This is the second installment of Domingo's month-long collaboration with a Hokkaido town, this time focusing on the town of Memuro!
For the second installment of this month-long collaboration project, Domingo will be in MEMURO Town, Hokkaido, for four weeks, providing you with information on how to enjoy the town and its specialties.

This time, we introduce Memuro Peanuts' "Memuro Peanut Butter" as one of the specialties of Memuro Town.

What is Memuro Peanut Butter?

It is a peanut butter made from peanuts produced in Tokachi Meimuro Town, Hokkaido.

Memuro Peanut Butter" is made from 100% peanuts grown in the town of Memuro!
This peanut butter contains no sugar, salt, or oil, and is made from 100% peanuts with no preservatives. The peanuts are grown in the rich soil of Tokachi, Hokkaido, and the difference in temperature between day and night gives it an exquisite sweetness.

Memuro Peanut Butter, a new specialty product of the town of Memuro

When people in Hokkaido think of peanuts, the first thing that comes to mind is "Setsubun no Mame-maki" (bean-throwing ceremony).

The peanut is famous all over the world, especially in China, and in Japan, in Chiba Prefecture. In fact, this peanut is produced by a group of farmers in Memuro-cho, Hokkaido, who are trying to "make it a major product of the town! There is a group of farmers in Memuro-cho, Hokkaido, who are trying to make peanuts a major product of the town.
The group is called "Memuro Peanuts. We interviewed Mr. Fujii, the leader of the group!

Peanut production in Meimuro Town, Tokachi, Hokkaido

Memuro Peanuts" was born about five years ago.

Originally, about 12 years ago, the youth club in the Kamifushiko area started growing peanuts as an initiative to "grow a new crop! The youth club in the Kamifuko area started growing peanuts as an initiative to "grow a new crop! When I first started as a farmer, we grew peanuts as a youth club on the scale of a home garden and sold boiled peanuts at a JA festival. It was four years ago in the spring that I said to myself, "I want to grow this on my farm! I said, 'I want to grow this on my farm!

In Chiba Prefecture, Japan's main peanut-producing region, peanut production is declining year by year due to the aging of the population, and Fujii and his colleagues were encouraged by an offer to grow peanuts in Hokkaido.

They formed a peanut production group with four farmers, seven in the second year, nine in the third year, ten in the fourth year, and now in the fifth year, 13 farmers are engaged in peanut production as "MEMURO PEANUTS.

However, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, China is the world's main peanut producer, while Chiba Prefecture is the main peanut producer in Japan. Furthermore, the origin of peanuts can be traced back to South America. Although it has the image of being a crop that grows easily in warm places, we are first surprised to learn that it can be grown in Hokkaido (......).

In Hokkaido, where temperatures are cooler, peanuts do not grow as well as they do in Chiba and other prefectures, even if grown in the same way. After five years of practice and research, we have finally established a method that allows us to grow them well here in Tokachi."

This year, the fifth year of the project, 13 households are growing peanuts on a total area of 8 ha (hectares), which is about 10 times the size of the previous year's production. Everyone is working together to make the town a major peanut production area.

This is Mr. Fujii's peanut field. Due to the topography, the back part of the field is not shown in the picture, but it is 340 meters deep. ......
The scale of farmers' work in Tokachi is astonishing, as they produce peanuts on this scale in addition to the four field crops in Tokachi (wheat, sugar beets, potatoes, and beans).

The farmers in Tokachi-Bumuro-cho are large-scale field farmers, and it has become possible to produce peanuts on such a large scale in our fields. We believe that mechanization is absolutely essential to produce peanuts on such a large scale and to farm peanuts as an agricultural crop. We have been working with an agricultural machinery manufacturer to develop machinery for peanuts."

I was first surprised to learn that they are working not only on how to grow peanuts, but also on how to develop efficient and large-scale machinery, such as importing machinery used for harvesting in China, where large-scale production is being done, and developing new machinery. I was also struck by the way they are taking on the challenge of large-scale peanut production, which has no precedent in Hokkaido, through a process of trial and error based on practice and research.

MEMURO PEANUTS leader Mr. Fujii and member Mr. Tsuchiya. They are about to shoot a YouTube video together!

MEMUEO PEANUTS is also on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe to our channel!

How can you enjoy peanuts produced in Memuro Town?

MEMURO PEANUTS" peanuts can be enjoyed in various ways, such as boiled peanuts, roasted peanuts, sweets, ice cream, and peanut butter.

Mr. Fujii recommends boiled peanuts.

In the town, there are restaurants (Yakiniku Suzuki, Restaurant Hiro, Izakaya Kinari) that offer boiled peanuts on their menus, roasted peanuts are sold at Farmer's Market Aisuya, and gelato made from peanuts can be enjoyed at Aisuya next to Aisuya.

As mentioned in the Domingo editorial article, "Brimuro Town, a town where you can enjoy food and outdoor activities in the scenery created by agriculture, the Hidaka Mountains, and the blue sky," from July 15, Hame Muro Shinarashiyama Sky Park will be offering 100% Tokachi-made soft serve ice cream at the Farmers Base on the first floor of the National Lodging House. As mentioned in the previous article, from July 15, at the Farmers Base on the first floor of the National Guest House in the Hamuro New Arashiyama Sky Park, you can enjoy "Memupi Soft," a soft serve ice cream made from 100% Tokachi rice.

Image courtesy of Facebook

How are peanuts produced in Brimuro Town eaten?

The prize of this present campaign, "Peanut Butter," is made from 100% peanuts produced in the town of Brimuro! Harvested peanuts are shelled and roasted. It is made into a paste until smooth.
No sugar or syrup is used, and the rich sweetness and savory aroma of peanuts spreads in your mouth, making this peanut butter made from 100% peanuts from the town of Brumuro.

From production to processing, this is a luxurious product that requires a great deal of care and attention.
The Domingo editorial staff also purchased and tasted this peanut butter, and the richness, sweetness of the peanuts, and variety of uses overturned the image of "peanut butter," which until now had been limited to spreading on bread.

It was a truly delicious peanut butter with a savory and gentle sweetness that could be used in a wide variety of ways from sweets to cooking, such as drizzled over ice cream or yogurt, mixed into cookie dough, as a sauce for stick chicken, salad dressing, and homemade noodles.