I probably don’t need to mention how much I love “weird” local flavors of ice cream. In fact, I’m not sure I really need to preface this post with an explanation about how soy-sauce ice cream sounds a bit odd to people unfamiliar with Japanese “savory” flavors used in sweet ice cream.

Plenty of people have told me that kabocha or black sesame or matcha are a weird flavors for ice cream. I think for savory sweets, it’s just a cultural thing. I mean, do you like espresso ice cream? Pumpkin cookies? Cheesecake? Buttered-popcorn-flavored Jelly Bellys? Cheddar on your apple pie?*

Then we’re sorted. Moving on.

One of the many foods for which Kanazawa is famous is soy sauce. Yamato Soy Sauce & Miso Company’s main factory is located in the Ono port district and also has a storefront in the Higashi Chaya-gai tea district. Yamato makes fantastic soy sauce, including raw soy sauce, and an amazing soy-sauce soft serve (shôyu sofuto kurîmu, しょうゆソフトクリーム). The flavor is actually a lot like caramel, and it really suits the creamy, rich ice cream. I didn’t get to try the brown-rice soft serve (genmai sofuto kurîmu, 玄米ソフトクリーム)–have you? What did you think?

According to their website, you can purchase soy-sauce topping for ice cream, too. Mark that down on the “Things I Should Have Bought” list….

金沢・ヤマト醤油味噌 (Kanazawa Yamato Shôyu Miso)

Website: Japanese | English

Price: 300 yen

Main Location
Hishihogura (ひしほ蔵)
〒920-0331石川県金沢市大野町４丁目イ１７０
920-0331 Ishikawa-ken Kanazawa-shi Ono-machi 4-I-170
TEL：076-268-1210
Hours: 10:00-17:00. Closed Wednesdays.
Map

Higashi Chaya-gai Location
金沢市東山1丁目6-10
Kanazawa-shi Higashiyama 1-6-10
TEL: 076-251-2235
Hours: 10:00-17:00. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Map

General Holidays/Closures include 12/31-1/5.

More Ice Cream
100 Flavors of Iwakuni
Malga Gelato

Notes
*If you’ve never tried any of these things, do so immediately.