By TATSUYA HARADA/ Staff Writer
May 29, 2023 at 08:00 JST
Cosmetics under the Shiki line that are fashioned from vegetable waste (Provided by Organic Mother Life)
KYOTO--An enterprising maker of “senmaizuke” pickled turnip here makes cosmetics from waste generated in the production process that it promises will result in “supreme elegance.”
Although best known for its Kyoto-style winter turnip specialty, Daiyasu Co. decided to branch out and manufacture cosmetics by fermenting vegetables and extracting their essence.
To do this, it teamed up with a company in Tokyo.
“We want the whole family to try our cosmetics without anxiety as our products are all made from natural materials,” a representative of Daiyasu said.
Daiyasu, based in the city’s Sakyo Ward, removes a generous outer portion of each turnip to make tasty senmaizuke.
The waste from the process, along with waste from the production of other pickled vegetables, amount to around 200 tons annually.
Daiyasu had been providing vegetable waste to Kyoto City Zoo to be mixed with animal feed. Its aim is to reuse vegetable waste as much as possible and reduce the amount to be dumped.
The company teamed up with Organic Mother Life in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward to develop a line of cosmetics. The partner company produces beauty items from discarded plants.
Daiyasu offered 24 kinds of veggies it uses to make pickled products. A facial lotion was created by combining turnips’ lactic fermentation with the extract of other crops.
Other products are four types of beauty oil under the theme of the four seasons. They are fashioned from the essence of different ingredients to represent each season, including ume plum for spring and persimmon for autumn.
Mixing the fermented lotion and oil creates a beauty serum.
The brand was named Shiki, which means “supreme elegance,” in the hope of encouraging women’s empowerment. The name is pronounced in the same way as “four seasons.”
Glass bottles for foodstuffs, not ordinary cosmetics containers, are used for the cosmetics line using fermented veggies.
The matured vegetable lotion and the four sorts of beauty oil in 100-milliliter bottles carry a price tag of 6,930 yen ($51.40) each, including tax.
They first went on sale at the JR Kyoto Isetan department store here from May 9 through May 15, and then hit general store shelves on May 17 at the main shop of Daiyasu in Sakyo Ward and outlets of Organic Mother Life.
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