Chobinuka by Fujita
FLAKED "NUKAMISODAKI", SARDINE IS DISCRETE TOPPING FOR ICECREAM!?
If you were to put toppings on ice cream, what would it be? Chocolate would be nice. Crushed Oreo would be even better. But who would ever even think of trying sardine?
"Nukamisodaki no Fujita" (ぬかみそだきのふじた) is the challenger of the unprecedented. They are "nukamisodaki" maker in Kokura, and I ought to explain a bit about it.
"Nukamisodaki" (ぬかみそだき) is local food of Kokura, a city in Kitakyushu. It use "nukamiso" (salted rice‐bran paste) as broth to simmer sardine, mackerel, or kibinago (Silver-stripe Round Herring). Simmer until fish bone becomes soft, therefore edible. Complex UMAMI flavor of amino and organic acids and fermentation odor of nukamiso reduce unique smell of blueback. It is usually eaten as side dish or topping on rice.
"Chobinuka for ice cream" follows "nukamisodaki's" fundamental and arranged to palatable on ice cream.
Chobinuka for ice cream.
Price: ¥1,080
Ingredients: Sardine, sugar, rice bran, soy sauce, brewed vinegar, sake, mirin, ginger, salt, pepper, cinnamon, red pepper
50g.
Flaked nukamisodaki sardine. Bouquet of cinnamon and nukamiso is something I've never experienced before.
I prepared Meiji's supercup; vanilla, choco cookie and matcha.
Chobinuka on ice creams, they don't look so bad, hm.
Start by matcha ice cream. Looks promising.
Taste isn't bad at all. Thanks to cinnamon, odor of sardine is not noticeable. In fact, saltiness of nukamiso sardine is good mixture of coarse sugar. Chobinuka actually deepen the taste of matcha ice cream. As you go, rough mouth-touching texture of flaked sardine becomes a bit softer by moisture of the ice cream.
I was encouraged from matcha. This also looks promising.
Hmmmm. It's not bad. But sweetness of this choco cookie ice cream overwhelms the "sardine-ness". Unique flavor of chobinuka and coarsed sugar are kind of "buried" under thick chocolate cookie-ry soil. It depends on your preference but this isn't the one for me.
At side of the bottle, it says "Please don't use it with vanilla ice cream. They don't sadly match." I already bought vanilla ice cream. This doesn't stop me. More of encouragement.
Well. You know what? I liked the vanilla ice cream the best of all. I always felt unfulfilled when I ate vanilla ice cream, thinking too light and there was something missing from it. Chobinuka made it perfect. It is maybe the cinnamon, salt or sugar, but I really liked it.
"Light" vanilla doesn't kill the uniqueness of chobinuka, the saltiness of sardine and nukamiso, fragrance of cinnamon, and coarse sugar. This is the world of peace, every ingredients are holding hands and no one is fighting in mouth.
In summary, the best I enjoyed was vanilla, next is matcha, and choco cookie in last place. This is maybe because I value the uniqueness than commonness. And to be fair, the taste of ice cream and of course, your preference must have heavy impact on result.
Where to buy: "Nukamisodaki no Fujita"
Tanka ichiba store.
Address: 4-1-9, Uomachi, Kokurakita ward, Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka
Open hours: 10:00 to 18:00
Closed on: Thursday
Moji store.
Address: 1-4-10, Yanagimachi, Moji ward, Kitakyushu city, Fukuoka
Open hours: 9:00 to 18:00
Closed on: Sunday
Nukamisodaki no Fujita official site.
