Somen noodles

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Thin somen noodles (soomen)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Kigo for all summer
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

All Summer Kigo

cold somen noodles, hiya soomen 冷索麺 (ひやそうめん)
..... 冷素麺（ひやそうめん）
cold noodles, hiya men 冷麺（ひやめん）
cooling somen, soomen hiyasu 索麺冷す（そうめんひやす）
"flowing somen", nagashi soomen 索麺流す（そうめんながす）




Nagashi somen, 流しそうめん a typical summer food to enjoy outside. Small bundles of somen noodles are send down a 'half-pipe' (usually made of bamboo) flowing with cold water from a nearby clean brook. You pick them up as they flow past and dip them into a small bowl with soy sauce and some herbs and spices for extra flavoring. The last bundle is usually colored, mostly pink.
This is a treat to enjoy with your kids.


. Soomen Jizoo そうめん地蔵 Somen Noodles Jizo .
A legend about the origin of Nagashi Somen noodles.


. WASHOKU - Noodles (menrui　 麺類 ) 　


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Sōmen (素麺)
are very thin, white Japanese noodles made of wheat flour. The noodles are usually served cold and are less than 1.3 mm in diameter. The distinction between sōmen and the next thicker wheat noodles hiyamugi and even thicker Japanese wheat noodles udon is that sōmen is stretched while hiyamugi and udon are cut.

Sōmen are usually served cold with a light flavored dipping sauce or tsuyu. The tsuyu is usually a katsuobushi-based sauce that can be flavored with Welsh onion, ginger, or myoga. In the summer, sōmen chilled with ice is a popular meal to help stay cool.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


Tanabata Soomen　七夕素麺　
Somen eaten at the Tanabata Star Festival
The thin long white noodles remind the Japanese of the Milky Way in the sky.
They are also seen as the threads of the Weaver Girl.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


. Star Festival (Tanabata, Japan) Milky Way (ama no gawa) 　
June 7, the Double 7 Day.



. sakubei 索餅（さくべい） Sakubei-noodles 　
nanuka no on-sechiku 七日の御節供
Official seasonal ritual on the
seventh day of the seventh lunar month
kigo for early autumn


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kansoomen, kan soomen 寒そうめん somen made in the cold season
They are usually elongated by hand outside in the garden in the cold dry winter air and cold sunshine. Some areas of Japan are famous for this winter landscape.


Ookado soomen 大門　そうめん Somen from Okado town
From Toyama prefecture 富山県砺波市 from November till March.
Streched by hand (tenobe), from early morning to lunchtime (when the humidity in the area is low).
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
also called Shimada soomen 「島田素麺」or
marumage soomen 丸まげ素麺 "bundled up hair noodles", because they are packed like this.


tenobe soomen てのべそうめん / 手延べそうめん
somen noodles elongated by hand
"shiraito" white thread
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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nyuumen にゅうめん Somen-noodles in broth
with mushrooms, vegetables and chicken
This is a hot dish, usually eaten in winter.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
Somen-Suppe mit Shiitake-Pilzen und Hühnchen


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Hyogo prefecture
Hyoogo　兵庫県
Somen (fine noodles)

The process of preparing somen involves kneading a dough of wheat flour and salted water and then twist-pulling the dough to form rather thin noodles. Though made differently from soba and udon, in which the rolled-out dough is cut into strips, water also plays an important role in making somen. Somen dough, which is pulled until it becomes almost as thin as silk thread, must have a sufficiently stretchy consistency as well as a pure white color, neither of which can be without water of excellent quality. Tatsuno City, in Hyogo Prefecture, boasts Japan's largest production of somen. The area's Ibo-no-ito (Threads from Ibo) somen uses water from the Ibo River. Low in iron and calcium, this water prevents the wheat flour from oxidizing, maintaining the noodle's exceptional whiteness.
source : 　www.kippo.or.jp


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source : somendo.blogspot.jp

Miwa soomen 三輪そうめん thin Somen noodles from Miwa town
Nara prefecture

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Yamagata prefecture

soomen ankake そうめん餡かけ　somen noodles with sweet sauce
..... ankake soomen 餡かけそーめん, 餡かけ素麺
often eaten as a kind of desert.
CLICK here for PHOTOS !


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Somen Art そうめんのアート


To promote the thin noodles of Nisharike town
西有家


source : nishiariekoukeisha

They also made a huge ship out of colored somen noodles and prepare shimenawa ropes for the new year of 2010.

A new fast eating contest of "wanko somen　わんこそうめん" is planned for 2011.


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way

. Food vendors in Edo .

soomen uri 索麺売 Somen-uri, selling Somen noodles


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Himeji 姫路名物『お城やき』O-Shiro-Yaki
Castle waffles / Hyogo prefecture


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HAIKU

そうめんの流れに 箸の上手下手
soomen no nagare ni hashi no joozu heta

somen noodles flow by
and some use chopsticks
skillfully, unskillfully

Yamada Yoshiyuki 山田良行


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夏の夜や崩て明し冷し物
natsu no yo ya kuzurete akeshi hiyashi mono

summer night -
at dawn, scattered leftovers
of chilled food
Tr. Barnhill


cold food (hiyashimono) eaten after a banquet
DISCUSSION of this hokku by :
. WKD : Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 .


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Related words

***** WASHOKU : Regional Japanese Dishes

WASHOKU : INGREDIENTS

soumen
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