Dairy selection from Daiwa Farm, Miyazaki

It was such a treat to receive a delicious box of cheese and drinking yoghurt from Daiwa Farm in Kobayashi City, Miyazaki Prefecture.  My family and I have been mostly staying home due to the virus and it was exciting to have some new menu items to play with.
I must admit I already had plans for the nomuyoghurt (drinking yoghurt), before it arrived as I suspected it could work as a substitute for buttermilk in baking. I chose to use the nomuyoghurt in a soft gingerbread cake, a cake my family usually enjoy in the winter months.

Soft gingerbread cake

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
115grams margarine or butter
120 ml Daiwa farm nomuyoghurt
1 ¼ cups flour (substitute for rice flour to make this gluten free)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1.    Melt the butter and leave it to cool.
2.    Beat the sugar and eggs together.
3.    Add the Daiwa Farm nomuyoghurt, butter and spices and mix.
4.    Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and fold into the first mixture.
5.    Bake in a greased baking tin at 180C for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick put in it comes out clean.

I made extra to give to friends...

The Robidaiwa cheese, was similar in texture to brie, and I chose to serve it at room temperature with an olive and pine nut relish and a glass of cold white wine.



Olive and pine nut relish

½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
2 Tablespoons toasted pine nuts (or chopped larger nuts)
2 Tablespoons chopped raisins
2 Tablespoons chopped black olives
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or ¼ tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes so the flavours can mix.
Have Daiwa Farm Robidaiwa cheese at room temperature or slightly heated.
Top with the relish and garnish with oregano.
Serve with a glass of wine.

This was absolutely delicious, and it was no surprise to see that Daiwa Farm’s Robidaiwa cheese has won multiple awards at the All Japan Natural Cheese Contest. In fact, many of the cheeses  produced by Daiwa Farm have won awards in Japan.

Daiwa Farm is located in Kobayashi City, Miyazaki Prefecture, in the southern area of the island of Kyushu. Kobayashi City is famous for flowers among other things, and the website of the Kobayashi City Tourism Association shows beautiful fields of poppies in the spring and cosmos flowers in the autumn.

Next on the menu was the Daiwa Farm mozzarella. My first thought was to add it to a pizza. However, after seeing the lovely Kobayashi City flower festival photos, I wanted to make something more colourful. I chose to make shakshuka, a dish that combines tomatoes, spices and eggs in a frying pan. The ingredients were all easy to obtain and I used delicious fresh free-range eggs from Watanabe Farm in Tochigi.  Inspired by the Kobayashi flowers, I decorated this meal with edible nasturtiums from our small Tokyo garden.


Sadly we arrived at the final cheese, Tomadaiwa cheese.  This would be amazing as a raclette substitute as it melts smoothly without getting oily.  We made cheese toasties with it using a local bakery’s sourdough.

I will certainly order these cheeses and yoghurt again in the future, especially the Tomadaiwa in bulk for a raclette party. I run a small Airbnb in my home (IG: pippins_inn_airbnb) and am always looking for unique Japanese foods to share with our guests -- this set would be extremely popular as a welcome platter for guests.

Ushka Wakelin

This post is supported by Kobayashi City Promotion Company Inc., one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.