Nissato Negi

　NISSATO GREEN ONION is a bent green onion that has been seeded and cultivated locally from the Edo period (1600 to 1868) in Nissato-machi, Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture. Compared with other common single green onions or bent green onions, it has a creamy tenderness and sweetness, and the green leaves are also delicious and less pungent even when eaten raw. Unlike ordinary single green onions of other production regions, the soft white part bends in an arc shape, while the parts of the leaf roots are narrow, and loosely overlapped. The leaves are soft, easy to break, and richly covered in a slippery substance (transparent slimy parts in the leaves).

　This production area is flatland due to a landslide of tuff rock, and has a black coarse soil of high viscosity mixed with pebbles. Due to the clayish quality that contains moisture and solidifies after drying, it was not possible to dig deeply with manual work using hoes, especially in the past. For that reason, in the second transplantation, the green onions were planted diagonally in shallow grooves. By gradually applying soil as the plant tries to stand vertically, the soft white part is bowed into an arc shape.

　NISSATO GREEN ONION is replanted twice, and after replanting, the outer leaves wither and new leaves grow from the inside. As a result, the new cellular tissue becomes soft. Hence, it is said that NISSATO GREEN ONION has more sweetness and softness due to the stress of "transplanting" and "bending".

　Topographically, sunshine hours are longer as there are few mountains on the south side, which is a favorable condition for winter growth. In addition, cold winter wind of the snow-covered Nikko Mountain range blow in the area, and the cold air at night increases the sweetness of the green onions.

　NISSATO GREEN ONION is traditional variety grown by traditional cultivation methods, and from the end of the Edo period, it has been seeded and harvested in the production region. Originally it was cultivated for private use, but after the war, the amount of cultivation increased for gifts as well as fruit and vegetable market shipments, so its taste became known beyond the region. Because it is traded at high prices at agricultural direct sales locations, the number of young producers is increasing, and the production volume of NISSATO GREEN ONION is also increasing.