I love Japanese citrus. There is so much variety and most of it is unique to Japan. There is a little shop in my neighborhood that sells B grade fruit and vegetables quite cheap. I buy a lot things there for juicing, canning, preserving and so on. Winter is when the best domestically produced citrus is available. Twice this week I bought a whole lot of citrus and juiced them up. I have a Sharp HealSlo ‘slow juicer’, which makes super creamy juice. The combination of the quality hardware
Round One: Ponkan and Hassuaku
The Fruit: 6 kilos of ponkan, 1 kilo of hassaku. Yield: 3.5 liters of juice. Cost: 800 yen
For 800 yen, I got 6 kg of ponkan and 1 kg of hassaku (Japanese citrus) — that is cheap — at the neighborhood discount fruit and veggie shop. This was the first time I think I have made ponkan juice. It took about an hour but this was THE BEST citrus juice I have ever had!! And, I got about 3.5 liters. Smooth and creamy texture with a really solid and complexly sweet, mellow flavor. So yummy!!
More about Ponkan (Chinese Honey Orange) here and Hassaku Orange here.
Round Two: Dekopon:
The Fruit: 4 or 5 kilos of dekopon. Yield: 3.5 liters of juice. Cost: 1200 yen
OMG, I could’t believe how juicy these were! They were the best citrus I have had this winter — and I bought them at the horrible little discount shop owned by a man I nicknamed, Scowl. The juice was beyond delicious, even better than the ponkan juice I made a few days ago. And, they were big and super easy to peel. The ponkan were tiny and nearly impossible to peel. These weren’t pretty specimens on the outside, but damn, the flesh was beautiful and they were so tasty!! I think I will buy some more!
More about Dekopon here.
