Bringing Safe, Delicious Citrus from Ehime to the World
Support the harvest and shipment of the Ehime-exclusive variety Madonna (Ehime Fruit Trial No. 28)※ at Higuchi Farm in Tobe Town, Ehime Prefecture!
Here, we cultivate a variety of citrus fruits, plums, kiwis, and rice without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or herbicides. We use charcoal as field fertilizer to improve soil conditions. We also produce organic citrus juice and offer a full range of products, including avocados, watermelons, miso, wheat, soy sauce, and even eggs!
Now, this premium citrus, the Madonna, ships from late November to late December. Its peel is thin, and the flesh boasts a jelly-like, wobbly texture. Its juicy, rounded flavor melts in your mouth, leaving an indescribable sweetness lingering on your tongue afterward. I always bite into it peel and all.
Harvesting delicate mandarins 🍊 involves wrestling with thorny branches while carefully picking each fruit to avoid cracking the thin skin from even slight impacts.
Each fruit is meticulously sorted by hand, gently polished with soft, fluffy gloves, and categorized into four grades based on appearance and taste standards.
Some may be slightly softer, but these are perfectly ripe and ready to eat—a state rarely seen in city supermarkets. This is one advantage of direct farm delivery.
Speed and precision are key in sorting. At the highest level, they say you can tell the flavor and ripeness just by holding the fruit. Indeed, their expertise in judging appearance, taste, and ripeness is exceptional!
We also handle organic citrus juice. While fruit suitable for juice and unsuitable fruit are often judged solely by sugar content or acidity, as an association, we aim to express umami and overall deliciousness. We want to establish sensory evaluation criteria.
安心安全で美味しい柑橘を、愛媛から世界へ。
愛媛県・砥部（とべ）町の樋口農園にて、愛媛県限定品種のまどんな（愛媛果試第28号）※の収穫・出荷応援です！
ここでは農薬・化学肥料・除草剤不使用、畑の肥料に炭を使用し土壌環境を整え多種類の柑橘類から梅・キウイ、お米等を栽培し、有機柑橘ジュース、アボガドやスイカ、味噌・小麦・醤油から卵まで拘り商品と合わせ一気通貫で販売しています！
詳しくは👉＠denshoku
さて、この高級柑橘・まどんな、11月下旬から、12月末に出荷され、果皮は薄く、果肉の特徴はゼリーのようなぷるんぷるん食感、ジューシーな円やかさが口の中でとろけ、食べた後に舌に残る甘みが何とも言えません。私はいつも皮ごとかぶりつきます。
デリケートなまどんなの収穫は🍊、枝の棘と格闘しながら、また果皮が薄いためちょっとした衝撃で割れてしまわないように注意しながら丁寧に収穫をしていきます。
選果は一つ一つ慎重に、柔いフワフワの手袋で丁寧に磨き、見た目＊美味しさ基準で4分類しています。
中にはちょっと柔らかめのものがありますが、これは完熟状態で食べごろのもの、街中スーパーでは中々お目にかかることのない状態で出荷できるのも農家直送のメリットですね。
スピードと丁寧さが勝負の選果、その域に達すると手に持った感覚で美味しさや食べごろがわかるとか。確かに目利き味利き度合利きいは抜群です！
有機柑橘ジュースの取り扱いもありますが、ジュースにして美味しい果実とそうでない果実、また糖度の高さや酸度だけで美味しさを判断されがちなんですが、協議会として旨味・旨さを表現していきたいもので、官能評価の基準としたいところです。
Incidentally, mid-to-late season citrus fruits like Dekopon and Ponkan, which begin harvesting after the New Year, are stored for 1-2 months in cool, earthen-walled sheds to enhance their sweetness. These earthen-walled sheds, which also create a unique landscape, are an indispensable part of Tobe's citrus farming history.
Finally, we conduct meticulous final inspections before carefully packing and shipping orders to customers! 🚚🍊 From personal use to gifts, we insist on using local Ehime Shimbun newspapers as packing material—a nod to our hometown pride. Gift orders are especially popular, carefully wrapped in original design paper before dispatch!
Winter solstice is approaching, but December shipments continue well after dusk. Everyone, please look forward to our future harvests!
因みに、年明けから収穫の始まる中晩柑類（デコポンやポンカン）は甘みを増すため冷んやりした土壁の小屋で1～2ヶ月間寝かします。独特の景観でもある土壁小屋は、砥部の柑橘農業の歴史を語る上で欠かせない存在です。
さて最後は、最終検品を更に丁寧に慎重にしながらお客様の注文に応じ出荷作業🚚🍊です！自家需要から贈答用まで、緩衝材の新聞は地元・愛媛新聞に拘り愛郷心を擽りますね、特に贈答用は人気が高くオリジナルデザイン紙で丁寧包装され発送されていきますよ！
もうじき冬至ですが、12月は日もとっぷり暮れてから出荷は続きます。皆様、是非今後の収穫にもご期待ください！