A plow pushes snow into a modern yukimuro storage facility at a sake brewery in Nagaoka, Niigata. All photos by author.
Snow vegetables are pulled from a yukimuro mound. The lettuce, cabbage, carrots and daikon radishes are sweetened by the process and stored without using energy making them as ecological as they are delicious.
Snow vegetables are pulled from a yukimuro mound. The lettuce, cabbage, carrots and daikon radishes are sweetened by the process and stored without using energy making them as ecological as they are delicious.
Sho Suzuki shows off a snow carrot which was grown under the snow and stored in the yuki muro. It's sweeter and has an aroma that kids are said to prefer to regular carrots.
Togarashi chili peppers are scattered on freshly fallen snow to be 'bleached' before the fermentation process begins.
Kuniaki Tojo, third-generation owner of Kanzuri, the original kanzuri producer in Japan.
A young worker scatters Togarashi chili peppers near the Kanzuri factory in Myoko-shi, Niigata prefecture.
A worker stands in front of covered Togarashi chili peppers. Bamboo is used to mark the location of the rows after heavy snowfall for easier location.
A traditional boiled meal of salmon, konnyaku (yam cake), snow carrots, pork (usually wild boar), and foraged mushrooms.
Sho Suzuki's appetizer: Snow vegetables served on a bed of snow ice with a miso infused mayonnaise.