By NAONORI NAKAMURA/ Staff Writer
January 31, 2022 at 06:30 JST
A worker pulls up an ice block from a frozen pond in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, on Jan. 6. (Naonori Nakamura)
NIKKO, Tochigi Prefecture--For a little bit of extra sparkle, long-established ice manufacturer Shogetsu Himuro is preparing to ship naturally frozen ice nationwide from February.
Slowly frozen from mountain spring water, natural ice is finely formed and tastes clean. It is particularly popular among fans of shaved ice as well as whiskey and shochu drinkers who like their poison served “on the rocks.”
Shogetsu Himuro, which has operated in the Yamakubo district here since 1894, began drawing the spring water to form ice ponds on Dec. 22. The ponds cover an area of about 1,000 square meters and the process helps the ice to grow roughly 1 centimeter in thickness each day.
Company workers started cutting the ice into blocks before sunrise at 6 a.m. on Jan. 6 when the temperature was minus 7 degrees.
Blessed with a cold spell ideal for ice making, the ice reached a thickness of 15 cm about four days earlier than usual, the company said.
Each ice block measures 77 cm by 50 cm and weighs 48 kilograms.
The two ponds can produce a total of 4,800 blocks.
“When you drink alcohol with natural ice, it helps prevent the flavor from being ruined. And when you make shaved ice with it, it is fluffy and pleasant in the mouth,” said company president Masao Yoshiara, 62. “This year, it is transparent and has an ideal thickness. It turned out really good.”
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