Sweet Hokkaido cabbages get sweeter with snow

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:46 JST, February 4, 2022

Farmers dig cabbages out from the snow in Wassamu, Hokkaido, to prepare shipments of the town’s specialty food. The cabbages were harvested last autumn and laid out in a field to be buried under the snow. After fresh powder covers the vegetables and the outside temperature falls below freezing, the temperature underneath the snow remains at 0 C, leading the cabbages to become sweeter to avoid becoming frozen. “I hope people will enjoy the strong sweet flavor of the cabbages,” said a 48-year-old farmer. The cabbages will continue to be shipped through March.