Yuki City

sudare-bu, white sesame, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce

Sudare-bu with sesame paste is a local dish produced in Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture. The western part of the city, where Yuki City is located, has many sunny days throughout the year and has long been rich in agriculture, benefiting from the Tone and Kinugawa Rivers, and producing a variety of foods such as rice, wheat, soybeans, and buckwheat. The northern part, where Yuki Castle was located, prospered as a castle town, and many temples were built there. One of the ingredients used in the vegetarian dishes eaten there was sudare-bu. It is said to have been made to preserve wheat, and was already being eaten in the late Edo period, making it a valuable foodstuff at that time.
Other prefectures also have sudare-fu, but Yuki City's sudare-bu is made by adding flour back into the gluten extracted from wheat flour and kneading it well, then spreading it thinly and sprinkling salt over the entire surface. After boiling it, it is spread on a bamboo mat and dried in the sun. Yakifu is a type of fu that preserves well, but Yuki City's sudare-bu is made by sprinkling salt over raw fu, heating it, and then drying it, thereby achieving a higher level of preservation.
It is made entirely by hand, and even today its production is limited, so it is eaten only in Yuki City.
In addition to "sudare-bu with sesame vinegar," it is also used in simmered dishes and soups.

Since it takes a lot of time and effort to make, sudare-bu is considered a valuable foodstuff and was eaten on special occasions such as weddings and funerals. Nowadays, it is also eaten during family gatherings, such as during the Obon season.

Soak the fu in water overnight, cut into 1 cm pieces, and mix with sesame paste, vinegar, and soy sauce. Since sudare-bu has a lot of salt on it, it is important to remove the salt when soaking it in water.
Many households add wakame seaweed or cucumbers as a modern twist.
The salt sprinkled on the fu during the making process increases the strength of the gluten and gives it a firmer texture than normal fu.

The "sudare-bu with sesame vinegar" is served at school lunches. They are also working to educate children about the ingredients and taste through various arrangements, such as using it as pizza dough to make it easier for children to eat sudare-bu.