Soybeans are soaked overnight, boiled in salt water and pounded. The mashed soybeans are then molded into blocks called meju. The meju bricks are dried in a cool, dry area until they lose all of their moisture and turn rock-solid. These meju bricks are then hung-out in open air to ferment and cultivate bacteria.

After a few weeks (or months), the meju bricks are rinsed and dried once-more in the sun to sterilize. The meju bricks are covered with brine and left to age in traditional earthen Hanggari pots. After many months, the pot is opened and the leftover brine is boiled and filtered to become soup soy sauce. The leftover meju chunks are also mashed into soybean paste (Doenjang).