Protected local food
Tokoro Pink Garlic
ところピンクにんにく
Pink-skinned garlic from Tokoro in Kitami, on Hokkaido's Okhotsk Sea coast. Harsh cold, wind and dry soil give it a bold flavour and a sharp bite when raw.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 31 March 2022
- Region
- Hokkaido
- Official name in Japanese
- ところピンクにんにく
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 北海道北見市常呂町
Pink and punchy
Tokoro pink garlic has a pink outer skin and a strong, true garlic aroma and flavour. Eaten raw it has a sharp, fiery bite. It is rated highly enough to be used as a raw material for medicines.
Tough conditions
Tokoro is part of Kitami city in Hokkaido, on the Sea of Okhotsk. In winter drift ice reaches the shore and temperatures drop hard. The wind is strong and the soil dry. That stress on the plants is what gives the garlic its strength.
Good to know
- Tokoro sits beside Lake Saroma, Hokkaido's largest lake, known for sunsets and scallops.
- Drift ice season on the Okhotsk coast is usually February to March.
Questions travellers ask
Why is it pink?
The outer skin of this garlic is naturally pink.
When is it harvested?
Garlic is harvested in summer and sold dried through the year.
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.