Of all the things I've ever picked, the very cutest was you!
Mikan's are truly the darlings of the citrus world, and today we were able to pick and eat our fill at Tashiro-En Orchard in Matsuda.
Mikan is the Japanese name for the fruit citrus unshiu, a type of satsuma which is popular among Japanese people for its health benefits and sweet, fruity taste. It's said this fruit strikes a delicate balance between sweet and tangy, but as we were told by one of the owners, each tree produces mikans of differing degrees of each.
He showed us how to carefully prune the fruit, nipping the extra bit at the top to prevent our bags from splitting, then peeled it with ease to give us all a taste. It was subtly sweet-not at all like the orange flavor you'd expect-and I really liked that. I'm not the biggest fan of orange-flavored things but as I went from tree to tree sampling a taste I realized two things: one, he was absolutely right-no two mikan's tasted exactly the same. And two...I really, really like this fruit.
We picked and ate, bagged and weighed, taking pictures along the way.
The day was so beautiful, the weather so prefect, even Fujisan joined the fun and put a show on for us all!
Who said Friday the 13th in 2020 had to be scary? I am so thankful for a beautiful day with beautiful friends, and sweet, sweet mikans, the only thing I can say is it was a scary good! Thanks again for arranging it, Lynda!
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