Wednesday, April 26, 2023
On Tuesday, April 25th from 2:30pm, the Hokuryu Town New Product Tasting Event, organized (planned and run) by Hokuryu Town Regional Revitalization Cooperation Team members Nobuyuki Murakami and Yui Sasaki, was held at Restaurant Kazaguruma in Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen.
New product tasting event (Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen)
Many Hokuryu town residents participated
Approximately 22 people participated, including representatives of Akarui Nouhou, Hokuryu Town Sunflower Tourism Association, Hokuryu Town Revitalization Volunteer Group Ryutopia, Hokuryu Town Council Members, Kurosengoku Business Cooperative, JA Kitasorachi Hokuryu Branch, and four members of the Connecting Community Development Research Institute (Representative: Akiko Ichii, Okayama Prefecture), a general incorporated association that visited Hokuryu Town yesterday.
Tasting Survey
Each participant was given a questionnaire to fill out and write their impressions of the tasting.
Sample products made with Hokuryu Town specialties
- Sunflower Zangi (Nakasatsunai chicken and sunflower seeds)
- Kurosengoku Hamburger Steak (Ground Beef, 40% Kurosengoku Meat)
- Kurosengoku Kinako Ramen (hot noodles, soy sauce flavor)
- Kurosengoku Kinako Udon (Cold Tsukemen, Contains 7% Kurosengoku Kinako)
- Rice ice cream (with Oborozuki) 2 types
- Several bakery items (white bean bread, pumpkin bread)
Tasting session
Pumpkin bread
White bean bread
Rice ice cream (made with Oborozuki rice)
Kurosengoku Hamburger
Sunflower Zangi
Kurosengoku Ramen
Kurosengoku Udon
A talk by Nobuyuki Murakami, a local revitalization volunteer from Hokuryu Town
"This new product was created as a return gift for hometown tax donations, and we have attempted to commercialize it using local specialties.
This was developed through connections made through my previous activities. I previously developed and sold rice ice cream at the Akaigawa Roadside Station in Akaigawa Village.
We have prepared two types of rice ice cream this time. We used Oborozuki rice and mixed in whey powder while cooking it to create a fragrant ice cream. For the milk ice cream, we increased the sugar content a little to make it sweeter. It is produced by the Satsuraku Agricultural Cooperative in Sapporo.
The Himawari Zangi is made with local chicken from Nakasatsunai village, mixed with sunflower seeds in a batter and deep-fried until crispy.
Kurosengoku hamburger steak is made with ground beef and 40% Kurosengoku soy meat.
Kurosengoku Kinako Ramen is a warm soy sauce flavored noodle dish.
Kurosengoku Kinako Udon is a cold tsukemen (dipping noodle) made with 7% Kurosengoku Kinako. Because it is a dried noodle, it is made to this thickness so that it can be cooked for a short time. It has a tsukemen udon appearance that is similar to both soba and udon.
If the proportion of Kurosengoku kinako is too high, the noodles will break easily, so after much trial and error and refinement, we finally settled on 7%. This is a product that was extremely difficult to develop.
Further development is planned for the future with the aim of holding the Sunflower Festival. Sales are planned to take place at the "Akarui Shoten (Akarui Farming NPO)" within the Sunflower Tourist Center, as well as at the shop within Sunflower Park Hokuryu Onsen, and at Hokuryu Town Agricultural and Livestock Direct Sales Store Minoritch Hokuryu. The seller will be Hokuryu Promotion Corporation, and the NPO Akarui Farming NPO will purchase and sell the products.
"We will continue to work hard to develop a variety of products in the future so that we can raise awareness of Hokuryu Town and spread it further," said Murakami Nobuyuki with great confidence.
All participants took their time to taste each product and wrote down their thoughts.
The new products are scheduled to go on sale at this year's 37th Hokuryu Sunflower Festival (July 22nd - August 20th), which I'm really looking forward to.
Other photos
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◇ Interview and text: Ikuko Terauchi (Photography and editing assistance: Noboru Terauchi)
