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The gift for the important people
Japanese King of Fruits: Crown Melon
Valuable flavor made by history
The melon has beauty of artistic form, fragrance with the scent of musk, plenty of juice, mellow taste, and smooth texture, which is the high-grade melon cultivated in Fukuroi city of Shizuoka prefecture, called “Shizuoka Crown Melon”. “Shizuoka Crown Melon” is cultivated with sophisticated techniques of growers and grown absolutely in greenhouses. In other words, the ultimate taste of “Shizuoka Crown Melon” ,which was born by outstanding virtuosity of professionals, has been taken over from generation to generation.
The melon has been presented to Japanese royal family for a long time and recognized as an elegant and prestigious fruit in Japan. Many VIPs also love Crown Melon. When the queen of United Kingdom came to Japan and ate Crown Melon, we got words of praise.
Why Crown Melon is so delicious
1) Suitable climate for the growth of melons and the long-time effort from predecessors
During the Taisho Period, “Earl-Feboritto (Earl’s favorites)” cultivar was imported from the United Kingdom. In addition to this unique cultivar, the current Crown Melon was born by long time trial and error of the predecessors. In Shizuoka prefecture of Enshu region, cultivation of melons had spread rapidly to ride the wave of high economic growth.
Sunlight is crucial for growing melons. Enshu region, the western part of Shizuoka prefecture, is known as one of places that has the longest hours of sunlight in Japan, in other words, perfectly suitable place for melons. Crown Melon is grown under glass greenhouses. Since glass let sunlight pass well, it is also suitable for the melons that require further light to grow better.
Windows are automatically opened and closed by computer to keep the temperature and humidity appropriately. The adjustment of temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse is one of the most important things, and it highly influences on the posture of the tree, the size of the fruit, and the pattern of the net on its surface.
The finest Shizuoka Crown Melon is produced by the skillful professionals with the best use of these environments.
2) The cultivation technique of the growers as artisans
Crown Melon is cultivated on the separated bed soil which enables melons to grow with a certain amount of soil separated from the ground.
This method also enables growers to precisely control the amount of fertilizer and water given to the trees. The separated bed is crucial to the delicious greenhouse melons because the taste of melon highly depends on the amount of water and the timing of watering.
Besides the separated bed soil, “One Tree, One Fruit” policy is a key to make high quality melons. Three fruits are once grown on one tree, and then carefully choose the one from the three so that all the nutrition concentrates on it.
Only one fruit is harvested from one tree for Crown Melon, although some melons are harvested from one tree in other areas.
The growers water once or twice every single day for about 100 days from seeding to picking-up. Moreover, they precisely control the temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse according to the season, the weather, and day/night shift. Rich experience and expertise are required to adjust them delicately and skilled artisans here can do it perfectly.
The growers put all their efforts to grow melons with love as if they are raising their own children. Each melon has its character and none of them is the same.
3) Only melons that passed the strict inspections can receive the title of “Crown Melon”
For the shipment, Crown Melon is carefully packed by each grower and gathered at one place.
The levels of the freshness, sugar content, flavor and ripeness are checked by dedicated examiners there and only melons that meet the required standards are shipped to destinations.
The crown label is put on Crown Melon one by one ; this label is only given to melons that passed the strict inspections.
The grower number listed on the label allowing customers to check who has grown each melon
Therefore, the crown label represents the confidence of growers and sincere attitude to their melons.
Tips for eating a delicious melon
Push the bottom of the melon gently and if you feel slightly soft, then it has ripened well and the best time to eat it.
Melons start ripening only after harvesting. Ripening speed varies individually depending on the external conditions like temperature.
Melons taste even better if they are cooled in a refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours before served.
Profile of Fukuroi-city
Fukuroi city is located in the western part of Shizuoka prefecture that embraces Mt. Fuji. Our city is blessed by mild climate, rich nature and favorable transportation from Tokyo and Osaka like Tomei Expressway, Shin-Tomei Expressway and Tokaido Shinkansen.
There are many noted temples with a long and unique history, and you can enjoy the elegance of each season throughout year, such as cherry blossoms at Hattasan temple in Spring, Water lilies at Shoshu-ji temple in Summer, and Autumn leaves at Yusan-ji temple.
Because of mild climate, various agricultural products are grown in Fukuroi; they are melons, rice, tea, vegetables and flowers.
In summer, many tourists visit the Fukuroi Fireworks Festival, which is one of the biggest fireworks events in Japan.
ECOPA stadium is in our city, where the FIFA World Cup soccer game was hold in 2002. This stadium is one of venues of the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
