King of fruit born grown in a glass greenhouse
Fukuroi City, in the Midwest of Shizuoka Prefecture, is a major production center of Crown Melon. Melon production in the area has a history of more than 80 years, and is unmatched by any other production areas. Many farmers have been producing melons for two to three generations, and with their long experience in production, they gave birth to a melon referred to as ”the King of Melon”, the Crown Melon.
On this trip, we visited the greenhouse of Katsuhiko Iguchi in Fukuroi City. The melons Iguchi makes always rank in the top in competitive exhibitions. So we asked how such melons are grown. In order to grow Crown Melon, one must use a glass greenhouse, not the regular plastic greenhouse. They told us the glass greenhouse allows the sunlight to shine through, creating sweet and healthy melon.
Also, with greenhouse farming, the plants are usually watered all at once with sprinklers, but for Crown Melon, the condition of the fruit, leaves and soil are taken into account, so each area is watered in carefully controlled amounts. The Crown Melon is raised with extra care, time and technology.
How to tell its sweetness
Melons are one of Nakata’s top three favorite fruits. After touring the greenhouse, we were able to taste the fruit, and Nakata repeatedly commented ”Delicious” or ”Sweet”. And then he asked, ”Can you tell which melon is sweet by looking at the exterior?”
It would be nice if we were able to tell good tasting melon when purchasing. According to Iguchi, ”The net like pattern on the surface should not be too thick or thin, and the pattern should be distinct. The net should also be three dimensional, and the skin color under the net should be white.” That is how one can identify delicious melon.
All Crown Melon have a sticker with the number of the producer on it. Every producer is identified, so one can immediately distinguish the taste of melon for each producer.
Iguchi’s ID number is 495. Using these numbers, you can look up information about the producer on the ”Crown Melon Office”, so we recommend you check the website when buying Crown Melon.
