Posted by We rounded up a list of some of our favorite gluten-free items from Japan that almost anyone would enjoy. Many of these items have been our favorites and we’d like to recommend them to anyone looking to buy a gluten-free friend/family/self a gift for the holidays. Also, with the pandemic putting a damper on most of our plans, we can at least sit at home and enjoy some of our favorite gluten-free goodies that we wouldn’t normally get every day.
1. Do you want some of the best gluten-free baked goods around? Do you also want them to be like their Japanese gluten-filled counterparts you drool over every time you walk past a bakery? Then Biossa bakery has exactly what you’re looking for.
Biossa is now selling two Christmas items online including a gluten-free stollen. I personally recommend their keema curry mini pizza, soy cream bread, and fondant au chocolat muffins. You can order individual items or bread sets, all frozen and ready to reheat. Shipping on orders over 8,000yen is free.
2. One of the biggest gluten-free no brainers of all is sake. If you buy junmai or premium/pure sake, it should be gluten-free. I prefer the “karakuchi” or more dry types.
My current favorite sake is Yamakawamitsuo and is actually a collaboration between 4 sake breweries in Yamagata. They release a bottle together each season with a new illustrated label and mini story to go along with it. Their Winter 2020 brew may be hard to find, but based on the taste, I’m sure any from their breweries would be delicious. I want to also link to Kamoshikaya which is a sake shop based in Yamagata. When I ordered from them over the summer they included a handwritten thank you letter. That little gesture made me want to promote them even more.
3. I know, more booze. But I hope we can all enjoy a relaxing, or lively, glass of these. Because we’ve definitely all deserved it this year. Sassy Cider is actually not Japanese, but a French cider brand that recently appeared in Japan.
What makes this cider different than others? It’s one of the few I have found in Japan that isn’t sweet. The classic “Cidre” and “Cidre Rosé” are both very dry in comparison to the canned ciders I’ve found around Japan. If you’re interested in other ciders, there are often a few choices at Seijo Ishii throughout Japan. Also, Incider Japan sells a rotating list of ciders on their site.
Sassy Cidre Japanese distributor site
4. When’s the last time you ate churros? Then when’s the last time you ate gluten-free matcha churros?
Danny’s Churros out of Fukuoka sells frozen churros sets online. You do still have to fry the frozen dough in oil and coat them in the provided flavoring powders, but what else are you going to do over the holidays? We hope to try them sometime soon. If you have, let us know in the comments!
5. Another obvious but maybe not so obvious choice is the gift of meat. (Our vegetarian and vegan friends can skip this!) I have definitely given family members meat as a gift when I wasn’t sure what they needed or wanted, but still knew they’d love it.
The Meat Guy is an online meat and produce shop out of Nagoya Japan. They specialize in meats not easily found in Japan including roasts, steaks and exotic meats like kangaroo. Raw meat itself is clearly gluten-free and they also told us the starch in their original sausages is potato based. *Sauces and imported processed meats cannot be considered gluten-free.*
Order in English here.
How are YOU going to enjoy the holidays?
Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these or if you have any suggestions of your own!
Gluten-Free Guide Japan 
I’ve had Danny’s Churros fresh in Fukuoka and they are quite tasty.
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Great to know! Thanks for sharing!
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