Traditional tofu cheese from Kumamoto Prefecture

The other day, I found a stand selling very interesting tofu products in Entetsu Department Store. They were from Itsukiya Honpo in Kumamoto Prefecture, a shop that specializes in tofu no misozuke or tofu pickled in miso.

According to one of the clerks, this food has a history of more than 800 years and was originally made by fleeing Heike-clan warriors who came to and settled in Itsuki Village. Itsukiya Honpo had developed several kinds from the traditional one and let me taste two kinds of soft tofu.

One of them was Yamauni Tofu original packed in a red box. Yamauni literally means a “sea urchin from mountain”, and Yamauni Tofu is the brand name of the products. I don’t know exactly how a sea urchin tastes, but this tofu was creamy and smoother than I expected. The other one was smoked cheese tofu. After tasting it, I was worried if it contained milk, but the clerk assured that all their tofu products contain no animal products.

As for hard type tofu, they had two options. I heard they are served in local pubs in Kumamoto as nibbles for sake.

I bought them both and Yamauni Tofu with yuzu flavor home. First, I tried Yamauni Tofu with German bread bought in the basement of May One in the station building. Somehow, I thought rye bread would best match the tofu among other kinds of bread.

Before spreading on the bread, I tasted the tofu as it was. It had a refreshing flavor of yuzu, a citrus fruit in Japan, as well as richness of miso. I was glad that I had chose this one among products of different flavors.

But as I ate it with the bread, I realized that I should have chosen other kind of bread. Though I usually like the distinctive sour taste of rye bread, it didn’t go well with the yuzu-flavored tofu. It prevented me from fully enjoying the taste of the tofu. Maybe baguette or something with a mild taste would be better.

Next day, I made pasta with Yamauni Tofu for lunch. The ingredients were only five: Yamauni Tofu, pasta, soy milk, Shimeji mushroom, and dried parsley.

I made it according to the recipe on the website of Itsukiya Honpo. It was very easy to make. The sauce that contained just yuzu-flavored Yamauni Tofu and soy milk matched the pasta, and I thought it could be used for some other kind of food. So, I prepared salad for dinner, using this sauce, wakame seaweed, broccoli, and onion.

As wakame is often eaten with yuzu dressing, the salad was as good as I expected. In addition to this, I had rice and the two kinds of hard type tofu cheese. One was plain and the other was smoked.

In fact, I had not been very interested in vegan cheese before, because the ones made by some other companies had disappointed me and I had thought they were just fakes. But the ones I ate this time were different! Their tastes were as rich as those of animal cheese. Especially, the smoked one surprisingly resembled dairy smoked cheese. I wished I could drink alcohol because they surely go well with sake or wine.

And they were also good to eat with rye bread.

I highly recommend trying their products. If you are interested in them, search with just “Itsukiya Honpo.” They have an informative website written in also English and French.