In Japan, watermelon can be described as a "light luxury fruit", and you can get 200 yuan for a casual one.
Ordinary office workers are rarely willing to buy and eat.
This is also why at this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, Japanese athletes marveled in the canteen that "China's watermelon can be eaten casually, so happy"!
In fact, in addition to these ordinary watermelons, there are also some "unpalatable" watermelons in Japan, even if they can't eat them, they can still sell well at high prices.
They are different from normal round watermelons - square watermelons.
In June this year, Japan's Kagawa Prefecture once again launched a batch of square watermelons, the price in Japan is almost 2-3 times that of ordinary watermelons, not sold by the pound, a square watermelon at least 10,000 yen, equivalent to about 500 yuan.
According to Japan's Kyodo News Agency, this square watermelon is picked before it is fully ripe, so it is low in sweetness and not suitable for eating, but it is extremely popular as an ornament.
Therefore, watermelon has a very long shelf life, which can be stored for up to one year.
What exactly is a watermelon that cannot be eaten?
Let's nag today.
1 the origin of the square watermelon
In the history of watermelon development, it is round or oval, which is the natural conception of nature.
So where did the square watermelon come from? Are they genetically mutated or genetically modified? In fact, the answer is no.
The birth of the square watermelon was actually a "premeditated" artificial physical processing.
According to legend, the Japanese melon farmer Ono Yuyuki, who invented this melon, inadvertently came up with the idea of changing the shape in order to facilitate transportation, prevent the watermelon from rolling down, and reduce damage.
He believes that the production of deformed watermelons is very simple, that is, in the process of its growth, physical stereotyping.
Later, he began to try, but the process was not as simple as he thought.
He first got a batch of square boxes made of glass and steel frames, and then when the watermelons grew to the size of his thumb, he put them into the holes of the boxes one by one, and turned them over every few days to ensure that they were in the middle of the box.
After many experiments, he finally succeeded.
However, due to the need for special treatment, these watermelons are easily damaged, so the success rate is not high, according to statistics, can be picked and sold, accounting for only about 80% of the planting time.
Due to its unique appearance, eye-catching, and low output, square watermelon attracted a large number of consumers to buy, even if it is not cheap, it will soon become popular in Japan.
Later, Russia, the United States, South Korea, China, etc. all imported this watermelon, of which a fruit store in Russia sold a sky-high price of 860 US dollars a melon, equivalent to 5,000 yuan, becoming the ceiling of the watermelon industry.
2 In addition to squares, there are other shapes
If you think, "Since it's so expensive to sell, it must be delicious," you're dead wrong.
The reason why square watermelon is expensive is because its planting cost is relatively high and the supply is relatively low.
As for the taste, the texture of the square watermelon is not good, and it can even be said to be unpalatable.
Because it is picked before the ripening period, the square watermelon is cut into large pieces of unripe yellow, with a dull taste, almost no sweetness and rich juice.
In this regard, the explanation of Japanese fruit merchants is that square watermelons are "not used for eating, but for ornamentation, with super high ornamental value."
Speaking of ornamentation, in fact, in addition to the square shape, watermelon has many other strange shapes.
For example, a conical watermelon:
For example, gourd watermelon:
For example, a heart-shaped watermelon:
For example, watermelon with human face:
For example, Golden Dollar Treasure Watermelon:
3 Standardization and refinement of fruits
Although square watermelon is a marketing gimmick, which has attracted a lot of complaints and controversy, for us fruit practitioners, there are still 2 points of inspiration.
1, focus on quality, is the agricultural ingenuity
What Japanese fruits are best at is marketing hype, no matter how ordinary fruits can be fried at sky-high prices.
It is undeniable that for the unique and innovative fruit of "square watermelon", a small amount of planting and marketing is beyond reproach.
But if it is regarded as a long-term "fortune tree", it is somewhat inverted.
In the final analysis, the ultimate attribution of fruit is the embodiment of its edible value and nutritional value, coupled with the mainland's demand for fruit upgrading, improving quality is the real agricultural ingenuity.
Instead of sharpening your head and thinking about how to create new strange fruits that can't be eaten, think about how to make the fruits tastier and healthier.
2, how to ensure the stable quality of fruit
Although the modified square watermelons have lost their edible value, it is undeniable that the unified mold makes them a standard commodity.
Regardless of size, shape, etc., they have become replicable products on the "pipeline".
This also allows the square fruit to achieve the purpose of not being easy to roll off and break during the initial transportation.
As we all know, fruit is a non-standardized product that is difficult to control, which makes it difficult for fruit sales terminals to carry out effective quality control, which leads to extremely easy loss of fruit in transportation and unstable quality in sales.
The innovation based on the Japanese square watermelon has also inspired our fruit standardization.
Even if you can't physically change the shape of the fruit, you can do the following:
In the process of planting, the fruit is managed in a unified manner, and water, fertilizer, soil, insect control and pest control are controlled as much as possible;
After picking, sterilization and pest control and grading are carried out to ensure the consistency of the size, sweetness, sugar-acid ratio, hardness, etc. of the same grade of fruit;
Effective and consistent preservation technology and preservation environment are used for storage;
Maintain a stable temperature as much as possible during transportation and reduce mechanical abrasions caused by bumps and falls;
Unified management and presentation in sales to ensure that the fruit taste and flavor are similar.
Only by processing and standardizing the whole chain of fruit can we improve the quality stability and refinement of fruit.
What do you think about that?
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Article source public number: Bao LeBao Technology