Japanese Buckwheat Soba Noodles

I just wanted to tell you about a really great food that you might like to try adding to your diet. It’s called soba noodle – thin brown noodles that are made from buckwheat flour. These are very well known to Japanese and Korean people since they form a very common part of their diet.

Soba is the noodle of choice around Tokyo, and they’re very popular everywhere throughout Japan. You can get them as fast food at train stations, but they’re also served in very expensive restaurants, as well as everywhere in between. Shops and markets sell dried soba noodles that you can prepare at home.

Here in Australia you can find dry buckwheat soba in a variety of Asian supermarkets, either packaged or delivered directly from the manufacturer. I buy mine as the freshly-made stuff, as you can see in the photo.

So what’s so special about this food? Well there are a variety of different forms of buckwheat soba, in fact some can contain as little as only 30% buckwheat flour (the rest being wheat flour), but the best soba is made from 100% wholegrain buckwheat. And as you know, wholegrain food products are a really great source of nutrients, dietary fiber and low-GI complex carbohydrates.

100% wholegrain buckwheat soba is no exception. But as an added bonus, the protein provided by buckwheat is complete protein. That means it contains all of the essential amino acids that our body needs to fully synthesize the protein, just like animal protein does. There are only a handful of plant-based foods that contain complete protein and buckwheat is one of them. The other notable one is soy.

Here’s a brief nutritional outline of wholegrain buckwheat soba, given per 100g:

Calories: 310 kCal
Protein: 14.5g
Carbohydrates: 60.0g
Dietary Fiber: 9.1g
Fat: 1.8g
Calorie Breakdown: 76% Carbohydrates, 19% Protein, 5% Fat

Why not try adding buckwheat soba to your list of carbohydrate food choices, they would definitely make a valuable and healthy addition!