🍱 Nadofu

Shiiba Village, located in the mountains which border Kumamoto Prefecture, is a quiet village in which the legend remains that a member of the Heike family fled there after an enemy defeat. In this village, the Kyoto dialect continues to be used in daily conversation, and there are dishes reminiscent of Kyoto cuisine in the food culture as well. One is the tofu dish "nadofu." White tofu is made here, but out of love for the fragrances and flavors of all four seasons, in spring, seasonal flowers such as rapeseed and wisteria flowers and Japanese parsley are added to the tofu; from autumn to spring, "nadofu" is made which combines a boiled green vegetable that resembles wild coleseed called "heike kabu." By mixing flowers and vegetables into the tofu, the intent is to increase the volume of the tofu more than its color, taste, and nutritional value; by using "heike kabu" which can be grown even on infertile soil, people were able to conserve the precious soybean. Among these, wisteria flower tofu is a rare tofu without parallel even within the prefecture, and is made every year around May 10th to celebrate the sowing of rice.