‘Chichibu Mayu’ means ‘cocoon-shaped marshmallow’ in Japanese and it is the name of the world’s first forest-born sweets to achieve SGEC/PEFC certification. The forest sweets are made from the sap of maple trees grown in the SGEC/PEFC-certified municipal forests of Chichibu in Saitama, Japan. Source: Timberbiz
Chichibu Mayu resembles a fluffy marshmallow, and can be eaten by itself, dipped into coffee or melted on bread.
The forest-born sweets are produced by Chichibu Nakamuraya, a company that has been operating in Chichibu, Japan since 1924, and were put on the market recently.
The packaging of the sweets carries both the MFC and SGEC/PEFC labels.
The municipal forest acquired SGEC/PEFC certification in 2016. At the same time, MFC started locally promoting the production of sweets using sap extracted from the maple trees in those forests.
After working towards certification for three years, MFC achieved SGEC/PEFC chain of custody certification earlier this year.
A part of the income from the sale of the forest sweets will be used for the maintenance of the municipal forests of Chichibu.
Beyond timber and paper Besides timber and paper products, non-wood forest products can also achieve PEFC certification, if they originate in a PEFC-certified forest and are processed by companies holding a PEFC chain of custody certificate.
