Published on
Updated
Reading 1 min.
It’s not a melon, and it’s not a lemon either. It’s a melon-lemon! A brand new variety of hybrid fruit that Japanese researchers have just developed. If this cross may surprise, it is above all its price that will surprise you because it is not within the reach of all budgets…. A what the fuck find for our What The Food series.
Can a summer be successful without eating a piece of melon at least once? As a starter, accompanied by a slice of cured ham, or as a dessert in its simplest form, if not as a sorbet, we generally savor the holidays by getting drunk on its fruity scent, until we finally get tired of it when the start of the school year.
And if we varied the pleasures with a brand new melon, or rather a melon-lemon? The combination may surprise. And yet, it exists in Japan where researchers on the island of Hokkaido, in the very north of the archipelago, have spent five years developing this hybrid variety. This is the time it took to obtain a white flesh with a slightly tangy and lemony taste while keeping this sweet side that satisfies the taste buds. Visually, the melon-lemon presents a smooth skin like that of a watermelon and is tinged with a tone between yellow and green.
The melon-lemon, a fruit launched since last June
The fruit was launched at the end of June by the horticultural branch of the Japanese giant Suntory, which is known worldwide for its whiskeys and gins. The Japanese passion for citrus fruits is no secret. The archipelago cultivates more than a hundred and many Japanese prefectures have their own varieties.
But it’s not the addition of yet another fruit with a lemony taste that can be surprising. That’s his price! The production of melon-lemon is very limited, which pushes its price up. Count more than 3,200 yen, or about 20 euros a piece. Even more unexpectedly, stocks are already sold out in many Japanese department stores, according to Suntory Flowers.
After yuzu, sudachi and Buddha’s hand, will melon-lemon become the new Japanese ingredient that chefs will be using?