Hokkaido's local specialty is not limited to seafood. Here we introduce probably the most expensive "melon" in the world.
Some of you may know that you can find many pricey fruits sold in Japan, especially in Tokyo. These fruits are supposed to be sent as a gift. Yubari melon (夕張メロン) is an icon of such gorgeous gift fruits.
How much is it ?
On 5days ago, the first auction for 2014 season was taken place at Sapporo Central Wholeseller market.
There the highest bidding price was recorded...
at 2.5 million yen(25,000 US dollars) for a pair of Yubari melons.
Here we have a web article
"A PRICEY PAIR OF CANTALOUPES"
http://www.ntv.co.jp/englishnews/society/a-pricey-pair-of-cantaloupes/
Of course, not all melons won't cost over 1 million. But still the price around Yen5000 per piece is very expensive compared with other fruits including other brands of melon.
At least we could watch the farms and green houses of Yubari melon on our trip in Hokkaido. This is what we want to share on this post.
Just we could imagine the luxury fruits are inside the houses...
Wishing we can eat Yubari melon as much as we want some days in future, so far we only enjoy the flavor through processed products that are sold at more reasonable prices...
Such as ...
Yubari melon cake
(Price around just 1 US dollar at a local market)
or
Yubari melon sherbet
(costs at 3 US dollars at a hotel's gift shop, still resonable)
and others.
Yubari melon is available in markets during summer and are sold mainly at department stores or upscale fruits shops like Senbikiya.
