I wanted to make a video about what I thought was the healthiest noodle in Japan: soba.

Or in English: buckwheat.

However, when I went to a soba maker and asked him to talk about how nutritious it was,

he was a bit confused.

It provides quick energy, he said,

but as to it being healthy,

he didn't really have that concept in his mind.

I don't think soba is popular outside of Japan,

at least not nearly as much as ramen is.

So today I'd like to tell you all about the noodle,

from how it's harvested, to how it's made,

to how it's eaten.

First things first, despite having wheat in its name,

buckwheat is actually the seed of a flowering fruit

that is related to rhubarb and sorrel.

So it's not wheat and it's not related to grasses in the wheat family.

As such, it's gluten-free.

However, a lot of dishes that have soba

will add ingredients that contain gluten

like wheat flour or soy sauce.

So be careful.

It also happens to be low on the glycemic index,

which makes it a good alternative to other grains that will more easily spike blood sugar levels.

Buckwheat is also a plant known for its honey.

The flowers are attractive to bees

and the honey produced from its pollen

is dark and uniquely flavoured.

This bottle cost me 4000 yen,

which is l like forty US dollars,

so this craft honey ain't cheap.

The popular noodle dish, soba,

is very affordable though.

To learn about soba,

I went to Aizu Wakamatsu and asked if I could go into the fields

and see it harvested.

I had wanted to see the modern day methods,

but they decided to bring me back to a simpler time,

where it was you,

the field,

a sickle,

and some rice straw on your back.

To do this correcty, we would have used a proper rope instead of straw.

This is really rural style.

Try it!

Ok, ok.

Don't worry about the small stuff.

This sickle

is actually for rice harvesting.

So it has a jagged edge.

Because of this, when you grab the stalk, you just need to pull it.

Ahhh...

It's not like a regular sickle.

You pick it up, and pull using the jagged edge.

Ahhh...

And when a bunch is this size,

it's a good size bunch, right?

Then from here, you take three pieces, "three".

Bind it, it's not tying.

Here, "cross, cross".

And once you "cross" it,

you tuck it under this part.

Tuck it.

Good. Good, good.

After you...

Yeah, like that.

Ok, ok.

Yeahhhhhh!

Good work (bye!)

Ahhh, good work!

With a machine it would only take 10 minutes.

When I found out about the harvesters, I asked if I could see one.

Unfortunately, there were none operating in the area,

which is mostly rice fields,

but we had a lead that there might be one close by.

So we spent 2 hours looking and finally

we found the last fields standing

I tell you,

you've never seen a car so excited to see an unharvested field of soba before.

So let's just enjoy the harvester and its driver

doing their thing for a bit.

About drying,

it'll separate and then dry everything properly.

It turns out the farmer actually owns a soba shop,

which we sadly didn't get to try.

But that's okay,

the previous farmer we were manually harvesting with

also owned a shop,

which we were able to get a full tour of.

It started with seeing how the buckwheat flour is made into soba noodles.

To start off, soba noodles aren't always made from 100% buckwheat flour.

Towari soba is made with only buckwheat flour

and is also called juwari soba.

As far as I heard, nihachi soba is popular in Kanto area.

This is a type of soba that contains 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour.

This is a type of soba that contains 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour.

This is a type of soba that contains 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour.

80/20 soba is standard in Kanto.

In the past, 100% buckwheat flour was hard to work with, because there's no gluten.

An 80% buckwheat, 20% wheat flour mix

sticks together better.

The final product is smoother and breaks less.

Nowadays, it's easier to make 100% buckwheat noodles,

towari soba,

because of modern crops and technology.

The texture is rougher, and it breaks easier, but it's gluten free,

if you don't count the broth or any extras.

There are also other mixes,

but as long as the content is 30% buckwheat, it can be called soba.

So if you really want to be sure as to what you're getting,

ask the shop owner or read the package.

Generally, if a shop has 100% soba noodles,

they'll advertise it as towari or juwari soba,

and you'll see this kanji 十割蕎麦 or 十割そば

While we're waiting for the dough to rest,

let's learn about how soba was eaten in the past.

This is about 50 years ago,

back then, soba was eaten on certain occasions.

Once is when the soba was newly cropped,

and on New Year's Day, and also when happy events occured.

That's when it was mostly offered as a good luck meal.

For wedding ceremonies, they used to have them at home,

and they ate Shugen soba (wedding soba).

Why soba noodles on special occasions?

They are thin and long, so there's a saying,

"hosoku nagaku ikiru",

which literally means thin and long life.

A long life translates well, but what's a thin life?

The best I can come up with is that it's a peaceful,

uneventful, and healthy life.

Or in other words,

the opposite of having a short, extravagant life.

Anyways, that's why soba is eaten on special occasions,

to have a long, thin, life.

And at this restaurant,

you can eat shugen soba anyday you like,

so it's always a good time!

Plus, they have a shinto shrine inside the shop,

which I've never seen before.

Now let's get back to making soba.

I will take the dough here...

and knead it again.

Usually, famous soba restaurants or soba masters use this technique called kikuneri.

Kikuneri is when you fold the outside in.

Like this.

So that you can remove air from the dough.

Like this.

Then they would put it together into a triangular shape.

But I don't care about those details.

Hahaha.

I'll just put it together like this to get the air out.

Yoisho.

Then when you see the surface is smooth,

you put extra flour underneath the dough,

and flatten it.

Then you roll it with the rolling pin.

In Aizu we normally use this technique called yuneri with the soba dough.

The dough itself is warm,

because it's kneaded with hot water.

I have to roll it while it's still warm.

We're going to start? OK.

Then we...

It's round, right?

But I'll make it into a square.

I make it square so that I can cut long noodles.

With a circle, the sides are always short, so I make it into a square.

Hmm... maybe one more time?

It's usually about this thick.

Now I will fold it.

Ok, rolling is finished.

The next step is to cut.

Now I'll cut.

And now... we are finished!

You're working while carrying our grandaughter?

It's like what old farmers used to do!

Now that the noodles are made, it's time to cook them up.

I'm not using the chopsticks to mix the soba, I'm using them to push them in the middle.

This is not tap water, it's well water.

Our well water is really good as the temperature is always 15°C.

Soba gets hard when in icy water.

Soba gets hard when in icy water.

I'm not using the chopsticks to mix the soba, I'm using them to push them in the middle.

I'm rinsing the starch off the soba.

I think between 10 and 15 °C is good.

You don't need to film this, don't shoot it.

Don't film here, it's a big business secret!

How is it?

Good! It's good, good!

Hehehe!

Adding leeks and duck will refine the taste.

I don't want to brag, but I put in more duck meat than any other places.

Hahahaha.

I'm ready, bring it here!

Lettuce is fine as well, but

I think white leeks work best with soba, as the thickness and length can be the same.

I loved all the dishes, from the soba salad, with its sesame seed dressing,

to the duck soba soup, which did have a lot of duck,

to the fried soba with veggies.

Yes, yes, yes, there's a large variety of soba.

There are fancy soba restaurants out there,

as well as inexpensive ones,

like tachigui soba, which is a quick, stand-and-eat soba reataurant in a train station.

Like a decade ago,

there were busy salarymen,

coming and going, with no time to eat.

With limited time, in a train station,

if they wanted to quickly warm and fill their stomach,

they could have a bowl of udon or soba.

They didn't have 30 minutes to sit in a restaurant.

They had the 10-20 minutes between train transfers.

If they wanted to have a quick energy food,

they could add something on top of their soba or udon,

like tempura, deep fried thin tofu, or even drop a fresh egg on noodles.

I think that's everyday soba.

Basically soba is not really a fancy food,

Soba lovers of course like towari soba, but

at least me,

I love tachigui soba eating on the platform of a train station.

When you visit Aizu, please don't be afraid.

When you visit Aizu, please don't be afraid.

When you visit Aizu, please don't be afraid.

I think you can eat in those soba restaurants,

the ones with the nice looking exteriors.

It's a bowl of soba.

It's just a bowl of soba, so just come and enjoy.

Another nice thing about soba, is that it can be eaten anywhere,

so I came up with this idea to show that,

by eating a bento soba in a picturesque setting.

The chef kindly obliged,

but pointed out why this is not usually done with towari soba.

That's right, that's right.

I don't normally do this.

Because you want to eat it outside, I'll do it,

but there will be problems, that's why shops don't do it.

And he was right! The noodles got all stuck together.

Because I can't see you eating in front of me, I can't help if there's any complaints.

Yeah, because it's towari soba,

some restaurants tell their customers to eat it within 10 minutes.

That fast?

There are stores like that!

Very strict chefs... yeah.

Luckily we didn't need his help this time

since we figured we can get ourselves unstuck by pouring on some water.

However, this didn't help the weather situation.

The view was supposed to be of Mount Bandai,

the big local mountain in the background,

but it being a rainy day,

we had to take refuge inside a roadside stop