Food and Drink in Hokkaido

Food & Drink

Seafood

Many tourists desire to eat seafood in Hokkaido. It is one of the reason to visit Hokkaido for some tourists. Please check when is the best season for the seafood you want to eat, and check the best area for it.

Main products
Crabs (horsehair crab/king crab/snow crab/Hanasaki crab) / salmon / scallop / codfish / prawn / sakhalin surf clam / sea urchin / abalone / herring / saury / Atka mackerel

Also there are many processed foods.

Where to eat crabs?

Product name	Japanese name	Best season	Area
Horsehair crab	Ke-gani	Apr-Aug / Nov-Dec
King crab	Taraba-gani	Sep-Jan
Snow crab	Zuwai-gani	Nov-Mar
Hanasaki crab	Hanasaki-gani	Aug-Oct	Nemuro
Salmon	Sake	Sep-Nov
Scallop	Hotate	Dec-Feb
Cod fish	Tara	Oct-Mar
sakhalin surf clam	Hokki-gai	Winter	Tomakomai / Kamiiso
sea urchin	Uni	May- Dec
Hokkai ebi (pwawn)	Hokkai shima ebi	July & August	Notsuke (Bekkai)
Herring	Nishin	Jan-Apr	Rumoi / Otaru
Atka mackerel	Hokke	Jul-Dec	Rebun / Rausu / Hidaka
Abalone	Awabi
Oyster	Kaki	Oct-Mar	Akkeshi

Those best seasons on the above depend on the weather of year.

Drink

Beer: Beer in Hokkaido is very famous in Japan. When it started to develop Hokkaido around 1869, the government at that time established a beer breweries in Sapporo, in 1876.
Also there are many local beers in Hokkaido today.
Whisky: Nikka Whisky
Wine: There are many wineries in Hokkaido. And the number of wineries is increasing. Especially winery in Furano, winery in Otaru, and winery in Ikeda are famous.
Sake: Good quality rice and water in Hokkaido, and cold weather in winter, those facts make good sake in Hokkaido. There are several breweries of sake in Hokkaido.
Milk: Hokkaido is known as the land of milk. You can see many herd of dairy cattle around Hokkaido. And you can drink fresh milk and you can eat good quality cheese & yoghurt or daily products during your trip. Don't forget to eat ice cream as well!

Meat

Beef: There are not only milk cows, but also beef cattle in Hokkaido. It is worth to eat beef in Hokkaido.
(Shiraoi Beef / Onuma Beef / Frano Beef / etc)
Mutton: We call grilled mutton "Jin-gisu-kan". It is one of the local foods in Hokkaido.
Chicken: "Bibai Yakitori" (Bibai is the name of town. Yakitori means a grilled chicken on a skewer.) "Bibai Yakitori" is that you can taste several parts of chicken with one skewer.

"Jin-gisu-kan"

Vegetables

Fresh vegetables and fruits in Hokkaido are also worth to eat! Melon in Hokkaido is famous as souvenir. New varieties of asparagus and corn(Indian corn) have emerged in market today. Please taste local vegetables and fruits in those best seasons.

Main products
Potato / Indean corn / Asparagus / Pumpkin / Onion / Lily bulb / Apple / Melon / Grape / etc

Ramen

Ramen (noodle soup) in Hokkaido is very famous. It is said that Ramen originated in Sapporo. At first, the Sapporo Ramen was sho-yu soup. However, the soup based with miso was developed by an advice from one guest, thus Sapporo Ramen is soup based with miso today.

Now there are many local ramens in Japan, also you can find some local ramens in Hokkaido as well.

Sapporo Ramen: Miso (fermented soybean paste) soup
Hakodate Ramen: Sio (salt) soup
Okhotsk Ramen: Salt soup with dried scallops
Asahikawa Ramen: Sho-yu (soy sauce) soup

Sweets

As the one of the main products in Hokkaido is milk, it makes butter, cheese and cream. Also wheat is grown with a big field in Hokkaido. Those products become ingredients of sweets products.