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| Yuba (soy milk skin), delicacy of Kyoto |
Yuba and many other soy based foods are traditional delicacy of Kyoto. They taste amazing!
If you are going to Kyoto, you must try yuba or their tofu/soy based traditional dishes. It is also great for vegetarians, or more commonly known as 'Shojin' in Kyoto, which is temple cuisine eaten by zen monks.
As zen monks do not take any animal protein, soy has become an important source for protein in their diet.
Yuba is not the same as tofu. It is soy milk skin, the delicate layers that are formed on top of heated soy milk. As a result, you get a extremely creamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture coupled with fragrance of soy.
There are many restaurants that serve Shojin cuisine in Kyoto, so you might even get to taste fresh yuba from a pot of simmering soy milk at your meal.
I visited this traditional store, Yuba Sho that has been selling yuba since 1885!!! Their main store is located about 5mins walk on foot from Kyoto station. Good news! They also have an small outlet at Kyoto station so I hope it will be easy for you to try some their soy products.
For those not visiting Kyoto, Yuba Sho apparantly sell their products at certain fairs held in Tokyo as shown in their website. Check out their website page here, If you see - 東京販売, then this means that they are having some upcoming/ongoing fairs, with specific location and dates included. It is in Japanese though.
I got the freshly packed yuba from the store. They give you icepack and cooler bag for take-away. It comes with a pack of soy based sauce, which goes well with the yuba! Note that it is supposed to be consumed in a day's time. So you have to eat it while you are in Kyoto. But you can buy their other dried soy products and sauces back home.
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| Image copyright of Yuba-Sho http://www.yubasho.co.jp/about.html |
Website http://www.yubasho.co.jp/index.html
Main Store | 本店
Address | 京都市南区東九条北鳥丸町八番地
Opening hours | 10am to 6pm
Kyoto Station outlet | 京都駅店 http://www.asty-kyoto.co.jp/kyoto/detail33.html
Opening hours | 9am to 9pm
