In Nagasaki, there is a hot spring resort that is said to have the highest “hot spring calorific value” in Japan, which is calculated by multiplying the amount of hot spring water gushing out by the temperature of the hot spring water. On the west side of the Shimabara Peninsula is Kohama Onsen, a hot spring where steamy water billows out from every corner of the town. We visited Tatehiro Kimura of “Unzen Ecolo Salt,” who continues to make salt using an environmentally friendly method that makes use of the energy of the land.

About the Shimabara Peninsula where Kohama Onsen is located

The Shimabara Peninsula, located in the southern part of Nagasaki Prefecture, is rich in natural beauty and is known as the “Nagasaki Prefecture Shimabara Peninsula UNESCO World Geopark,” centering on the active volcano “Unzen Volcano”. The peninsula has a large underground magma reservoir that has sometimes caused major disasters, but has also provided geothermal heat and hot springs to the people living on the peninsula. The peninsula is also known as “Unzen Hot Spring Resort” because the hot spring resorts of Shimabara, Unzen, and Obama are located across the peninsula from east to west, and many more are scattered along the north and south sides of the peninsula.

Obama Hot Spring Features

Kohama Onsen, located on the west side of Unzen Hot Spring Resort, is a scenic hot spring resort overlooking Tachibana Bay where the sunset is beautiful. The town is dotted with about 30 hot spring sources, so one can see the steam rising from them here and there. The temperature of the hot spring is extremely high, around 105 degrees Celsius, and the “hot spring calorific value,” which is calculated by multiplying the amount of hot spring water gushing out by the temperature of the water, is the highest in Japan. The area has so much geothermal energy that a power generation project is underway.

History of Obama Hot Springs and Salt Making

Kohama Onsen, which boasts an unparalleled amount of hot spring heat, has a history of flourishing in the salt manufacturing industry. Taking advantage of the location of the high-temperature hot springs near the coast, the salt manufacturing industry began in earnest in 1941. The salt manufacturing method is the hot water boiling method, in which pumped up hot spring water is evaporated by the heat of the source. The salt imports were drastically reduced due to the World War II, and the local salt supply had to be secured as soon as possible. During the postwar period, when supplies were scarce, salt production in the area accounted for 2% of the nation’s salt production. However, the salt production method required large quantities of hot spring water, and by 1955, the salt sources were nearly depleted. However, the salt production method, which required large quantities of hot spring water, was affected by the depletion of the source in 1955. Furthermore, natural disasters and cheap salt imports from overseas gradually made it unprofitable, and in 1965, salt production at Obama Onsen completely ceased.

Tatehiro Kimura, who revived salt production at Kohama Onsen

The history of the salt manufacturing industry in Kohama Onsen was completely cut off. However, after about 50 years, someone has single-handedly restarted salt production in Kohama, using an environmentally friendly method. He is Tatehiro Kimura of Unzen Ecolo Salt.

Mr. Kimura originally ran a sushi restaurant in Nagasaki City and was a skilled sushi chef himself. He is very particular about the taste of his food and wants his customers to enjoy delicious dishes. I used to make salt in my own way,” he said. The customers were always impressed with the taste of the soup,” he said! I was very impressed with the taste. Witnessing the importance of salt in cooking, I was inspired to think that one day I would like to make ‘really delicious salt’ in my hometown,” he says.

Mr. Kimura’s passion for salt production grew day by day. It was at the age of 60 that he decided to close his sushi restaurant and enter the world of salt manufacturing. I learned how salt is made using hot spring heat from a former employee of a salt factory in Obama, and I visited salt makers all over the country. Through trial and error, I arrived at my current method. In 2011, Kimura’s salt production finally began in earnest when he was granted permission to operate a salt manufacturing business at the source managed by the city.

Visit Unzen Ecolo Salt Co.

When we visited Unzen Ecolo Salt, located along the coast not far from the center of Obama Onsen Town, we found Mr. Kimura quietly working alone in a factory filled with the heat of the hot spring water. Hot water was pouring out of a drilling machine beside the factory, where a cloud of steam was rising, through a channel. The temperature of the spring water is 105 degrees Celsius, but this water is exposed to the air, so it’s probably 92.3 degrees Celsius,” said Kimura. There is a large magma pool at the bottom of Tachibana Bay. The reason the hot water at Obama Onsen is so hot is because it is so close to this magma pool, ” he says, pointing to the calm Tachibana Bay stretching out before him.

Making Unzen Ecolo Salt

The factory has a pool filled with hot spring water, in which several containers the size of a tatami mat are floated. In these containers, hot spring water and seawater pumped up from the seafloor of Tachibana Bay are added, and the salt is concentrated by slowly boiling the water in the pool. The salt concentration is about 0.2% hot spring water and 3% seawater. The blend is said to produce a mellowness that cannot be expressed by seawater alone. When the salt crystals harden, they are roughly scraped off with a special wooden spatula. Licking the salt at this point leaves a pungent taste on the tongue due to the nigari component, but drying the salt in the sun in a shed next to the factory rounds out the flavor and gives it a silky texture. Obama’s salt, which is made by slowly and carefully concentrating nature’s bounty, has gained a reputation by word of mouth and is now receiving orders from famous restaurants nationwide, including hotel restaurants, steak houses, sushi restaurants, and boulangeries.

The lack of sudden temperature changes produces salt as smooth as snow.

The size and texture of the crystals change depending on how the fire is set.

Environmentally friendly salt production

Most of the salt currently available in Japan is produced using a salt manufacturing method that requires a large amount of fuel, and is feared to be environmentally destructive due to its high CO2 emissions. Unzen Ecolo Salt, on the other hand, efficiently utilizes the heat from hot springs to produce environmentally friendly salt. The hot spring water used at Unzen Ecolo Salt is water that used to be discarded into the sea without being used. In Obama, 15,000 tons of hot spring water gushes out in one day. But in fact, about 35% of it is discharged into the ocean unused. This is a real waste. I thought there was no way to avoid using it to make salt,” says Kimura. Currently, “Unzen Ecolo Salt” produces about 1 ton of salt per year, and the utility cost is only 6,000 yen. The salt is produced by gradually evaporating brine from a high-temperature spring, which requires almost no fuel. It is truly an environmentally friendly method of salt production that does not waste nature’s bounty.

Product Usage and Characteristics

From the transportation of the underground seawater pumped up by drilling to the inspection and bagging of the products, Mr. Kimura does everything by hand to make “Unzen Ecolo Salt” salt. The salt comes in a variety of forms, from a fine powder that melts like snow to grains and liquid salt that leaves a nice texture on the tongue, but the most popular are “Kohama Onsen Salt Jewel” and “Seasoning Liquid Salt.

Obama Onsen Salt Jewel

A mild salt with minerals dissolved in the hot spring water and a delicious flavor. It is a well-balanced blend of hot spring water and seawater pumped up from the seabed of Tachibana Bay, with slightly coarse crystals. The crystals are slightly coarse and gently enhance the original flavor of the ingredients.

Seasoning liquid salt

Liquid salt blended with hot spring water and seawater with a salt content of approximately 20%. Soak sashimi in this salt and refrigerate for half a day to two days to tighten the flesh and enhance the flavor. It can be used for grilled fish, yakitori, baking, etc. It is also recommended for making onigiri (rice balls),” says Kimura. This product is the result of his experience as a former sushi chef.

Mr. Kimura’s passion for salt production

A survey revealed that the salt produced by Mr. Kimura contains a good balance of minerals that are ideal for the human body. Salt is like air to humans. We take it for granted, so the quality is important,” says Kimura. The taste of salt changes slightly depending on the weather and temperature, and like a living creature, salt shows different expressions every day. Kimura intends to devote the rest of his life to the charm and potential of salt.

When asked about his future plans after 10 years of salt production, he replied, ” There is romance in salt production. I will just continue to silently make salt with the belief that the salt I make is the best salt available,” he said. The reason why Unzen Ecolo Salt is favored by food professionals is not only because of the condensed taste of the blessings of the sea and the mountains, but also because of Kimura’s earnest passion.

The post Mild salt produced in the hot spring area with the highest calorific value in Japan, slowly condensing the blessings of nature / Unzen City, Nagasaki Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

At the northern tip of Niigata Prefecture, near the border with Yamagata Prefecture, there is a scenic spot called Sasagawa Nagare (Sasagawa Stream). The beautiful 11-km-long rocky coastline, named after the central village, has caves and rocks of unusual shapes in the shallows near the shore. It is also a place rich in nature, where rock oysters, turban shells, and many fish live. Mr. Hisashi Kobayashi of the ” Sasakawaryu Salt Studio ” uses the clear seawater of the Sasakawaryu Stream to make salt.

Careful salt making at “Sasakawaregawa-nagare,” utilizing the know-how of the time

There are two main methods of salt production. One is to find rock salt in the soil, and the other is to extract salt from the sea or lakes by boiling it. In Japan, rock salt is not available and there are no salty lakes, so salt has long been produced using water from the sea, but salt production by pumping up seawater was very labor intensive and unproductive. However, salt production was not very productive due to the labor-intensive process of salt production. Around 1971, a new process was introduced to produce salt by electrolyzing seawater to extract sodium ions from the water and boiling it to produce a dense brine of at least 99.5%, which enabled a more efficient and stable supply of salt. In 1997, the monopoly system for salt in Japan, which had existed for more than 90 years, was abolished in response to the diverse needs of consumers for salt. This was the opportunity for Mr. Kobayashi to take up the challenge of salt production at his workshop, which is located right next to the Sea of Japan. Just before retiring from the construction company where he had worked for many years, he saw a TV program introducing people making salt and thought, “That sounds interesting. I thought, “This could be something I could do. Originally, salt was made from seawater in the area around Sasakawagare until before World War II. Although salt production in the area ceased when the monopoly system was introduced, the know-how from that time still remained.

Although he started salt production with a light heart, thinking that he could do it himself, it was more difficult than he had imagined to make salt from seawater. In addition to the fact that seawater has a salt concentration of only 3%, it is difficult to produce salt from seawater by evaporating it in the sun all year round in Japan, where there is much rain and humidity. The only way to produce salt is to boil it down to extract the salt crystals, and only 18 kg can be obtained from 1,000 liters of seawater. Even so, Mr. Kobayashi insists on using a careful manufacturing method to produce a high-quality product. The Sasakawaryu River is naturally clear, but Mr. Kobayashi chooses particularly clear days to pump up the seawater. He then waits for sand and shells to settle in a tank, and filters the supernatant through a sarashi before pouring it into a salt cauldron. The temperature of the steam kettle is over 100 degrees Celsius. Wood is always kept burning, and the seawater is boiled down while carefully removing the lye. When the water is boiled down, it is transferred to the left and right kettles and boiled down again. Finally, the calcium sulfate, which is the source of the faint bitterness, is carefully removed. The resulting highly pure salt crystals are then poured into a conical device called a “bract,” which was made in the manner of the “warazuto” used in the past to wrap and transport food, and the bittern is removed. The process takes about 15 hours. This is the traditional way of making salt, using only natural ingredients.

What are the characteristics of “Sasagawa-nagare-no-salt”?

Compared to refined salt, the salt handmade from 100% seawater over a fire lit by firewood is rich in minerals and has no harshness or roughness, and the far-infrared rays from the firewood also help to produce a mild saltiness. The size of the crystals is another feature. Mr. Kobayashi produces four types of salt: Umi no Isoshio (salt from the Sasagawa Stream), Shio no Hana (flower of salt), Sasa no Shizuku, and Tamamoshio (seaweed salt). Umi no Isoshio” is a representative product of the workshop, made by carefully boiling down the seawater of the Sasagawa Stream over a long period of time in exactly the way described above. It has a mild taste with no bitterness and is just right for everyday use, and it goes well with any dish. Salt Flower is made by collecting salt crystals at a low temperature of about 60°C (140°F) for one day and night, and each grain is very large. The salt is used not only for seasoning, but also for toppings, and its texture and flavor accentuate your taste buds. Sasa-no Shizuku,” which is made by combining the powder of locally harvested Kumazasa bamboo, is characterized by its bright green color and fresh aroma, and is expected to have health and beauty benefits. We recommend topping vanilla ice cream and other sweet foods with it to enjoy the color. Especially popular is tamamo salt, which is made by boiling down the extract of hondawara (seaweed) with seawater. Rich in seaweed flavor and iodine, it enhances the taste of the ingredients. It goes well with onigiri (rice balls) and tempura, but a pinch added to soup will give it a flavor as if dashi had been added. Kobayashi is proud of the salt he carefully and painstakingly produces.

There is a terrace at the back of the salt factory and a cafeteria, Salt & Cafe, right next door. It is a popular stop for tourists visiting the area. In addition to coffee and drinks, visitors can enjoy “salt musubi (rice ball) sets” and “salt ice cream” made with salt from the Sasakawaryu River. The shop is only open from April to November, except during the rough winter months, but visitors can enjoy the panoramic view of the vast Sea of Japan and the natural seawater salt produced by Mr. Kobayashi.

Since ancient times, mankind has been making natural salt as a form of wisdom to survive. It will continue to be carefully passed down through the hands of artisans who love salt as much as Mr. Kobayashi does.

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The post Sasagawa Nagare no Salt” (salt from the Sasagawa Stream), made by boiling down the beautiful ocean water in a scenic spot using traditional methods / Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.