The Power of Collaboration! The Power of Collaboration] Students of Mihara Municipal Daini Junior High School Experience Making Furikake (sprinkled asparagus) from Mihara's Asparagus! Pioneering the Future of Primary Industry through Cooperation with Local Businesses

373.farm, which grows asparagus in Sagishima, Mihara City, will collaborate with Mihara Municipal Daini Junior High School to hold a delivery class on "Making Asparagus 373 Original Furikake" as part of their comprehensive learning program on July 10 (Thursday), 2012. This is a unique project that brings together the local community and education, where students are exposed to the local primary industry and challenged to develop products using out-of-spec vegetables.

Trajectory of Connecting Local Food and Learning: Students' Challenge

This project began when the students were originally scheduled to experience asparagus harvesting at 373.farm, but the event was canceled due to an approaching typhoon. Therefore, 373.farm staff members went to Daini Junior High School and asked the students to develop products using out-of-spec asparagus. The students came up with a variety of ideas, which were voted on by each class.
As a result, we first realized the "cream stew" that received the most votes in the cooking class.

Click here for details of past activities:

• Visiting Mihara City Daini Junior High School
• Aspara 373" at Mihara City Daini Junior High School's cooking class

The story behind the birth of "Asparagus Furikake" created through collaboration with Mishima Shokuhin Co.

The students' strong desire to give shape to their product development ideas led to their next focus,
a company in Hiroshima, Japan.Mishima Shokuhin Co.In collaboration withAsparagus FurikakeIt was.
When we approached Mishima Foods with a "no-brainer," they readily agreed. However, many challenges stood in the way of drying asparagus. Mishima Shokuhin's laboratory went through numerous trials and errors on how to dry asparagus to maintain its sweetness and beautiful green color, including temperature, cutting method, and storage method.

With the original drying method, the asparagus turned brown, did not look good, and the drying time was too long. Therefore, to shorten the drying time, we tried again with asparagus that had been cut into small pieces and pickled in salt. We were able to dry the asparagus, but a new problem emerged: the large number of white parts made it difficult to produce the original bright green color of the asparagus.

At the final meeting, based on our experience, we froze salted asparagus and made thin, green parts with a lot of greenThe drying process was decided to use asparagus of the "Yukari®". In parallel with this, the size of the label design and the details of the experiment using Yukari® were finalized. In this way, after overcoming difficulties, we finally reached a point where we could make furikake (sprinkled asparagus), and this led to the realization of this delivery class!

Visiting lectures on "Nutrition Education" and "Science

This delivery class also included a nutrition education lesson using Mishima Shokuhin's "Yukari®," which connects science knowledge with local ingredients, such as learning about color changes in food depending on pH.Cross-cutting learningWe will provide the following services.

Students were also challenged to make their own furikake using asparagus processed into furikake,Raising awareness of leftover food and attachment to the local communityWe aim to nurture the

Local agriculture and the food industry are working together, and through this initiative, we aim to make this a delivery class that will motivate students to learn and gain new insights.

Outline of Delivery Lesson

◾️ Title:. Nutrition education class using the color change of "Yukari®" and making Aspara 373 original furikake (sprinkles)
◾️Purpose/Content:.　

• • Experience what you have learned in science with familiar foods
  • Use "Yukari®" to know how Yukari® changes with pH of food.
  • Attachment to local ingredients and making original furikake

◾️ Location: Each classroom and home economics room at Mihara Municipal Daini Junior High School
◾️ Subject: 3rd grade, 3 classes, total 113 students
◾️ Date/Time:. Thursday, July 10, 2025

About the interview

For inquiries about interviews regarding this matter, please contact the following

info@373.farm
TEL: 0848-63-5584 (Office hours: 9:00-17:00 weekdays)
(Accepted by M-Sec Inc.)

Some symbols in the product name "Yukari®" may not be displayed correctly in mobile environments such as smartphones. In such cases, please note that the product name "Yukari®" is displayed as "Yukari ◻︎".

This initiative will be a valuable opportunity for local children to look at their hometown and learn about the fascinating aspects of primary industry and manufacturing. We hope that your media will feature this project and spread the word about this community-based educational activity and the potential of the children who will be responsible for the future.