Izumo Tea Recipe Contest Highlights Shimane Green Tea
Shimane Prefecture is launching a fresh push to expand the market for its local green tea as cultivation shrinks across the region. Amid a steady decline in farming operations, the Shimane Tea Industry Promotion Association organized a recipe contest in Izumo focused on regional tea and rice.
Shrinking Cultivation Prompts New Promotion Efforts
Tea production in Shimane Prefecture has dropped sharply from historical highs. The prefecture is widely known for a strong tea culture and famous tea-growing regions, but the total area used for tea cultivation shrank to roughly 60 hectares by 2025. That footprint represents just a fraction—about ten percent—of peak production levels. To counter this downward trend, the Shimane Tea Industry Promotion Association launched the ocha-zuke competition to drive consumer demand.
Finalist Recipes Feature Local Ingredients and Regional Flavors
A panel of judges consisting of tea producers and processors evaluated 34 submitted recipes during a screening in Izumo, narrowing the field to five finalists. The criteria required dishes to be simple to prepare using local rice and tea. The selected recipes incorporate distinct regional flavors:
- Saba and Tomato Green Tea Rice: Topped with boiled mackerel and diced tomatoes, utilizing the acidity of the tomato and fresh aromatics like scallions and ginger to accent the green tea fragrance.
- Takuan and Akaten Bancha Rice: Combined with diced daikon pickle and Akaten—a soul food of Hamada citizens—alongside soy-sauced wasabi leaves paired with bancha.
- Grand Prize Winner: A simple combination of umeboshi, salted kelp, and grated kelp.
Reiji Sasaki of the Shimane Tea Industry Promotion Association noted that the winning entry, titled “Our Family’s Standard Ocha-Zuke,” won the most votes for its simplicity and steady appeal. The most important thing to nurture successors and revitalize the tea industry is for everyone to use and consume Shimane tea in large quantities,
Sasaki said.
Future Plans for the Winning Ocha-Zuke Recipes
The Shimane Tea Industry Promotion Association plans to publish all five winning ocha-zuke recipes on official prefectural social media channels. Organizers intend for the contest to serve as an accessible entry point to explore Shimane tea. Tea cultivation in the prefecture stood at approximately 60 hectares in 2025.