Huge and sweet, “Bijin-hime”
You would definitely be surprised to hear about a strawberry costing 50,000 yen a piece. But the strawberry named “”Bijin-hime (beautiful princess)”” made at Okuda Farm costs that much. The reason for the extremely high price is the size, sweetness, shine, fragrance, and color of each piece.
What is most remarkable is the size.
Surprisingly, each piece weighs 100 grams, making it three times bigger than the typical 3L sized strawberry. The Okuda Farm website shows a photo of the strawberry compared to a 500 yen coin. Take a look for yourself and you’ll see that its about three times larger than the coin. The significant size definitely gives impact.
The taste is also quite surprising. In Japan there is a saying, “”Peppers are small and hot. Japanese radishes are large and not hot””. However, this definitely doesn’t apply to “”Bijin-hime””. Despite the size, the sweetness is above 13 degrees, and it is quite smooth. Each piece is bright red and shiny, with a glow of its own.
The sweet fragrance tickles your nose as you bring the fruit to your mouth. There is no doubt that it is truly of the highest quality!
Satisfying the palate with jam
Because of its size, color, and shine, “”Bijin-hime”” is quite often used for decorating wedding cakes. Cakes adorned with “”Bijin-hime”” are sure to make a lasting impression.
Jams made from “”Bijin-hime”” are also very popular. Chunks of the strawberries remain, like a preserve, so it tastes almost like eating a fresh strawberry. When Nakata tasted the jam, he couldn’t help exclaiming, “”delicious!!””.
At Okuda Farm, they spent 13 years on research and experiment, and they were finally able to stabilize their production in 2010, producing “”Bijin-hime”” weighing a minimum of 80 grams. The miraculously large “”Bijin-hime”” strawberry will surely become a new specialty of Hajima, Gifu.
