Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
Yoshioka Tetsugama Shichimi (吉岡食品 鉄釜七味)
The story behind it
Most of the chili pepper that goes into shichimi is imported. Otawara City in Tochigi Prefecture is where the domestic crop has been kept alive.
In the early Showa era, Yoshioka Genshiro took on large-scale chili cultivation across the wide land of Nasunogahara. In 1955 a variety selected from the Yatsufusa line was born: Tochigi Santaka. Around 1963, annual production reached roughly 7,000 tons, and some of it was exported.
Production later collapsed, but a harvest of 4 tons in 2014 recovered to 26 tons by 2019, and Otawara City now declares itself Japan's top chili pepper producer.
Yoshioka Shokuhin Kogyo is a company in Otawara that works specifically with chili pepper. This shichimi roasts Tochigi Santaka in an iron kettle and blends only ingredients grown in Japan.
How to use it
Use it on udon, soba or kenchin-jiru. Also on yakitori and yudofu. The roasted aroma is the point, so sprinkle it after taking the pot off the heat to keep it.