Have you ever heard of a 'Yukimuro'? A Yukimuro is a natural fridge cooled by the power of snow. It is an ancient wisdom of the snow country, where a large amount of snow accumulated during the winter is stored in large warehouses or pits, allowing food to be preserved throughout the year.

Snow chambers were widely used in snow country from the Meiji era to the 1950s, but have largely disappeared with the spread of electricity-powered refrigerators. However, the unique culture of the snow country, the use of natural energy and the features of snow chambers for keeping food fresh are now being re-evaluated. Echigo Yukimuro-ya is a brand that makes use of snow chambers, a valuable asset of snow country, to preserve and mature the abundant foodstuffs of snow country Niigata in snow chambers and deliver food products that are particular about their freshness and taste.

Echigo Snow Chamber Shop, which handles a variety of snow chamber products such as snow chamber coffee, snow chamber-aged meat and snow chamber-stored fish, is run by the Niigata Snow Country Brand Business Association, which was established in January 2012.The business association started with five companies and as of June 2016 had 26 participating companies and expanded to 80 products in 20 categories. It has attracted attention from within and outside the prefecture.

Why snow storage is 'delicious'

The main features of snow chambers are constant low temperatures and humidity. The temperature inside the snow chamber is constant throughout the year, whether it is midsummer at 35°C or midwinter at -8°C. Ordinary refrigerators have a wide range of temperatures and are not constant. Another feature of snow chambers is that they maintain a very high humidity of over 90% due to the water content of the melting snow. As a result, they do not get the same condition as 'vegetables that have become crispy in the fridge'.

In such an environment, stored and matured rice and vegetables become sweeter due to starch saccharification, while meat is matured to a higher quality with less dripping. In addition, the unpleasant odours (aldehydes) that occur during the maturation of alcoholic beverages and coffee are suppressed by the power of the snow, resulting in a mellowing effect.

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■ 'Echigo Yukimuroya's' commitment to 'deliciousness'.

Snow chambers can produce such "delicious" products, but the Echigo Snow Chamber Shop is even more ingenious in maintaining the quality of its products. Daisuke Sekimoto, Director General of Echigo Yukimuro-Ya, tells us the secret.

--How did the project get started?

Sekimoto: The origin of the Snow Chamber Shop project dates back to 2007, when the industrial community in Joetsu City started to consider the use of snow chambers. During the 4-5 years of development, other companies started to collaborate and in 2010 a brand study committee was set up. 2012 saw the start of the Niigata Snow Country Brand Business Association.

-It takes that long to develop a snow chamber product.

Sekimoto: Yes. Heaven's Cafe compared a huge number of combinations, including the length of time the coffee beans were stored in the snow chamber, the condition of the coffee beans and the container in which they were stored, to find the one that tasted the best. They did not just want to store the coffee in snow chambers, but were in pursuit of a genuine taste.

Currently, with an increasing number of items, we make our products in eight snow chambers in the prefecture, including in Azuka, Joetsu City, Ojiya City and Uonuma City. Each snow chamber has slight differences, such as different temperatures. Therefore, we select the most suitable snow chamber for each item and study the maturation period and method. We only sell products that we can say are 'truly delicious'. For this reason, we believe that it is inevitable that development takes time.

-What companies are involved in the union?

Sekimoto: Suzuki Coffee and meat supplier Uoshoku were involved from the start. From there, companies that can be regarded as 'food professionals' in various fields active in Niigata, such as rice, fish, soba, sake and miso, began to participate. However, not everyone who stores their products in snow chambers can use the name 'Echigo Yukimuroya', and only one company from each category can join. Before joining the cooperative, we examine the history and track record of the company and whether it is capable of producing correct and tasty foodstuffs. Only those that we can guarantee the quality of can call themselves the 'Echigo Yukimuroya' brand.

-Are there other things you do to protect the quality of your brand?

Sekimoto: Not only membership screening, but also commercialisation can only be done after a thorough check and screening by other members of the cooperative. As long as we are selling products under the same brand, it would be detrimental to each company if half-baked products are submitted. Only carefully selected products that have been approved for commercialisation by food specialists in various fields through tastings are put on the market. I believe that our efforts to protect quality have also been appreciated in part behind our winning of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award "Innovation Net Award 2015" and our being nominated for the "Tourism Agency's World Class Ultimate Souvenir Product".

--What are the future plans for Echigo-Snowmobile Shop?

Sekimoto: Currently, we deal with food products from within Niigata Prefecture, but we are also considering something like 'snow chamber study abroad', where products from outside the prefecture or from overseas are matured in a 'snow chamber'. For example, Niigata is Japan's largest consumer of grapefruit, and we have started to consider the possibility of storing grapefruit in snow chambers so that they can be marketed at times when we want them to be consumed outside of their season. In the future, we would also like to consider developing a complex of 'snow rooms + accommodation + restaurants', which could attract inbound tourism to the snow country.

-I am looking forward to more and more developments in the future. Thank you very much.

Started to be handled by 'Gozucho.net'!

The person who gave us the opportunity to conduct this interview was Gozucho Net, which delivers the specialities of Agano City, Niigata Prefecture, all over Japan. In a previous interview, we wrote: "A salesman who promotes his hometown, Agano City, nationwide! Kazushi Im ai, a young entrepreneur who plays a role in regional development ", has started to sell some of Echigo Yukimuroya's products on Gozucho Netto, with the aim of "delivering truly good Niigata products".

The quality ingredients of the snow country are slowly laid down in the 'Yukimuro Yukimuro' to make them even tastier and unique to the snow country. Why not try the premium Echigo Yukimuroya taste created by the natural fridge 'Yukimuro'?

Link to Gozucho.net SHOP