Hitachi Akisoba - Traditional Foods in Japan | Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

IbarakiHitachi Akisoba

Classification (Large)

Agricultural products

Classification (Small)

Grain products

Main ingredients used

buckwheat

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Region of inheritance

Northern and western regions of the prefecture

Product overview (special characteristics and types)

The Hitachi Aki soba variety is Ibaraki’s own brand of soba buckwheat, adopted in 1985 as the variety promoted by the prefectural government. Hitachi Aki soba is the type the prefecture recommends local farmers to grow, and promotes the brand. It has a full-bodied fragrance and a mellow sweetness, and is often called the pinnacle of unhulled soba.

History and culture

The Hitachi Aki soba brand was created through repeated selection of a high-quality soba native to Hitachi-Ota City known for its pleasant fragrance, flavor, and sweetness, a defined taste, and rich in protein and starch. Its yield and milling efficiency was boosted by improving the shape of the grains. In 1985 it was selected as a variety to be promoted by the Ibaraki Prefecture, and is now cultivated in many parts of the prefecture. Currently, the western part of Ibaraki Prefecture is one of the leading areas for production. Hitachi-Ota City, where this variety of soba was born, experiences dramatic temperature differences between day and night and fields with well-drained soil on sloping terrain. It has been famous as a soba production area since the Edo period.
Although it is possible to create soba noodles using the Hitachi Akisoba flour at home, there are also dried and fresh noodles on the market for those who want to enjoy these noodles in a more convenient way.

Production method

Farmers sow Hitachi Aki soba seeds in mid-August, and after beautiful white flowers bloom in September, harvest the soba in late October. The seeds are dried for one week after harvesting, then threshed and milled to create soba flour.
To make noodles, add water a little at a time to this soba flour and knead until you create smooth balls. Next, place these balls on a noodle board and use a rolling pin to roll them into even thin sheets, which you fold over and cut into the desired thickness. After boiling, enjoy the noodles in kenchin-jiru soup or mushroom soup.

Conservation and succession efforts

As soba is easily crossbred, to maintain its excellent breed properties, Hitachi Aki soba seed is strictly controlled to prevent other varieties from mixing with it. Furthermore, efforts are underway in the prefecture to prohibit the cultivation of other varieties.
Various regional soba festivals take place annually in Ibaraki Prefecture, and there are plenty of facilities that offer soba noodle-making experiences. Additionally, the Ibaraki Prefecture showroom in Tokyo, “IBARAKIsence,” also offers Hitachi Aki soba in their efforts to promote the food.
The Ibaraki Prefecture Agriculture and Forestry Promotion Agency offers a list of restaurants using Hitachi Aki soba, advice on how to grow soba and make soba flour, and recipes using soba flour.

Main consumption method

Soba was originally a staple food in the northern parts of the prefecture. The most popular ways of easting it were dipped Kenchin soba and Kenchin soba. The kenchin-jiru soup is made by stir-frying green onions, daikon radishes, burdock root, konjac, carrots, shimeji mushrooms, and dried taro stems, and simmering in a broth made from dried bonito and kelp before seasoning with soy sauce and mirin. The dish in which soba noodles are dipped in the kenchin-jiru to eat is dipped Kenchin soba, and kenchin-jiru with soba noodles in it is called Kenchin soba. It is an everyday local dish that contains tasty seasonal vegetables and aromatic soba noodles that give a warm sense of satisfaction to the stomach and mind, and many tourists visit Ibaraki to savor these dishes.

At-home recipes：Hitachi Aki soba

Ingredients

Hitachi Aki soba

100 g

Water

50ml

Mentsuyu (Japanese soup base for noodles) (double strength)

50ml

Green spring onion shoot (cut into small pieces)

As needed

Wasabi

1/4 teaspoon

Shredded laver

As needed

How to make

Boil water in a pot, put and boil soba in it according to the recipe on the package, and drain off the hot water. Cool the soba with running water and drain off the water.

Put and mix the ingredients for the dipping sauce in a bowl.

Put the soba boiled in 1 above in a dish and serve it with the dipping sauce from 2 and the seasonings.