Koikeya Co. launched Nagasaki Prefecture’s potato variety “Nagasaki Golden” as the first “Brand Potato Comparison” in 2023. In this respect, from May 25, 2023, a special potato chip “Potato Comfort Nagasaki Golden” with a luscious thickness was offered exclusively at the Koikeya online shop.

Koikeya has been committed to 100% Japanese potatoes since the inception of Koikeya Potato Chips “Nori Shio” in 1962. To appreciate the variation in taste depending on the variety of potatoes, the firm began holding “Brand Potato Comparison” nationally, in autumn, when potatoes in Hokkaido are in season. Customers can eat and compare potato chips in this experiment, which uses unique brand potatoes from Hokkaido for each kind.

This is the fifth year of the “Brand Potato Comparison,” and it begins with the Kyushu edition “Potato Comfort Nagasaki Kogane” and travels north from Kyushu to Hokkaido, as it did last year.

“«Nagasaki Kogane» is a potato variety developed in Nagasaki Prefecture by breeding Inca no Mezame, and it is a supernova in the spud world that has only been open for general cultivation for about six years. As the name suggests, this potato is characterized by its yellow flesh, rich sweetness, and deep umami. At «Potato Comfort Nagasaki Kogane», raw potatoes are sliced into extravagant thickness and simply seasoned with rock salt to maximize the original taste of potatoes. The fragrant fried potato chips have a fluffy texture and the umami […] fills your mouth the moment you take a bite. Last year, when this product was first released, people who ate it said, «Potatoes are not limited to Hokkaido!» We have received a lot of voices, and we have decided to release it again this year,” according to a recent PR Times press release.

In the future, the firm wants to confine the second edition to online shops using Kanto items, and the third to countrywide sales using Hokkaido products, so that customers can enjoy seasonal brand potatoes even more.