Protected local food
Nishi Warabi
西わらび
Thick, long bracken fern from Nishiwaga in the snowy Ou Mountains of Iwate. Boiled, it turns silky soft, with rich umami and almost no bitterness.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 29 January 2024
- Region
- Tohoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 西わらび
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 岩手県和賀郡西和賀町
A mountain vegetable
Warabi, or bracken fern, is one of Japan's favourite sansai, wild mountain vegetables picked in spring. Nishi warabi is thick and long. Boiled, it has a soft, almost melting texture, rich umami and very little bitterness or stringiness, so it sells for more than bracken from elsewhere.
Bracken from the west
It is native to Nishiwaga town in the Ou Mountains on the western edge of Iwate. Merchants called the distinctive bracken from this western town nishi warabi, west bracken, and the name stuck. In hard times it helped people survive famines, and the town still treats it as a treasure.
Root to sweet
Its rootstock is used too, as the starch for warabi-mochi, the jiggly sweet usually dusted with roasted soy flour.
Good to know
- Nishiwaga is deep snow country with hot springs such as Yuda Onsen, on the JR Kitakami Line.
- Bracken must be soaked to remove bitterness before eating. Buy it ready-boiled (mizuni) if you want to cook it yourself.
Questions travellers ask
When is it in season?
Late spring to early summer, when the young shoots come up after the snow melts.
Can you eat raw bracken?
No. It must be treated and boiled first. Ready-boiled bracken is safe to use.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.