The Day Discarded Whey Met the Peach | The Challenge of Yamanashi's KEIPE and Kiyosato Milk

The gelato "Nora Jealousy," jointly developed by KEIPE Inc. of Kofu, Yamanashi, and Kiyosato Milk Plant Co., Ltd. of Hokuto, launched on April 28, 2026. It pairs "whey," a byproduct produced in large volumes during cheese making, with off-grade Yamanashi-grown fruit that couldn't be shipped for its looks. It is sold year-round at the nouto factory outlet in front of Isawa-Onsen Station, priced at 450 yen for a single and 550 yen for a double (tax included). It is drawing attention as a case in which discarded materials gave rise to a new regional flagship product.

What Is "Nora Jealousy"—Starting with Two Flavors, Peach and Strawberry

The "Nora Jealousy" lineup has two types: peach-based"Momo Mo Moo"and strawberry-based"Ichi Chigo". The dairy base uses "whey" that inevitably arises when Kiyosato Milk Plant makes cheeses such as Gouda and mozzarella. In cheese making, about 90% of the raw milk is said to remain as whey, and though it is rich in nutrients, it has long been known as a material that takes effort and cost to process.

At launch in April, the peach flavor uses 100% Yamanashi-grown peach juice, with plans to switch to off-grade peaches once fresh fruit is available from July onward. The strawberry flavor uses off-grade Yamanashi-grown strawberries. Fruit that couldn't reach the fresh-eating market for being "misshapen" or "undersized" combines with whey's light, lactic tang to create new value.

Keisuke Isobe, sales-planning manager at Kiyosato Milk Plant, commented, "The gelato we developed through repeated prototyping is a finish we can proudly call delicious." Yumi Amemiya, general manager at KEIPE, also said, "Whey—nutrient-rich yet never fully used—is a treasure into which new value should be breathed."

The "Whey Problem" Behind It and the Shrinking of Japanese Dairy Farming

Whey is rich in protein and minerals, but it has a high concentration of organic matter, and releasing it directly into sewers degrades river water quality—so proper treatment has long been a challenge for cheese workshops at home and abroad. Overseas, use as feed, powder, liquor, and cosmetics materials has advanced, while in Japan small workshops make up the majority, and the barrier of capital investment means disposal or paid processing stands out.

Another backdrop is the rapid shrinking of dairy-farm management. According to MAFF livestock statistics, the number of dairy farms has kept falling from about 420,000 in 1963 and is nearing a level below 10,000 in recent years. As closures mount amid high feed costs and milk-price issues, the move to commercialize the "byproduct" of cheese making—which uses raw milk to the last drop—carries meaning as a way to support dairy farming's sustainability too.

The same structure applies to off-grade fruit. Yamanashi is a major producer of peaches, grapes, and strawberries, but at harvest time large volumes of off-grade goods arise daily, and it is not unusual for fruit to flow to disposal or cheap trade. In Agriture's experience facing Kyoto's producers in the dried-vegetable business, using off-grade goods is a difficult theme that works only when both a "pickup mechanism" and an "exit product" are in place.

Product Specs and Sales Terms

Similar Cases Using the Same Materials—A Nationwide Movement

Upcycling whey and off-grade fruit has spread nationwide in the past few years. On an Agriture reporting basis too, cases like the following can be confirmed.

• Kyoto—Milk Soap from Whey: A soap using whey discharged by a cheese workshop in Kyoto in place of water, commercialized to leverage its moisturizing components.
• Hokkaido—Turning Discarded Potatoes Into Ice Cream: Development of ice cream using off-grade potatoes on the order of 110,000 tons a year in the Kamikawa district. It drew attention as an attempt to absorb regional food loss through confectionery.
• Nagano—Cider and Dried Fruit from an Apple-Growing Region: A growing number of businesses divert apples that can't be shipped due to color or blemishes into sparkling drinks and dried snacks.
• Shizuoka—Upcycled Bottled Mandarins: A case selling whole off-grade mandarins bottled as a product you can eat skin and all.

This site follows related trends too. For example,The Effort to Convert 110,000 Tons of Off-Grade Asahikawa Potatoes Into Ice Creamas a powder ingredient, for ichimi, shichimi, and making original seasonings, seeDelta International's Marumaru Mikan Case of Bottling Off-Grade Mandarins、upvege's Powdering of Off-Grade Vegetables—all share with Nora Jealousy the pairing of a "pickup mechanism" and the "power to turn it into a product."

How to Go Buy "Nora Jealousy" at the nouto Factory Outlet

nouto, the sales base, is a factory-attached outlet that KEIPE grand-opened in May 2025. It handles gelato, dried sweet potato with a sugar content of about 60 degrees, patented no-added-sugar dried fruit, and fresh peaches and grapes (both regular and off-grade). The facility has a glass boundary between the factory and the sales floor, so you can shop while watching the production.

From May 2 to 6, a first-anniversary event is also planned. The announced details are as follows.

• Limited-quantity lucky bags
• Shopping vouchers for purchases of 5,000 yen or more
• An "all-you-can-pack" event for dried sweet potato and dried fruit
• "Momo Jaguchi," an experience of pouring peach juice from a faucet

Hands-on content includes self-serve plating at the "Maki-Maki Machine" and the "Rainbow Bagel Drizzle" topping over bagels—flows set up for families to enjoy. A three-minute walk from Isawa-Onsen Station also makes it easy for tourists to drop in.

Ripple Effects on the Food-Upcycling Industry

What makes Nora Jealousy interesting is that it does not stop at "gathering materials on the verge of disposal" but isa circular model completed within the region, spanning farmers, dairy, retail, and hands-on experiences. The cheese workshop effectively raises its yield by commercializing a byproduct; farmers get their off-grade goods—once destined only for disposal—taken at a fair price. Consumers can easily pick it up as "a limited-edition sweet you can buy at a familiar tourist spot" and feel a sense of taking part in cutting waste.

Seen from the food-OEM front too, pairing whey use with off-grade fruit has a structure that is easy to extend into derivative recipes—pastes, jellies, fermented drinks, confectionery materials. Rolling it out horizontally—gelato this time, then baked goods and lactic-acid drinks—makes it easier to grow the year-round base of material circulation, with a design that can also target demand as tourist souvenirs, furusato-nozei gifts, and private-brand products.

KEIPE started from an employment-support business for people with disabilities and now runs a wide range of operations, including a regional trading business and a food-and-beverage business. Whether a product-development front like this will function as a place that widens options for regional employment and ways of working is a theme we want to keep observing.

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Summary: When Byproducts and Off-Grade Goods Turn Into "Tourist Products"

"Nora Jealousy" is a case in which a local dairy and outlet teamed up to fashion two underused materials—whey and off-grade fruit—into a product that also reaches tourists. A byproduct of cheese making moves two separate challenges, dairy's decline and food loss, a little forward at once. Its significance lies in achieving not just "don't discard"—a phrase common in food-upcycling discussions—but"chosen because it's delicious". If you have the chance to stop by Isawa Onsen, do try each finish—peach and strawberry.

Source

• "New Gelato Made from Discarded Whey × Off-Grade Fruit Launches," KEIPE Inc. press release (PR TIMES, April 2026)https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000011.000086870.html
• "Turning Off-Grade Fruit Into a Treasure That Connects the Region. nouto Factory Outlet Grand Opens 5/2!" KEIPE official Yattemi-Lab https://keipe.co.jp/yattemilab/1300/
• Kiyosato Milk Plant official site https://www.kiyosato-milkplant.com
• "Gelato and Dried Sweet Potato Factory and Outlet in Front of Isawa-Onsen Station, Off-Grade and Regular Goods Too," Kofu Keizai Shimbun https://kofu.keizai.biz/headline/326
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "The State of Livestock and Dairy Farming (January 2025)" https://www.maff.go.jp/j/council/seisaku/tikusan/attach/pdf/250220-2.pdf