Protected local food
Imakane Danshaku Potatoes
今金男しゃく
Danshaku potatoes from Imakane in southern Hokkaido, where only this variety has been grown since 1953. White, starchy and fluffy, ranked among Japan's best.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 9 September 2019
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Official name in Japanese
- 今金男しゃく
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 北海道瀬棚郡今金町及び久遠郡せたな町
One variety since 1953
Danshaku is Japan's name for the Irish Cobbler, a classic floury potato. Since 1953, farmers in Imakane and Setana, in southwestern Hokkaido, have grown only Danshaku, and since 1967 seed potato farms have been kept separate to protect quality.
Fluffy and starchy
The potatoes are white and handsome, with a steady starch level of 13.5 percent or more, so they cook up fluffy and seem to melt on the tongue. Strict sorting standards make them top-ranked for both quality and taste in Japan's markets.
How to eat it
Steam or bake them whole and eat with butter, the Hokkaido way, called jaga-bata. They also make excellent mash and croquettes.
Good to know
- Imakane is a quiet farming town in southern Hokkaido, about two hours by car from Hakodate.
- Compare with Mishima Potato, a smooth May Queen. Top your potato with Tokachi Raclette.
Questions travellers ask
What is Danshaku?
The Japanese name of the Irish Cobbler potato, a fluffy, floury type. Danshaku means baron.
Where is Imakane?
A town in southwestern Hokkaido, inland from the Sea of Japan coast.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Coal, steel and port: Hokkaido's northern industrial revolution
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Otaru, the heart of Hokkaido: a merchant city saved by its people
- Sacred land of salmon: 10,000 years on the Nemuro Strait
- Takaoka: the castle town that became a merchant town
- The Kamikawa Ainu: living with the kamuy of Daisetsuzan
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.