Inside the Japanese Luxury Fruit Market | So Expensive Food | Business Insider

while exploring the world's most expensive items we uncovered some of the priciest fruits that can be found across japan from ruby roman grapes to miyazaki mangoes join us as we revisit what makes these fruits so expensive first we're heading to ishikawa prefecture to see why a single bunch of juicy red grapes might sell for 450 dollars the first thing you notice about japanese ruby rum and grapes is their size just one is about four times the size of an average grape but inspectors look even closer if the color of these grapes matches categories three or four on this color card then just one bunch could sell for 90 to 450 dollars but size and color are just two of the characteristics that define these luxury grapes so what else do inspectors look for and why are these grapes so expensive [Music] [Music] [Music] in japanese culture fruits are considered a luxury and gift item in fact japanese supermarkets often won't sell fruits if they have any blemishes or aren't the right shape inspectors like kazuyoshi sakurai use very specific criteria to scrutinize each grain or individual grape that grows [Music] superior grade grapes make up almost 90 of the harvest and special superior grapes make up about 10 percent superior bunches can cost between 90 and 140 special superior grapes are priced at 180 to as high as 450 dollars but there's still one category higher than these two so uh only one or two bunches a year qualify as premium in kahuku farmers hope to sell one bunch of premium grapes for over one thousand dollars two bunches made the cut this year but in 2019 and 2020 no grapes qualified for the premium category no matter the grade though all ruby roman grapes have a uniquely sweet flavor according to isu amanda [Music] [Music] this harvesting starts in july just in time for one of two main japanese gift giving holidays ochugen the grapes are only grown in ishikawa prefecture and they're cultivated in greenhouses where farmers have better control over the growing process each grape is monitored and manicured so that everyone in a bunch looks totally identical to produce grapes of the proper size they use a grape thinning device and a simple pair of scissors [Music] [Music] one way to control light is by adding or removing leaves near the vines to confirm that enough light is getting into the greenhouse farmers use a different tool [Music] [Music] [Music] they developed with a private i.t company farmers can then identify how much light they need to add or subtract [Music] foreign the final complicated element for ruby roman grape farmers is temperature [Music] industry they open the sides and ceilings of the greenhouse to keep it as cool and ventilated as possible [Music] and still not all the ruby roman grapes farmers grow will be up to standard which is why supply is consistently limited in 2020 only 25 000 ruby roman bunches were up for sale that's a tiny fraction of the total number of grapes that were for sale in japan which was about 163 000 metric tons in 2020 it wasn't until 2008 that the first ruby roman grapes went up for sale the effort to create them started in 1995 when local grape farmers and ishikawa's agricultural research center came together to develop a new breed of large red grapes [Music] what they ended up with is the most expensive grape in the world so expensive that in 2020 one bunch of these grapes sold at auction for twelve thousand dollars that's about four hundred dollars per grape [Music] this melon cost two hundred dollars but that's nothing compared to the price that some can reach and in may 2019 two melons from hokkaido sold at auction for five million yen that's just over forty five thousand dollars [Music] so what is it that makes this fruit so expensive [Music] from the yubari king to the andes the hugo green melon and many more melons are grown up and down japan and their serious business the fruit isn't traditionally something you'd pick up as a snack in japan but is a luxury that often plays a big part in japan's gift-giving culture and they're not just admired for their taste but for their looks as well crowned melons are one of the most renowned varieties go into a high-end fruit store in tokyo and you're likely to see their signature stickers the melons are only grown in shizuoka prefecture in central japan and can cost you over two hundred dollars each unlike the five dollar mass-produced melons you're likely to come across in a western supermarket crown melons take constant care and attention to grow for miyoshi chujo's family has been growing these melons for 60 years at his farm near fukuroi [Music] jimento [Music] the farmers give the melons constant attention and care each melon takes a hundred days to grow and the fruit is grown all year round there are 20 slightly different varieties of crown melon seeds grown depending on the season the raised beds allow the farmers to control the amount of water each plant gets exactly and air conditioning and heating keep the temperatures constant year round crown melons have four grades fuji yama shiro and yuki any melons with even minor defects are marked as yuki then the top three grades are marked on their sugar content and perfect appearance fifty-five percent of the melons make shiro grade the third grade twenty-five percent a yama and only 0.1 or one in a thousand of all melons harvested graded as fuji the highest grade possible after around 50 days the plants begin to flower and baby fruits start to appear but the hard work has only just begun uh [Music] foreign this work is all done entirely by hand and it isn't just about getting the taste right but perfecting the appearance too as the fruits get larger on each plant they are carefully wrapped in white paper to protect them [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] once this net pattern has developed each melon is even massaged and polished by hand it is then covered to protect it from the sun for its final growing period the farmers can wear through multiple pairs of white gloves polishing these melons yeah we have the reason why the melon is such expensive so each farmer have to take care very carefully you know that even the one mistake of amount of water on one day that makes the melon deteriorating they have to take care every day every time and they take your weather temperature and they kind of talking with each metal trees how how they are on their leg each day and they grow their men like their sons or daughters [Music] but the work of the agricultural cooperatives also keeps their prices high the shizuoka crown melon company oversee the distribution and checks on melons from over 200 farmers they ensure that the quality remains high and that the prices aren't undercut the resulting taste is undeniably incredible each fruit has a complex balance of flavors and is perfectly juicy and sweet but you'll have to decide for yourself whether the high price is worth it for the taste despite the cost there's a big market for these fruits across japan consumers are willing to pay to ensure that their gift is perfect especially knowing the work that has gone into producing them the melons are often sold in individual presentation boxes sitting on silk or hay or tied with a ribbon and when choosing the perfect gift the high price is often seen as a signifier of quality so what about those forty five thousand dollar melons at the start of the season the perfect first fruits are auctioned off and are often sought after as a trophy for local businesses to bid on a new record is set for the sale of these fruits almost every year and it doesn't look like their price is going down anytime soon this pair of mangoes just sold for 500 000 yen that's almost four thousand dollars these are not just any mangoes they are taiyo no tamago or egg of the sun stunning plump red perfectly unscratched and incredibly sweet mangoes that are farmed in the miyazaki prefecture of japan every april the best mangoes from the prefecture are auctioned off at miyazaki central wholesale market but although farmers in miyazaki dedicate an entire year to preparing these mangoes for auction there's no guarantee that the fruit will fetch such a high price that's because before reaching the auctioning table a mango has to be perfect inside and out i know so difficult to grow and what makes them so expensive mangoes farmed in miyazaki are from the irwin mango variety a type often referred to as apple mango as it turns red when ripe irwin mangoes are actually pretty common and are also grown in other parts of the world and sold at much lower prices this is because the exclusivity of taiyo no tamago is not tied to which type of mango it is but rather to the care it receives in order to generate buzz at the auction a mango needs bees to increase their odds of success farmers like takuya usually rent bees during the flowering season these are flowering mango plants these play a crucial role in the pollination of the plants as without them mangoes would not grow as big as desired machines [Music] if a plant keeps flowering as the farmer wants it can survive as long as 35 years takuya's plants are 20 years old however even if bees do pollinate the plants it doesn't necessarily mean that all mangoes will qualify as taiyo no tomago this season only those that are in good shape visibly contain pits and are in good position will be given a chance to successfully grow one everything in the greenhouse needs to run smoothly temperature must be constant the room ventilated the air dehumidified and the mangoes protected from gravity when everything else is in place takuya's priority becomes the sunshine a little bit if a mango slumps into the shade takuya will tie it with a string to bring it back up and to make sure that sunlight touches every part of the fruit equally he developed these light reflectors out of milk cartons right regardless of how much it's worth takuya treats every mango with respect in return every mango repays him with a unique flavor amamito takuya has been growing mangoes for 16 years a craft he learned from his father this year he grew 9 500 mangoes in his greenhouse they're now ready to be inspected to see how many of them have earned the coveted taiyo no tamago title [Music] the first inspection is done by human eye inspectors closely analyze each mango's appearance to ensure they are red all throughout with no hints of green at the bottom then a machine sorts them according to sugar content weight and size [Music] these inspections into five graves two of which are taiyo no tomagoe today the mangoes will now make their way to miyazaki central wholesale market for the auction all the care and hard work that takuya and other farmers in the prefecture put into their fruit are leading up to this very moment the hope is to match or exceed the previous figure of five hundred thousand yen um [Music] the auction has officially begun at the miyazaki central wholesale market [Music] this year's 500 000 yen is 300 000 yen higher than last year and matches the 2019 record and the farmer who grew these mangoes is [Laughter] it's the third year in a row his mangoes fetch the highest price at the auction they have been bought by a department store in fukuoka which is [Music] today's outcome was a successful one for takuya but even in a country with a strong gift-giving culture like japan it's not always guaranteed that such a luxury fruit will find a buyer at auction [Music] i know after flowering fruiting harvesting and auctioning takuya's mango plants are ready for a new season and the hard work isn't over yet [Music] [Music] but [Music] me [Music] [Music] my [Music] you

Channel: Business Insider

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Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, fruit, so expensive, luxury, Japanese, mango

Id: 2-8KBByCbwE

Length: 25min 30sec (1530 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 30 2022