Making Memuro a Peanut Paradise! The Unstoppable Challenge of Young Farmers' Group 'MEMURO PEANUTS' [Memuro Town #4]｜Domingo

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Making Memuro a Peanut Paradise! The Unstoppable Challenge of Young Farmers' Group 'MEMURO PEANUTS' [Memuro Town #4]

2021.08.23

People

Gourmet

sweets・bread

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Memuro Town

This is the second installment of our special feature series, a month-long collaboration between Domingo and towns across Hokkaido. This time, we're focusing on Memuro Town!
Over four weeks, we'll be sharing how to enjoy the town and information on its special local products.

This week, the specialty product from Memuro Town we're introducing is the from MEMURO PEANUTS.

What is 'Memuro Peanut Butter'?

This peanut butter is made from peanuts grown in Memuro Town, Tokachi, Hokkaido.

Memuro Peanut Butter

The sole ingredient of 'Memuro Peanut Butter' is 100% Memuro-grown peanuts!
It contains absolutely no sugar, salt, or oils. This is a peanut butter that is 100% peanuts, with no preservatives, focusing on the quality of its ingredients. Grown in the rich earth of Tokachi, Hokkaido, the significant temperature differences between day and night create an exquisite sweetness that you can fully taste.

'Memuro Peanut Butter,' a New Specialty of Memuro Town

When people in Hokkaido hear "peanuts," the first thing that probably comes to mind is the bean-throwing for Setsubun.

Peanuts

When it comes to where they're grown, China is famous worldwide, and in Japan, it's Chiba Prefecture. But in fact, there's a group of farmers in Memuro Town, Hokkaido, who are working to make peanuts a major product of their town.
That group is 'MEMURO PEANUTS.' We spoke with their leader, Mr. Fujii!

Growing Peanuts in Tokachi, Memuro Town, Hokkaido

'MEMURO PEANUTS' was formed about five years ago.

"It originally started about 12 years ago, when the youth division in the Kamifushiko area launched an initiative to 'grow new crops!' and began cultivating peanuts. When I started farming, they were growing them on a home-garden scale as a youth division activity and selling boiled peanuts at the JA festival. It was so much fun to work on a new crop with people of my generation. It was four years ago in the spring that I said, 'I want to grow this in my own fields!'"

Mr. Fujii

In Chiba Prefecture, Japan's main production area, peanut production has been decreasing year by year due to the aging of farmers. Requests for Hokkaido to start producing them also gave Mr. Fujii and his group the push they needed.

Determined to seriously tackle peanut cultivation as a crop, four farming households formed a peanut production group. The group grew to seven households in the second year, nine in the third, and ten in the fourth. Now in its fifth year, 13 farming households are producing peanuts as "MEMURO PEANUTS."

MEMURO PEANUTS Members

However, as mentioned at the beginning, the main producers of peanuts are China globally and Chiba Prefecture in Japan. Tracing it back further, peanuts originate from South America. There's an image of them being a crop that grows well in warm places... so it's quite surprising that they can be grown in Hokkaido.

"In Hokkaido, with its cooler climate, we can't grow them to be as fine as in Chiba if we use the same methods. We've spent the last five years practicing and researching, and we've finally established a method to grow them successfully in the Tokachi soil."

Peanut field

Starting with about 80 ares (0.8 hectares) among four households, peanut cultivation has expanded tenfold in its fifth year, now covering a total area of 8 hectares across 13 households. Everyone is working together to make Memuro Town a major peanut production center.

Peanut field 2

This is Mr. Fujii's peanut field. The back part isn't visible due to the terrain, but it's an incredible 340 meters deep...
In addition to the four major field crops of Tokachi (wheat, sugar beet, potatoes, and beans), producing peanuts on this scale is a testament to the astounding scale of work and farming in Tokachi.

"Tokachi and Memuro Town are large-scale farming areas, and it's become possible to grow peanuts on such a large area even on my farm. To grow peanuts on this scale and make it a viable agricultural crop, I believe mechanization is absolutely essential. We've been working with agricultural machinery manufacturers to develop machines specifically for peanuts."

It was surprising to learn that they are not only importing machinery used for harvesting in China, where large-scale production is common, but also developing new machines. I was deeply moved by their dedication to this unprecedented challenge of large-scale peanut production in Hokkaido, tackling it through trial and error with continuous practice and research.

Mr. Fujii and Mr. Tsuchiya

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


MEMURO PEANUTS also shares updates on YouTube! Don't forget to subscribe to their channel!

How Can You Enjoy Memuro-Grown Peanuts?

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

By the way, Mr. Fujii's recommendation is the boiled peanuts.

In town, some restaurants (Yakiniku Suzuki, Restaurant Hiro, Izakaya Kinari) serve boiled peanuts. Roasted peanuts are sold at the Farmers Market Aisaiya, and next door at Aisuya, you can enjoy peanut-flavored gelato.

Peanut Gelato

As we introduced in the Domingo editorial article "Memuro Town: A Place to Enjoy Food and the Outdoors Amidst Scenery Created by Farms, the Hidaka Mountains, and Blue Skies," starting from July 15th, you can also enjoy "Memu-P Soft Serve," a soft-serve ice cream made with 100% Tokachi ingredients, at the Farmers' Base on the 1st floor of the National Lodge in Memuro Shin-Arashiyama Sky Park.

Memu-P Soft Serve

Image courtesy of Memuro Town Facebook

How to Eat Memuro-Grown Peanuts?

The ingredient for the "Peanut Butter" in our current giveaway campaign is 100% Memuro-grown peanuts! The harvested peanuts are shelled, roasted, and then ground into a smooth paste.
With no added sugar or syrup, this peanut butter made from 100% Memuro-grown peanuts fills your mouth with the rich sweetness and fragrant aroma of peanuts.

Memuro Peanut Butter

From production to processing, this is a luxurious product made with great care and dedication.
The Domingo editorial team actually bought and tasted this peanut butter, and its richness, the sweetness of the peanuts, and its versatility completely changed our image of "peanut butter" as something you just spread on bread.

It can be used in a wide range of ways, from sweets to savory dishes: drizzled over ice cream or yogurt, mixed into cookie dough, used as a sauce for Bang Bang Chicken, a dressing for salads, or in Dan Dan noodles. It was a truly delicious peanut butter with a fragrant and gentle sweetness.

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