Enjoy Aichi’s Great Food! 3 Spots To Visit For Fruit Picking, Lunch, And Shopping (Fall)

Tours are held for visitors to Aichi who wish to get a taste of the agriculture and seafood produced in the prefecture. We bring a report on our experience enjoying fresh fruits and seafood at three spots in Aichi which we visited on a sunny day in November.

Spot 1: Ishimaki Tourist Farm

Persimmon Picking ー Pick and Eat Them as You Go!

Toyohashi is Japan’s leading city for Japanese persimmon production. Ishimaki Tourist Farm is a place where you can enjoy persimmon and mandarin orange picking! Persimmons, which are in season during autumn, are good to harvest from early October to late November. Mandarin oranges become fully ripe from mid-October to late November.

At the time of our visit, the Maekawa Jiro persimmons, a high-quality and sweet persimmon variety, were at their most delicious. We also took part in the persimmon picking. Persimmon picking is an experience that consists of harvesting seedless persimmons that are sweet, juicy, and have a crisp texture to be peeled and eaten on the spot. It is an activity unique to Japan’s sightseeing farms.

The persimmons at Ishimaki Tourist Farm are grown with natural grass cultivation (*1), which produces fruit that are large and have a sweet, rich flavor. In addition to Maekawa Jiro persimmons, other varieties such as Fuyu and Taishu are also grown. There are even rare limited varieties like Soshu and Isahaya. The persimmons that are in season will vary depending on the time period, so it’s also fun to visit the farm for a second or even third time.

We entered the orchard after receiving scissors at the entrance. According to the farm owner, the best method of recognizing delicious persimmons is to check if “the entire body of the fruit has changed into a deep, bright orange. It must also be large.”, told us the farm owner. Look at the persimmon trees to evaluate the fruits, cut the root off with scissors, and take a bite after peeling the skin with a knife. It has a chewy texture along with a sweet, rich flavor.

The tour participants, exchange students from Thailand, China, and Korea, had a great time. Not only did they eat the glossy orange persimmon fruits while bathed in sunlight but took many photos as well.

Persimmons cannot be grown in a warm climate, so this activity is popular amongst tourists coming from South-East Asian countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Fruit picking enjoyed like a picnic under the blue sky is an experience solely unique to Japan.

Ishimaki Tourist Farm
Address: 441-1102 Aichi, Toyohashi, Ishimaki Nishikawacho Mukaiyama 5
Phone Number: 0532‐88‐3890
Business Hours: 9:00-16:00
Fruit Picking Periods: Early OctoberーLate November

Spot 2: Gamagori Orange Park

Enjoy Fresh Seafood Lunches and Mikan Oranges Picking

Gamagori in Aichi Prefecture is a city surrounded by the bay and mountains. It is also the place where full-flavored mandarin oranges are grown with a great balance in sweet and sour thanks to the mild southern winds that blow in from the coast throughout the year. Gamagori Orange Park, located in this city, is a popular spot for lunch and mandarin orange picking.

The first thing we did when we arrived at Gamagori Orange Park was to have lunch. We ordered the Shinojima Island Grown Shirasu Gozen, made with whitebait grown on Shinojima Island that drift into the Mikawa Bay, together with the Purple Butter Clam Tobanyaki.

...... read the rest of the article on Japan Fruits website

https://the-way-of-japan.com/fruits/en/2018/12/26/2990/?noredirect=en_US