Aburaage

Abura-age

Atsu-age

Aburaage (油揚げ, abura-age or aburage) is a Japanese food product made from soybeans. It is produced by cutting tofu into thin slices and deep-frying them first at 110–120 °C, and then again at 180–200 °C. Aburaage is often used to wrap inari-zushi (稲荷寿司), and is added to miso soup. It is also added to udon noodle dishes, which are called kitsune-udon because of legends that foxes (kitsune) like deep-fried tofu. Aburaage can also be stuffed, e.g. with nattō, before frying again. There is a thicker variety known as atsu-age (厚揚げ)　or nama-age (生揚げ).

The Japanese were the first to develop tofu pouches. However, little is known of their early history. The Tofu Hyakuchin of 1782 (Abe 1972) gave a recipe for deep-fried tofu, but it is not clear if it puffed up like a tofu pouch. It is known that tofu pouches existed by 1853, when inari-zushi (tofu pouches filled with vinegared rice) originated (Ichiyama 1968). Because of their long storage life, light weight, and complexity of production, tofu pouches lend themselves to large-scale factory production and widespread distribution. By 1974 large factories were using two metric tons of soybeans a day to make 116,600 tofu pouches. By 1980 huge modern factories produced 300,000 to 450,000 pouches a day using conveyorized deep fryers. At this time roughly a third of the soybeans consumed for tofu in Japan were for deep-fried tofu, and an estimated 85 percent of this was for tofu pouches.

In Japanese mythology aburaage is the favorite food of Kitsune and Inari.

See also

• List of deep-fried foods
• List of soy-based foods
• Food portal

References

• Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo 1991, ISBN 4-7674-2015-6

Soy (Glycine max)
General	Soy allergy Soy candle Soy ink Soy molasses Soy paint Soy protein Soybean Soybean diseases Soybean meal Soybean oil
Soy-based dishes	List of soy-based foods Aburaage Agedashi tofu Bai ye Douhua Dubu kimchi Edamame Hiyayakko Kongguksu Kongnamul Mapo doufu Miso soup Sundubu jjigae Tahu goreng Tofu skin roll Yong Tau Foo
Plant milk	Soy milk Soy yogurt Vegan cheese
Meat analogues	Beanfeast Tempeh Textured vegetable protein Tofu Tofurkey Vegetarian hot dog Veggie burger
Sauces and condiments	Soy sauce based Ganjang Ponzu Sweet soy sauce Tamari Teriyaki Tsuyu Yìn yóu Pastes Doenjang Doubanjiang Miso Sweet bean sauce Yellow soybean paste Tương Fermented bean Fermented bean curd Douchi Kinema Tauco Nattō
Various other foods	Mamenori Okara Oncom Soy flour Soy milk based infant formula Soy nut Stinky tofu Tofu skin List of fermented soy products
Biochemicals	Phytoestrogens Genistein Genistin Glycitein Ononin Daidzein Equol (metabolite) O-DMA (metabolite) Daidzin (leaves) Globulins (proteins) Beta-conglycinin Gylcinin PHAs (Lectins) Soybean agglutinin (lectin) Enzymes Beta-amylase Lipoxygenase Cysteine proteases Trypsin inhibitors Kunitz inhibitor Bowman-Birk inhibitor Other Soy lecithin (mix of Phospholipids) Lunasin Unsaponifiables Tocopherols Sterols Antinutrients Phytates Protease Inhibitors Cystatins
Companies	8th Continent Alpro Boca Burger Gardenburger Kikkoman Morningstar Farms Plamil Foods Silk So Good Tofutti Vitasoy Yamasa Yeo Hiap Seng
Other	Yuasa, artisan town of historic soy sauce distilleries Kikkoman Soy Sauce Museum

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