Seasonings of Hokkaido | 5 picks | Nihon Chomiryo Tabi

What sets Hokkaido's seasonings apart

Hokkaido's seasonings stand on three pillars: the dashi and the salt that came out of a cold climate and generous seas, and the sweet, punchy grilling sauces that came out of the settling of the island after the war. Long winters favored preserving and cooking with heat over fermenting, and the seasonings here grew up to match what the north produces: salmon, scallops, mutton.

What the sea gives shows up most clearly in Rausu and Soya. Rausu kombu, harvested on the eastern shore of Shiretoko, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, ranks with ma-kombu and Rishiri kombu as a top grade and is called the king of kombu. Its deep golden dashi has long been the choice of ryotei restaurants. Soya salt is made from the seawater of the Soya Strait at the northernmost point of Japan. It is rich in the minerals the drift ice carries down, and it is certified under the Wakkanai brand.

Even within Hokkaido, each area has its own face. Rausu in the east means kombu. Wakkanai in the north means salt. Sapporo in the center means Jingisukan, the mutton grill, typified by the Jingisukan Tare (成吉思汗たれ) that Bell Foods released in 1956. Ashibetsu, in the Sorachi area, means the shabu-shabu dipping sauce made by Sorachi, founded in 1951. Kikkoman Menmi (めんみ), released in 1964, is a soup base sold only in Hokkaido, and its five dashi, scallop among them, have held up kitchens across the island.

These are also the bottles people carry home from a trip, because they are hard to find anywhere else. For the makers and the products in detail, see the Hokkaido prefecture page.