10 Must-Buy Souvenirs from Aomori Prefecture

Kininaru Ringo (864 JPY (incl. tax)) is a must-have food souvenir that has even been presented on TV. It's a lavish apple pie made with a whole Fuji apple from Aomori that is soaked in syrup for a month and then enveloped in pie sheet. Usually, apple pies are quite sweet and the apple inside is very moist, but Kininaru Ringo conserves the sweet and tart flavor of the raw apple along with its crisp texture, offering you a brand new mouthfeel. The taste and volume are definitely satisfying! Since you can store it at room temperature, it is perfect for a souvenir.

Momokawa Nigori Junmai Torouma (720 ml 1,058 (incl. tax)) is a Japanese sake made with rice produced in Aomori and water from the Oirase River. As a sake from the junmai-shu category, Torouma doesn’t make use of any distilled alcohol, it only uses rice, water and koji mold to create a rice-scented and thick textured sake. Compared to other junmai-shu, this sake is relatively cheap, so it is perfect to buy as a souvenir. Torouma is only available from mid-September to around early April (while supplies last), so don’t miss your chance!

Stamina Minamoto Tare (410g 483 JPY (incl. tax)) is a multi-use condiment that goes perfectly with yakiniku (Japanese style BBQ) and vegetable dishes. This multi-purpose sauce is a mixture of apples, onions, garlic, ginger, and many other raw vegetables, with soy sauce made only using soybeans and wheat locally produced in Aomori. Stamina Minamoto Tare can be used in barbecues and stir-fried vegetable dishes, seafood, such as grilled saury and squid, not to mention as a seasoning for fried chicken. For the company’s 50th year anniversary, they released the Stamina Minamoto Tare Premium (410g 540 JPY (incl. tax)) with 30% more apple to improve the sauce’s sweetness and richness!

“Senbei-jiru” is a kind of soup made with rice crackers that has even taken the gold medal in the food festival B-1 Grand Prix (a festival to decide who has the best local food among all prefectures in Japan). Senbei-jiru is a traditional food from Hachinohe City and consists of a broth made of beef or fish, vegetables, and mushrooms where specially made crackers of flour and salt called Nambu Senbei are added. These crackers are made for hotpots and other types of soups so they don’t melt apart and maintain a nice texture. Hachinoheya Senbei-jiru (432 JPY (incl. tax)), a set of 3 packs of soup and 10 crackers perfect for a hotpot for 3 or 4 people, is a great souvenir that allows you to easily recreate the flavors from Hachinohe in your home!t

Nambu Senbei is a kind of cracker particularly loved by the people of Hachinohe City. It’s quite a simple snack consisting of thinly grilled discs of dough made of flour, water, and salt. Nambu Senbei comes in many flavors: you have the classic “Shiro-senbei” (white senbei), “Goma-senbei” (sesame senbei) with an addictive bitter taste, the slightly sweet “Mame-senbei” with embedded peanuts, and more. You can add it to a hotpot, make a senbei sandwich with freshly made rice and red beans called “Okowa-senbei (or Kobirikko),” you can try a “senbei tempura,” or perhaps a “senbei pizza”, people eat Nambu Senbei in so many different ways.

Tsugaru Vidro was born from a traditional handmade glassware workshop. This workshop used to make transparent colorless glass floats for fishing, but one day one of the artisans happened to mix some sand found in the beautiful beach of Shichiri-nagahama to the glass mixture and ended up creating a deep green colored glass. Currently, the artisans use their skillful techniques to try and recreate the colors of the four seasons in their creations. A perfect souvenir would be the colorful chopstick rest set (set with 5 units 3,780 JPY (incl. tax)) or the sake glass and wooden square cup set Oborozukiyo (3,780 JPY (incl. tax)), which will certainly make you crave for some Japanese sake.

Tsugaru lacquer is the only traditional lacquerware from the northernmost part of Japan. The trademark pattern seen in Tsugaru lacquerware is achieved by applying multiple coats of lacquer. Around 50 applications are carried during two months or more of careful work to finish the lacquerware. Some techniques, such as “Kara-nuri” used to create complex spot patterns, and “Nanako-nuri” for rape seeds pattern, have been employed without any changes for more than 300 years. Tsugaru lacquerware is a piece of art created by craftsmanship, and is the sole product in Aomori Prefecture designated as a Traditional Crafts by the Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry. A small dish or chopsticks would make a beautiful souvenir!t