Heirloom vegetables– category –

"Mibuna," a Kyoto heirloom vegetable also familiar in Kyoto pickles. Among them, mibuna cultivated in Hiyoshi Town—the designated production area for Kyo-mibuna—is a gem reputed to be aromatic, with a tangy heat like a herb. Drying softens the faintly bitter flavor, with the heat elevating the umami for a refined...

"Shogoin daikon," a Kyoto heirloom vegetable born in the Shogoin area of Kyoto in the late Edo period. Its perfectly round, moisture-rich, soft flesh is resistant to falling apart when simmered and faintly sweet. Drying removes the moisture, producing a springy, bouncy texture and a refined richness and umami within the sweetness...

Dried Shimonita negi product overview. Shimonita negi grown at our partner farms in Gunma Prefecture, using mainly the white part, is slowly low-temperature-dried. Leveraging the thick, meaty texture, it finishes with a melting sweetness that spreads with each bite and a distinctive rich aroma. Rehydrated, its plump texture...

Dried shima rakkyo product overview. This is dried shima rakkyo made from shima rakkyo, an Okinawan heirloom shima-yasai (island vegetable), concentrating its characteristic pungency and crisp texture. Low-temperature drying firmly preserves its distinctive aroma and pungency, and when rehydrated it offers a texture close to fresh. It keeps for a long time, and as a medicinal...

Product Overview of Dried Kaga Lotus Root. Kaga lotus root is a specialty of the Kaga region of Ishikawa Prefecture, a high-quality lotus root prized for its stickiness and sweetness. Especially by drying it, a fluffy texture and rich sweetness concentrate, giving dishes a deep richness. The stickiness is firmly felt even after rehydration, for simmered dishes, dressed dishes...

Product Overview of Dried Shikuwasa Shikuwasa is a citrus specialty of Okinawa, prized for its refreshing acidity and pleasant bitterness. Especially by drying it, the aroma and acidity concentrate, so you can enjoy that flavor even after long-term storage. Because it's sliced and dried with the peel, the fruit's um...

Kyoto, boasting over a thousand years of history, has a diverse array of "traditional preserved foods" born from rich seasons and the wisdom of daily life. In an age without refrigeration, the sun-dried vegetables, pickles, and fermented foods devised to make the most of seasonal ingredients without waste still support the Kyoto table today. This article covers...

Kyoto vegetables, which color Kyoto's food culture. Do you dismiss the reason their prices are on the higher side as simply "because it's Kyoto"? In fact, behind Kyoto vegetables' high cost lie a long history and tradition, a unique growing environment, and producers' ceaseless efforts. This article covers why Kyoto vegetables are high...

―Capturing Summer's Life, Coolly, in a Single Dish― A column penned by chef Tamotsu Yoneyama, who runs "Potsura Potsura" and "Utsura Utsura" in Shinsen, Tokyo, earning Michelin Bib Gourmand at both restaurants. How to build summer Kyoto vegetables into a course—that thinking and commitment...

Kyoto vegetables include quite a few names whose readings are hard to guess at first, such as "Shishigatani kabocha" and "mibuna." This article compiles the readings of representative Kyoto vegetables in a list with furigana, and briefly introduces the characteristics of each. The definition of Kyoto vegetables...

―No Salt or Oil Needed—What the Ingredient Teaches Us― A column penned by chef Tamotsu Yoneyama, who runs "Potsura Potsura" and "Utsura Utsura" in Shinsen, Tokyo, earning Michelin Bib Gourmand at both restaurants. When facing a Kyoto vegetable, the "subtraction" a chef should choose...

The gentle ring of "Kyoto vegetables" is everyday life for Kyoto people, and for those living outside Kyoto it's an object of longing, evoking a certain nostalgia. Tied to seasonal events and dishes, they have nurtured a distinctive food culture. Today, with advances in agricultural technology, more can be enjoyed year-round...

A column penned by chef Tamotsu Yoneyama, who runs "Potsura Potsura" and "Utsura Utsura" in Shinsen, Tokyo, earning Michelin Bib Gourmand at both restaurants. Through Manganji togarashi, he speaks of the shifting of "season" and the depth of Kyoto vegetables. The Manganji that changes between early summer and high summer...

Mibuna is one of Kyoto's traditional Kyoto vegetables, prized for its long, slender leaves and soft texture. It looks similar to mizuna, but its leaves have no serrations and are rounded. Its moderate, crisp heat and delicate flavor shine in a wide range of dishes—pickles, ohitashi, stir-fries, and more...

Each vegetable has its "season," and tasting it in that period lets you enjoy its character best. Kyoto's heirloom vegetables, the "Kyoto vegetables," also include some that come into season in summer, coloring the summer table with juiciness and robust flavor. Here, Manganji togarashi, Kamo eggplant, Fushimi togarashi...

Kamo eggplant (kamonasu), also called the "queen of eggplant," is a summer Kyoto vegetable that represents Kyoto. Prized for its round, hefty shape exceeding 10cm in diameter and its densely packed, thick flesh, it has been cultivated centered on the Kamigamo area of Kita Ward, Kyoto City. Dengaku, agedashi, eggplant steak, and...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Product Overview of Dried Manganji Togarashi. "Manganji togarashi," a Kyoto vegetable originating in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture, is a sweet chili prized for its thick-fleshed, large size and refreshing aroma. Even when dried, the flesh's thickness and hearty bite remain as-is, with a fresh aroma like a green chili and a clean flavor standing out...

Product Overview of Dried Kamo Eggplant. "Kamo eggplant," a traditional vegetable cultivated in the Kamigamo district of Kyoto for over 300 years. Its flesh is fine-grained and firm yet soft, with the property of resisting falling apart when simmered. Drying makes the flesh's firmness even stronger, with a refined aroma and sweetness standing out...

Our work with Sakura Renkon. Sakura Renkon (Sakura City, Chiba) is an agricultural corporation specializing in growing and selling lotus root. After working in Tokyo, representative Yuma Matsumoto took up farming, and after training, regenerated an abandoned black-soil paddy field. Using only organic fertilizer and no chemical fertilizer, the soil...

A project toward establishing radish as a regional specialty. This is a project started as a means of regional revitalization, initiated by Mr. Nomura, who grows radishes in the Kyotamba area of Kyoto. Agriture CEO Kojima supported the web system construction and the back end including SNS...

About the Nara Prefecture Miwa Somen Industrial Cooperative. The Nara Prefecture Miwa Somen Industrial Cooperative is an organization that keeps protecting the hand-stretched method handed down over generations in the Miwa area, said to be Japan’s oldest somen-producing region. About 80 producers are currently affiliated, making Miwa somen with a commitment to fineness, firmness, and smooth throat feel...

In an era of advancing mass production and mass consumption, there is a growing movement to find value in "authentic taste" and "local character." Drawing attention within this trend is the branding of heirloom vegetables—varieties rooted in the land. Not mere naming, but everything from history and culture to cultivation methods and market development...

Across Japan there are many "heirloom vegetables" nurtured within the climate, land, and culture unique to each place. Rooted in the region over long years, deeply tied to the lives and palates of local people, these vegetables are not mere ingredients but a presence that harbors the region's stories and memories...

沖縄の伝統野菜「島カボチャ」。沖縄では「ナンクヮー」や「チンクヮー」とも呼ばれ、琉球料理の食材として受け継がれてきました。この記事では、島カボチャの特徴や歴史、味わい、食べ方、乾燥野菜としての活用法まで整理します。 島カボチャとは 島カボ...

The Tohoku region, with its dramatic seasonal changes, retains many locally distinctive heirloom vegetables. Landrace varieties rooted in the climate and terroir are food materials and, at the same time, a resource that carries the region's cultivation techniques and food culture to the present. On the other hand, with diversifying diets and a shortage of successors, cultivation is declining...

「伝統野菜」とは、特定の地域で古くから栽培されてきた在来種・固定種の野菜の総称です。全国のスーパーには似通った品種が並ぶ一方で、各地には地域固有の呼称や形をもつ野菜が残されています。この記事では、伝統野菜の定義、歴史、各地の代表品目、味...

So beloved that people say "shima rakkyo has a lot of fans," it is a popular vegetable rooted in Okinawa's food culture. Different from ordinary rakkyo in variety, size, and flavor, its sharp pungency and distinctive aroma bring dishes to life. In Okinawa, salt-pickling, tempura, and champuru are the standard ways to eat it...

日本の最南端に位置し、独自の食文化で知られる沖縄県。その食文化を支える柱の一つが、「島野菜」と呼ばれる伝統野菜です。沖縄独自の亜熱帯気候で育まれ、個性豊かな島野菜について、定義や28品目の一覧、代表的な種類の特徴、味わい、乾燥野菜としての...

"Shimonita negi," grown around Shimonita Town in Kanra District, Gunma Prefecture, is known as a Gunma specialty, characterized by its distinctive shape and sweetness. This heirloom vegetable, nicknamed "lord's negi," comes into season in winter and is also popular as a year-end gift. This article covers the features of Shimonita negi...

"Kaga vegetables," the traditional vegetables handed down in Ishikawa Prefecture since the Edo period. Among them, "Kaga lotus root" has an especially long history and has been beloved by locals for many years. This article covers the characteristics, history, nutritional value, and recommended ways to eat Kaga lotus root, plus dried vegetables and...

Ishikawa Prefecture, known for the Kaga domain of a million koku. In this region, where traditional culture remains strong, there are traditional vegetables called "Kaga vegetables." Nurtured by the local climate and land, many with a history since the Edo period, Kaga vegetables are brand vegetables certified by the Kanazawa City Agricultural Products Brand Association. This article...

In Kansai, centered on Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara, there are many traditional vegetables handed down since long ago. Each has its own appeal rooted in that land's climate and culture, and they're still beloved on the table and at market. This article covers the characteristics and representative varieties of Kyoto vegetables, Naniwa vegetables, and Yamato vegetables...

You may have heard the phrase "Kyoto vegetables" at least once. Nurtured through a long history in the ancient capital of Kyoto and developed alongside Kyoto's rich land and culture, Kyoto vegetables are packed with an appeal not found in other vegetables. This article covers the difference between Kyoto heirloom vegetables and brand vegetables...

Kyushu and Okinawa are home to many distinctive heirloom vegetables rooted in the character of each place. From striking looks and deep flavor to the history handed down behind them, each vegetable is packed with regional pride. This article introduces the heirloom vegetables passed down across the eight prefectures of Kyushu and Okinawa...

In the streets of Tokyo where high-rises stand, rich farmland once spread, and vegetables of each season were grown locally. "Edo Tokyo vegetables"—such as komatsuna, Takinogawa gobo, and Naito togarashi, whose names still remain—are urban traditional vegetables handed down since the Edo period. But the city...

Across Japan there are many heirloom vegetables with distinctive names. Unique vegetables whose very names make you smile. This time, we introduce in detail the interesting names of such heirloom vegetables and their origins. Heirloom vegetables are those grown in that land since long ago...

A column penned by chef Tamotsu Yoneyama, who runs "Potsura Potsura" and "Utsura Utsura" in Shinsen, Tokyo, earning Michelin Bib Gourmand at both restaurants. We share what he feels about the power of ingredients and producers' aspirations as he faces Kyoto vegetables in the daily kitchen. The customer's expression a single dish creates...

When cooking, what always comes to mind is "how to listen to the ingredient's voice." Above all, I think the relationship between Kyoto vegetables and dashi is a presence that answers that question head-on. A Kyoto vegetable has flavor that stands out even simply boiled. But by adding dashi, that individuality...

As a chef, the time spent thinking "what drink shall I pair with this dish" is actually very enjoyable. As much as finishing the dish itself, what sways the customer's expression is "pairing." What cup to match with a dish centered on Kyoto vegetables. That moment...

What always comes at the end of cooking is the step of "plating." After cutting, applying heat, and adjusting the flavor, the moment of setting the dish on the vessel. Here, the dish's impression changes greatly. It doesn't change the flavor itself. But the color, texture, and shape a vessel holds, when they meet a vegetable...

Cooking is something you taste by putting it in your mouth. So it tends to be thought, but in reality it begins much earlier. The green aroma that rises when you put in the knife, the sweet scent that drifts the moment it's put over the flame. That aroma reaching the nose is, for a chef, the first signal, and for the eater...

Kintoki carrot (kintoki ninjin) is one of Japan's traditional varieties, cultivated in the Kansai region including Kyoto. Its greatest feature is a vivid red color distinct from ordinary orange Western carrots, an ingredient often used at celebratory occasions such as osechi and New Year's simmered dishes...

"Kujo negi" is a green negi that represents Kyoto, certified as a Kyoto heirloom vegetable with about 1,300 years of history. It's an ingredient essential to Kyoto cuisine—Kyo-udon, Kyoto hot pot, and as a garnish—prized for the sliminess of its leaf flesh, the sweetness that increases in winter, and its rich aroma. This article covers Kujo negi's position as a Kyoto vegetable...

Shishigatani kabocha (shishigatani kabocha) is one of Kyoto's traditional vegetables, with a history of being brought to Kyoto from present-day Aomori Prefecture in the Edo period. A Japanese kabocha prized for its distinctive gourd-like shape and gentle sweetness, its delicate flavor distinct from ordinary Western kabocha...