Rei Kojima– Author –
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農林水産省「ニッポンフードシフト」ローリングストックページに掲載されました
この度、農林水産省が推進する食育・食料安全保障の啓発プロジェクト「食から日本を考える。NIPPON FOOD SHIFT」のローリングストック特設ページに、株式会社Agritureが共同PRメンバーとして掲載されました。 ローリングストックとは ローリングストックと... -
What is the superfood moringa? Its nutritional features and how to choose and drink powder and tea
"Moringa," which has drawn attention lately alongside rising health consciousness. A plant of the horseradish-tree family native to India, it's also called the "miracle tree" and "tree of life" because almost all of its parts—leaves, seeds, roots—can be used. This tree, which grows in tropical and subtropical regions, has astonishing growth... -
The foods Gen Z chooses. An era when environmental consideration becomes brand strength
Hello, everyone. I’m Kojima of Agriture Inc. We work to transform unused resources—non-standard vegetables and surplus harvest—into new food raw materials through drying and powdering. Working daily to give new value to vegetables, across generations... -
Contributing to corporate branding! How to choose sustainable novelties
As companies work toward realizing a sustainable society, novelty goods too are increasingly required to reduce environmental impact and be sustainable. Among these, dried vegetables are sometimes used as a new kind of novelty that can contribute to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)... -
The relationship between non-standard vegetables and food loss | Solutions and case studies
“Non-standard vegetables” discarded without reaching the market for reasons such as appearance or size not meeting standards. Although they are still perfectly edible, many are discarded, making them a major cause of food loss. Today, putting such non-standard vegetables to use is drawing attention... -
Notable upcycle food brands | A sustainable choice
With about 40% of the food produced worldwide being discarded, “upcycle foods” are drawing attention as a new solution that turns that waste into value. This article explains the idea of upcycling—breathing new life into ingredients and byproducts destined for disposal—and the Kyoto-born dried vegetable brand “OY... -
The potential of new businesses using unused resources, and 5 secrets to success
Soaring resource prices, pressure for environmental consideration, the current toward sustainable management. What companies are now called on to have is a “use-it-all” mindset. Drawing attention is the use of “unused resources” overlooked until now—byproducts of discarded crops, ingredients dormant in regions, and what comes out during processing... -
A Guide to Selecting Superfood Raw Materials: Points to Master in Product Development
Alongside rising health consciousness, the functional food market is expanding rapidly. At its core are the nutrient-rich raw materials called "superfoods." A superfood is a food with excellent nutritional balance that contains many kinds of beneficial components, or one in which a particular beneficial component stands out... -
Moringa is called a "nutrient-rich tree" and draws attention as a superfood containing over 90 kinds of nutrients. But to make the most of that rich nutritional value, an appropriate processing method is essential. The powdering process starts from harvest. At a processing facility in Kagoshima Prefecture...
Dried goods are ingredients dried for long-term storage. By removing the moisture, they are characterized by concentrated umami and nutritional components. In Japanese food culture, dried goods have long held an important place. With their excellent shelf stability, the convenience of being usable easily anytime, and their distinctive flavor and texture... -
A Complete Guide to Using Moringa Powder: Effective Ways to Take It and Recipes
Moringa powder is a health food made by drying and powdering the leaves of moringa, called the "miracle tree." This plant native to India contains over 90 kinds of nutrients, with a good balance of the nutrients our bodies need—vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, amino acids, and more... -
Points for Moringa Product Development: A Winning Strategy for Planning, Manufacturing, and Sales
Alongside rising health consciousness, interest in superfoods is expanding rapidly. Among them, moringa—called a "nutrient-rich tree"—contains a wide range of nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and amino acids, and is drawing attention as functional foods, powder products, and green-juice-type... -
Complete guide to using mugwort powder | Recipes for kusa mochi, bread, and lattes, plus amounts and selection
Mugwort powder (yomogi powder), usable in kusa mochi, mugwort tea, and mugwort bread. Made by drying and powdering the leaves, mugwort powder’s appeal is that it can be mixed directly into dough or drinks without the trouble of rehydrating. Still, many people are unsure “how much to add” and “what uses there are”... -
What is behind the rising demand for mugwort? Market trends and the potential for use
Demand for mugwort is rising markedly. Why is this Japanese herb, long beloved in Japan, now drawing so much attention? Behind it lie rising health consciousness, a reappraisal of Japanese herbs, and the discovery of new uses in the beauty and food industries. Especially since 2024... -
What are the quality standards for domestic mugwort? Points to judge by growing region, cultivation, and processing
When it comes to mugwort quality, what do you think is the most important factor? Many people focus on the words “domestic” and “pesticide-free,” but in fact the biggest factor determining quality is “drying technology.” No matter how fine the mugwort you grow, if nutrition and aroma are lost in the drying process,... -
Why high-priced domestic dried fruit is scarce, and its potential in pet and confectionery development
Dried fruit, whose popularity is rising as a healthy snack and natural ingredient. However, most products distributed in the domestic market are overseas-grown and sugar-added. In fact, “domestic” and “sugar-free” dried fruit is still a limited presence. Why domestic... -
What is edible tea? The appeal of fruit tea, ideal for gifts and novelties
Also searched for as “dried fruit black tea,” “edible tea” is a group of products that pair dried fruit with teas such as black tea, rooibos, and herbal tea; you pour hot water to enjoy the aroma and taste, then eat the fruit itself at the end. Apple, mandarin orange, strawberry... -
A Thorough Comparison of Strawberry Drying Methods: The Characteristics and Uses of Freeze-Drying, Sun-Drying, and the Oven
Strawberries are fruit prized for their vivid color and sweet-tart flavor, but the drawback is that they don't keep. What draws attention there is the method of drying strawberries for long-term storage. Diverse drying technologies exist—freeze-drying, sun-drying, oven, dried-fruit maker—and each... -
Freeze-Dried Strawberry Slices | Confectionery Uses by Thickness
Freeze-dried strawberry (slice) is an ingredient made by cutting strawberries to a uniform thickness (2–5mm) and then freeze-drying them. Being thin and easy to top with, and with the cross-section pattern vividly retained, it's used for products that "show on the surface"—chocolate, granola, baked goods, latte art, premium cereal, and more... -
Freeze-Dried Strawberry Dice | Kneading Uses in Confectionery and Baking
Freeze-dried strawberry (dice) is an ingredient made by dicing strawberries into uniform sizes and then freeze-drying them. With uniform pieces easy to knead and mix into dough, it's the "put inside" type for ice cream, cookies, pound cake, granola, cereal bars, and more... -
Commercial Freeze-Dried Strawberry | How to Choose Shape and Growing Region
Freeze-dried strawberry is a commercial ingredient adopted in confectionery, baking, granola, chocolate, and gifts. Because it rapidly freezes 90%-water strawberries and then dries them by vacuum sublimation, it becomes lightweight and long-term-storable while retaining color, aroma, and shape. When choosing for commercial use, shape, raw material... -
Freeze-Drying Processing Costs | Price Ranges by Product and Lot
Freeze-drying processing cost ranges vary greatly by the material's moisture content, yield, lot scale, shape (whole / slice / dice / powder), and packaging specification. Finished-product types (miso soup, soup, zenzai) run 80–500 yen per serving, and material types (freeze-dried strawberry, fruit powder... -
Freeze-Drying Minimum Lots: Small-Lot Ordering and Choosing a Manufacturer
The first snag in placing an OEM order for freeze-drying processing is the minimum-lot wall. For fruits such as strawberry and mango, it's common to require an order of around 500kg of fresh raw material, which becomes a major hurdle for prototyping-stage small D2C and SME manufacturers. This article covers, for material... -
Freeze-Dried Material Ranking | Popularity and How to Choose by Use
Freeze-drying is a drying technology whose adoption is spreading in confectionery, beverages, nutritional foods, and instant foods. Unlike hot-air drying, it sublimates and removes only the moisture without heating, so the material's original color, aroma, and shape tend to remain—freeze-dried strawberry, miso soup, zenzai, and other "hot water or..." -
How to Use Fruit Powder | Substitution Design for Confectionery and Sweets
Fruit powder is an ingredient made by powdering fruits such as strawberry, mango, blueberry, apple, pear, yuzu, and banana. In confectionery, sweets, drinks, and nutritional foods, for formulations where fresh fruit or flesh is hard to use (dough or cream where you don't want to add moisture, products premised on heating or long-term storage... -
What is freeze-dried? A gentle explanation of the drying technology spreading to miso soup, vegetables, and strawberries
"Chocolate-coated strawberry sweets," often spotted while browsing online shops and souvenir stores. It's a popular product, including among inbound tourists, and freeze-drying technology is used in it. As a processing technology that achieves both shelf life and ease, it draws attention for both home and commercial use... -
What Are Dried Goods? The Secret of Their Nutritional Value and Uses in the Modern Diet
Agriture partners with farmers around the world, promoting fair trade and sustainable agriculture. Through high-quality agricultural products, we run a fair trade business connecting producers and consumers. -
Kyoto-style food development | Gift-oriented product development OEM using Kyoto vegetables
Gift food OEM using Kyoto ingredients is a field that lets you add the value of the “Kyoto brand” to products—value that product development in other regions cannot deliver. In addition to Kyoto vegetables such as Kujo green onion, Shogoin daikon, Kamo eggplant, and Manganji pepper, and up to the pickles, tsukudani, Kyoto sweets, and dashi that Kyoto’s food culture has nurtured, ingredients... -
Creating a regional brand with a Kyoto-vegetable OEM | The complete flow from planning to sales
Powder processing of Kyoto vegetables is one of the few options that lets you translate a regional brand into a product at the raw-material level. Kujo green onion, Manganji pepper, Shogoin daikon, Kyo-kurenai carrot, Mizuo yuzu—the heirloom vegetables Kyoto has long nurtured excel in every respect: color, aroma, and story. Food OEM... -
Kyoto ingredient processing OEM | How to make the most of Kyoto vegetables and quality control
The strength of requesting ingredient-processing OEM in Kyoto lies in access to Kyoto vegetables, heirloom vegetables, and Kyoto-grown ingredients, and in a quality-control system backed by the culture of long-established makers and artisans. By combining processing techniques such as drying, powdering, and extract extraction with Kyoto-grown ingredients, you get something beyond mere OEM manufacturing—a... -
Dried Kujo green onion powder | Usage ideas and how to choose it as a food OEM raw material
Dried Kujo Negi powder is a commercial raw material made by drying and finely powdering the Kyoto heirloom vegetable "Kujo negi." Compared with white negi types, it has a gentler aroma and stronger sweetness, with a vivid green retained all the way to the leaf tips—it is adopted in food OEM for topping instant noodles, furikake, and adding color and aroma to baked-good dough... -
How to Choose Commercial Kujo Negi: Comparing Fresh, Frozen, and Dried
Commercial Kujo negi distributes "Kujo negi," one of the traditional vegetables that represents Kyoto, in three types—fresh, frozen, and dried—as a raw material for ramen shops, food manufacturers, boxed-lunch factories, and the like to use stably. To make the most of its distinctive sweetness and aroma and deep green, the optimal form for each use... -
How to source commercial vegetable powder in small lots, and how to use it
Wanting to source commercial vegetable powder in small lots—this is a challenge common to a wide range of businesses: restaurants, food manufacturers, EC operators, confectionery workshops, and more. The unit-price benefit of bulk sourcing is appealing, but considering inventory risk, loss at the prototyping stage, and cash flow, “first, at a scale of about 5–50 kg... -
A Guide to All of Japan's Negi Varieties | The Difference Between Green Negi, White Negi, Kujo Negi, Shimonita Negi, and Wakegi, and Commercial Uses
The Types and Classification of Japan's Negi | Broadly Divided into 3 Lineages. Negi is a vegetable essential to the Japanese table, but its varieties are astonishingly diverse. From what's sold as "naga-negi" at supermarkets, to the Kyoto heirloom vegetable "Kujo negi," to Gunma Prefecture's "Shimonita negi," and even Western leeks... -
Heirloom vegetable OEM | A commercialization case guide using Kyoto vegetables and local ingredients
Right now, product development that makes use of “regional individuality” is drawing attention. Among these, foods using heirloom vegetables and Kyoto vegetables are strongly supported for the gift market and inbound-oriented products, thanks to their visual beauty and rarity. Especially now, with inbound tourists increasing, region... -
The nutritional value and benefits of vegetable powder? Shelf life and health effects thoroughly explained
野菜を毎日しっかり摂ることは大切と分かっていても、調理の手間や保存の難しさ、忙しい日々の中でつい後回しになりがちです。そんな現代人の食生活を支える新しい食材として、注目を集めているのが「野菜パウダー」です。野菜を粉末状にすることで、食物... -
What is vegetable paste? The difference from powder, dried vegetables, purée, and extract
野菜ペーストとは、新鮮な野菜を加熱・すり潰してペースト状（なめらかな半固形）に加工した食品素材です。水分を多く含むため口当たりがまろやかで、ソース・ベビーフード・スイーツ・ドレッシングなどに使われます。一方で、野菜パウダー・乾燥野菜・ピ... -
Solve picky eating too! 3 ideas for commercializing vegetable powder you can keep up every day
Getting plenty of vegetables every day is the foundation of health. But in reality, many people can't get enough vegetables for reasons such as "I'm too busy to spend time cooking," "my kids dislike vegetables and won't eat them," or "I just don't like the taste." Against that backdrop... -
The appeal of domestic yuzu | Features by growing region and points for choosing
冬の訪れとともに、日本の食卓を彩る香り高いゆず。 鍋料理のぽん酢、お吸い物の香りづけ、柚子茶として。その爽やかな香りと上品な酸味は、日本の食文化に深く根づいています。でも、スーパーで手に取るとき、こんな疑問を感じたことはありませんか？「ど... -
The success formula for yuzu product development | The process from planning to sales
Do you know the success story of Umaji Village in Kochi Prefecture? A small village with a population of fewer than 1,000 achieved annual sales of 3 billion yen with yuzu processed products. Overcoming the crisis of forestry's decline, it accomplished a miraculous revival through product development that made the most of local resources. Behind this success lay meticulous product planning... -
The global expansion of yuzu | Strategies for success in overseas markets
海外が注目する日本の香り「ゆず」。そんなゆずが世界で愛されているのはご存知でしょうか。 高知県や徳島県など四国地方を中心に栽培されてきたこの香酸柑橘は、今や「Yuzu」として国際的なブランドを確立しつつあります。和食ブームとともに海外での認知... -
The yuzu harvest season explained | How to tell green yuzu from yellow yuzu
ゆずの収穫時期を知る重要性をご存知でしょうか。 ゆずは日本を代表する香酸柑橘の一つで、その爽やかな香りと上品な酸味が料理に欠かせない存在です。 しかし、収穫時期を誤ると味や香りが大きく損なわれてしまうことをご存知でしょうか？実は、ゆずには... -
Yuzu’s nutritional value thoroughly analyzed | Health effects and efficient ways to consume it
冬の訪れとともに、私たちの食卓を彩るゆず。 その爽やかな香りと上品な酸味は、鍋料理のポン酢や柚子茶として親しまれていますが、実はゆずには驚くほど豊富な栄養素が含まれているのをご存知でしょうか。特に果皮には、果汁の4倍ものビタミンCが含まれて... -
FOOD Exhibition 2026
The FOOD Exhibition 2026 is one of Japan’s largest business trade shows for companies in the food and beverage industry. Food manufacturers, processors, beverage wholesalers and sellers, raw material and ingredient suppliers, and packaging and equipment service providers gather from across the country to present and do business around the latest trends, new products, and technical solutions... -
Mail-Order Food Exhibition & Business Meeting
The “Mail-Order Food Exhibition & Business Meeting” is Japan’s only exhibition and business meeting specialized in the mail-order and delivery food industry, bringing together food manufacturers from across the country with mail-order, EC, and buyers in one place. Held on October 29 (Wed) and 30 (Thu), 2025 at the Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan in Yurakucho, Tokyo, exhibiting companies focus on PB development,... -
Restaurant Industry Innovation Week Tokyo
Restaurant Industry Innovation Week is a trade show for solving challenges faced by restaurants, restaurant chains, and food manufacturers—such as labor shortages, operational efficiency, customer attraction, and food loss reduction—through cutting-edge technology and new services. It is organized by RX Japan Ltd. and held at Makuhari Messe... -
Food Factory Week
Food Factory Week is a trade show for solving challenges faced by food manufacturing and processing sites through the latest technology and solutions. It is held at Makuhari Messe from December 3 (Wed) to 5 (Fri), 2025. It centers on four themes: automation, labor-saving, and DX; hygiene and safety measures; food loss reduction; and improving the workplace environment... -
Drink Japan
Drink Japan is a trade show specialized in the development and manufacturing of beverages and liquid foods, now in its 10th edition. It runs from December 3 (Wed) to 5 (Fri), 2025 at Makuhari Messe. It brings together everything involved in beverage-making—raw materials and ingredients, packaging, filling and manufacturing machinery, brewing equipment, and inspection devices... -
International Food Logistics EXPO
The International Food Logistics EXPO is a specialized trade show focused on the import/export and domestic logistics of food. It is held at Makuhari Messe from December 3 (Wed) to 5 (Fri), 2025. It brings together every logistics solution involved in food distribution—packaging, cold storage, transport, inventory management, and import/export support services... -
"Japanese Food" Export EXPO
The “Japanese Food” Export EXPO is an international trade show where domestic food manufacturers exhibit to expand sales channels to overseas markets. It is held at Makuhari Messe from December 3 (Wed) to 5 (Fri), 2025. It covers a wide range of fields including agricultural, livestock, and marine products, beverages, seasonings, processed foods, and confectionery... -
JFEX Winter (7th International Food & Beverage Business Week)
JFEX Winter (7th International Food & Beverage Business Week) is an international business-matching trade show specialized in the food and beverage fields. It is held at Makuhari Messe from December 3 (Wed) to 5 (Fri), 2025. It comprises five specialized areas covering processed foods, wine and spirits, premium foods, fresh foods, and inbound-oriented foods...
