Plums and peaches — juicy and delicious.

The usual plums we see in supermarkets are a little larger than ping-pong balls. However, the plums in Norimichi Tsukuma’s orchard are the size of a baseball, and are quite heavy.

After being shown around the orchard, the first thing we were given to taste was this freshly picked plum. Nakata was very surprised by its size, but it wasn’t until we ate them that we were astonished by its sweetness.

However, the main product in Tsukuma’s orchard are peaches, and he makes over a dozen kinds, considering the harvesting time. When tasting a peach, there wasn’t a knife at hand, so we split the peach in half by hand. As soon as the fingers were pressed into the fruit, juice flowed out endlessly. According to Tsukuma, the average sugar content is 14 to 15, very sweet and exquisite peaches.

Overcoming many obstacles — only a few percent reach the customers!

”What are the things you keep in mind to make delicious peaches?” asked Nakata. ”It’s difficult,” said Tsukuma. ”It’s a question of how much trouble you put into it. The peaches that reach the customers are only a few percent of what would have been fruits on one tree. More than 90% are picked early.”

Already, when they are still buds, they are selected down to one third. After that, they are selected at each stage, when they blossom, when they are young fruits and at bagging, and so on.
”Isn’t that a huge amount of trouble?”
”Yes, it is. Some people say, why not select them all when they are buds. But, the nutrition balance doesn’t go right. So we just have to select in each stages. And in the end remain that most delicious peaches.”

The choicest of peaches, made by Tsukuma.
”So the peaches reach us after so many hurdles, don’t they,” said Nakata.

”Yes, they are actually more elite than Tokyo University students!”

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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.

The taste differ every year — that’s the difficult, but also the fun part

”It’s the first time I pick peaches.” ”Really, Nakata-san? But you are born in Yamanashi!” There was a relaxed atmosphere as if it were on a peach picking picnic. However, Nakata soon went back to his earnest self, and began to interview Matsumi Ishihara, the owner of the farm. ”How can you tell a delicious peach?”

”You should choose a big one. And the one with tense skin. The more sunshine it had, the better it tastes. But, in fact, you can’t really tell. The sweetness depends of the amount of rainfall and so many other things, so the peaches taste different each year. That’s the difficult part of peach making,” said Ishihara, scratching his head.

Ichinomiya-cho, Fuefuki-shi is a famous production area of peaches, and ”the Peaches at Tomochan’s” are one of the most popular brands. They are sweet, have pretty colors, and have beautiful shape and are big. They are very popular as gifts, and orders pour in from all over Japan.

Pleasure of receiving ”comments on this year’s peaches” from repeat customers.

”It’s difficult, because the peaches will have different taste every year,” said Ishihara. The farm has many repeat customers. ”Some customers send me letters saying, this year was better than last year, or last year was sweeter, and so on. That gives me real pleasure.”

Saying that, he scratched his head again.

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