Soba noodles

Soba is the earliest known variety of Japanese noodle, popular with noodle lovers. Buckwheat was originally made into a gruel, but in 17th-century Edo (Tokyo) a monk called Ganchin discovered that if he mixed wheat and buckwheat flours he was able to make a dough that could be cut into noodles that held their shape. Soba noodles became the fashion and there are many references to them in the literature of the time.

The best soba was (and still is) ni-hachi or "two-eight," meaning two parts wheat flour to eight parts buckwheat. Nowadays, soba is served hot or cold, in a broth or with a dipping sauce on the side. Cold zaru-soba is served on bamboo lattice baskets, set in a square wooden frame. Cha-soba, or green tea soba, is made by mixing powdered tea with the buckwheat dough; recognizable by its distinctive green color, it is often served cold. Udon, wheat-flour noodles, are often served hot with tempura. Udon and soba are interchangeable in practically all dishes.