it took us an age to get it into a dish.

Verdict: Top notch but top dollar

Star rating: ****