It can be sweeter than melon. Shine Muscat is a green jewel.

”I’ve really staked my life on Shine Muscat,” said Hidemi Natsuyagi of ”Natsuyagi Noen” in a loud and clear voice. Katsunuma in Yamanashi Prefecture is famous for grapes, and his farm is one of the most long established grape farms in Katsunuma, him being the fourth successor.

Shine Muscat, which Nastuyagi said he staked his life on, is now being grown all over Japan, but the production volume is very small.
Why? Because, ”It’s a difficult fruit to grow large. It takes a lot of work to grow..”

However, Shine Muscat at Natsuyagi Noen is all very big and uniform in size.
”Please eat them, skin and all.” As beckoned, Nakata put a large Muscat in his mouth. ”It’s so sweet.” He was justly surprised, because the sugar content is about 20, some have sugar contents of 23. Even melons seldom have sugar content of 20.

All the efforts do not materialize immediately. Grape making in a long span.

“Natsuyagi used to have no intention of succeeding the farm.
”But once I began, I just couldn’t stop. The more time and effort you put in, the more delicious the fruits will become,’ said he.

He is very particular about the soil, too, and he is mixing cedar chips into the soil. However, it will be a long time until it will take effect.
He is growing grapes in a long span.

Natsuyagi, who staked his life on Shine Muscat has an eye on a new kind of grape that will be available soon. His passion is endless. He will continue grape making, which he ”stakes his life on”.

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Peaches and grapes grown in one of the biggest orchards in Yamanashi.

”Our cultivation area of peaches and grapes is probably one of the biggest in the Prefecture,” said Sadaichi Furuya of ”Marusa Fruits Furuya Farm” very proudly. His policy is to make peaches and grapes with no chemical fertilizers and very little pesticide..

After he explained meticulously about the several dozen varieties of peaches grown here, he handed Nakata a peach which had rather dark skin color, saying, ”This is very sweet, for sure.”
”Aren’t the peaches with bright pink colors more delicious?” questioned Nakata.

”If they were for gifts, the color is important, but if you take the sweetness, these peaches with slightly spotted skin are more delicious.” When the sugar content was measured, it was a surprising figure of more than 20. Generally, peaches are said to be sweet at about 15, so you can imagine how sweet they are.

Supporting young farmers — from lending the farmland, teaching the know-how, to purchasing the harvested products.

Furuya Farm not only runs its own farm, but lends land as an opportunity for farming training, to those people aiming to become independent farmers.

”I borrow land from farmers and lend them to young people. It is very difficult to start from scratch and become an independent farmer. We provide farming land, machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, and fruit making know-how, and let young people make farming products for a year. We buy their products, and let the young farmers experience the joy of harvesting and the fun of farming. After a while, when they are ready, they will become independent.”
Furuya Farm not only grows delicious grapes and peaches, but it thinks about the farming industry of Yamanashi as a whole.

Now coming back to that especially sweet peach. Nakata had a bite and it was certainly sweet indeed.

Nakata was so absorbed in eating the peaches, that he was oblivious of Furuya who went back to work….

The post Peach making that supports the farming industry of Yamanashi “Marusa Fruits Furuya Farm” first appeared on NIHONMONO.