When the price of melons reached €12-13 last summer, many Spaniards threw their hands up. So it is not surprising that the video of the tiktoker @beaggil trying this fruit at €200 per unit in a store in Madrid has generated so many reactions. But the piece that this user has tasted is not just any melon, but a ‘Crown Melon’, a variety of Japanese origin that landed in our country at the hands of the Pilar Akaneya restaurant, located in Barcelona and the capital.
This fruit, as explained in this report, was born from Earl’s Favorite melon seeds imported from the United Kingdom and is grown mainly in Fukuroi and Shizuoka. But perhaps the most curious thing about this variety is that while it grows, it is offered all kinds of care, including daily massages with white gloves to guarantee its sweetness, which also helps the sugar to be distributed evenly throughout the piece.
This melon, which in the land of the rising sun is considered a jewel, also needs a lot of light to develop and grows only on the tree. As? Well, the Japanese farmers who are dedicated to the cultivation of this variety, leave a single fruit on the plant so that all the nutrients are concentrated in one piece. Here lies another of the reasons for its delicate texture, flavor and sweetness.
When it has already been developed (it takes 100 days), it is time to select the best pieces. Farmers look at the size, shape and location of the branch where they have grown to choose the most perfect ones. “In this way, the production of these melons is reduced to 3%, but the highest quality is guaranteed,” explained the aforementioned report.
Watering them properly and protecting them from the sun’s rays so that they do not burn are other very necessary practices so that they form well. All this means that its price can reach 200-300 euros per fruit, and thousands have been paid for the most exclusive and perfect pieces. In our country it may seem unthinkable to pay so much for a melon, but in Japan it is a relatively common gift and one that is very popular.
The tiktoker that has put this fruit at the center of the debate, however, assures that, despite being very good, she would not pay so much for it. “In the end, it’s a melon,” she concludes.
