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While testing recipes from an upcoming book for author and blogger extraodinairewho brought us this crunchtime recipe, the soba noodle entered our kitchen in a big way. Mypriordismissiveness of this super-charged food came from thinking it was another carb that doesn’t belong on my plate. I was wrong.

Unlike pasta made from semolina flour, soba noodles are made from buckwheat seeds, which are loaded with protein nutrients – just check out our sidebar info. And when made from 100% buckwheat, soba noodles are *gluten-free. Buckwheat, despite the misfortune of havingwheat in its name, comes from the rhubarb family and contains no wheat products. Good news if you’re like my household and flirting with gluten-reduction. More good news, these noodles deliver in both the flavor and presentation categories; better yet, my tween & teen kids devoured their twirled stacks.

Soba noodles are easily found in most grocery stores placed either in the international food or pasta/grain aisles. Most notably food from Japanese cuisine, where food artisans for centuries have crafted handmade soba noodles as you can see ChefShuji Ozekiprepare in this video. Traditionally, soba noodles are served cold with condiments such as green onions, wasabi, and a tangy sauce for dipping. We offer a few less old-school soba noodle ideas from our favorite chefs and sourceshere andhere and here.

Sworn to secrecy on recipes, I can show the photos of foods to come in the cookbook that meets all of our goals at crunchtimefood.com – real food made easy.

*For pure GF sourcing, read ingredient labels because some soba noodles are manufactured with scant flour measurements to enable consistency.