Fruit culture in Japan 果物

The best gift in Japan is... a melon?

In Japan, fruits are considered a special commodity and hold a special place in society. Unlike in the West, where fruits are merely considered as the food we consume daily, in Japan considered the finest gifts! Some musk melons can cost tens of thousands of yen... Read on to discover the unique culture that Japan has built around its fruit.

 

Fruits only produced in Japan

 

Apart from luxury fruit, it is of course possible to buy regular fruit at reasonable prices in Japanese supermarkets. They will, of course, be much less rare and exclaimed over the luxury fruits. But Japan, like many other countries, has its own special varieties of fruit. With its unique climate from north to south and the special techniques that have been adopted (an art that has led to the production of luxury fruits), the country boasts many succulent fruits!

 

Japanese nashi pears

 

To the north, one of the most famous fruit is the Aomori apple, reputed to be the best in the world. In the same fruit family, there is also the world-famous Fuji apple, which is exported internationally, the nashi pear, a well-known Japanese fruit, and also the kaki, or persimmon. The Japanese persimmon is a very popular fruit eaten both fresh and dried.

Spring fruits such as peaches, cherries, strawberries, and apricots are enjoying their moment of glory not only in supermarkets but also in Japanese sweets recipes. Some species of these fruits only exist in Japan, like the big white hakuto and shimizu peaches, the unusual white strawberries, or the satonishiki cherries cultivated in Yamagata prefecture.

 

 

Aomori apples

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