An initiative to commercialize Ashitaba and Camellia Oil Sauce (provisional name) products

Since 2020, we have been working to develop Ashitaba and Camellia Oil Sauce (provisional name), a local specialty made on Toshima from ingredients grown on Toshima. Our goal is to begin selling it commercially during this fiscal year, and we are working in earnest to conduct research.

We originally planned to have a taste-testing session on Toshima in June, but this was cancelled due to concerns about growing infection rates. Instead, we began distributing sauce packets to every house on the island in July, and collected residents' views using a survey.

(Above: A graph summarizing the results of the residents' survey)

The results of this taste-test produced favorable opinions about the value of the sauce as a souvenir made from Toshima ingredients. These included "It would make a good souvenir", "I'm glad it was made using Toshima ingredients", "I could use this in many dishes" and others.

With regard to cooking methods, we suggested a number of recipes such as pasta sauce, or using it with chicken or white fish. However, the taste-testers also said they could use it with various other types of food. Some used it as a dipping sauce for vegetables or as a topping for Japanese deep-fried chicken, and expected it to work with many kinds of food.

Furthermore, in our follow-up meeting on October 19th, we arranged a taste-test of four different sauce varieties with adjustments made to the salt content and flavor, based on residents' opinions.

"I don't mind even if it's quite salty."
"One tastes good, and another has a strong ashitaba aroma, but I can't decide which I prefer."

By tasting the sauce on its own and in other ways like trying it on bread, we could see how the way the sauce is used affects the flavor, and there was lively discussion among the advisors.

In our survey of residents, we also solicited ideas for the product name. At the meeting, we used those suggestions as a basis to discuss packaging designs. Seeing design ideas in person based on suggested names enabled participants to give practical opinions on what they wanted.

Apart from the important matter of making the packaging attractive to consumers, there are also many requirements such as labelling the ingredients and expiry date. Once all these requirements are met, there are many points we must take into account to determine what packaging conveys the product's appeal best.

As well as deciding on the name and packaging and organizing procedures such as nutrition inspections, we will continue to work to create a product that everyone on the island can take pride in as a local souvenir.