Momiji tempura, maple leaves salted for a year and fried in sweet batter, is made essentially only in Minoh, where legend credits the ascetic En no Gyōja. The 2.7 km Takimichi path from Hankyū Minoo station to Minoh Falls is lined with shops frying them.
Why it's unique
Fried maple leaves are only feasible here as a living trade: the snack is made essentially only in Minoh.
What you do is walk the waterfall path tasting across the shops, from the classic at the station to salted and flavoured versions further up.
Before you go
The leaves are a yellow-leafed cultivar (Ichigyōji maple), not red ones. Residents taste across shops: Hisakuni Kōsendō (since 1940, by the station) for the classic, others for salted or flavoured versions, and residents say prices drop the further up the path you go.
Hisakuni says it cannot keep up with production from October to December, so buy early in the day in autumn. Hisakuni is closed on Thursdays.
