is a seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange. It is a hybrid between

Kiyomi (''Citrus unshiu'' × '' sinensis'') is a Japanese citrus fruit that is a hybrid of a ''Miyagawa Wase'' mikan and an orange. The new breed was the first tangor created in Japan in 1949. It was named Kiyomi after the temple and the lagoon near ...

and

ponkan Ponkan (); ''Citrus poonensis''; "Chinese Honey Orange") is a high-yield sweet ''Citrus'' cultivar with large fruits in the size of an orange. It is a citrus hybrid ( mandarin × pomelo), though it was once thought to be a pure mandarin. Descri ...

(Nakano no.3), developed in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1972. Originally a brand name, "Dekopon" has become a

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

and it is used to refer to all brands of the fruit; the generic name is . Dekopon is distinctive due to its sweet taste, large size and the large protruding bump on the top of the fruit.

Names

The name is most likely a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words There were many market names for dekopon during the time the name was a trademark of the product from

Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

. For instance, ''himepon'' was the market name for the fruits originating from

Ehime prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

. The ones grown in

Hiroshima prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

were marketed as ''hiropon''. After an agreement whereby anyone could use the name "dekopon" by paying a fee and meeting certain quality standards, the name was used for the fruit no matter where it came from in Japan. 'Dekopon' does not have an agricultural variety registration number (''Nōrin Bangō'') because of its bump, which at the time of its development was considered to be unsightly, and failure to reduce

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

in the fruit.

Cultivation

The fruits are usually grown in large

greenhouses A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These s ...

to keep them at a constant temperature, and are harvested from December to February (winter in Japan). In the case of garden farming, they are harvested from March to April. After harvesting, dekopon are usually left for a period of 20–40 days so that the levels of

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in t ...

in the fruit decrease, while the sugar levels increase to make a more appealing taste to market. Only products with sugar level above 13° Bx and citric acid below 1.0% can be sold with the name dekopon.

Outside Japan

In Brazil, dekopon is marketed under the brand name of ''Kinsei'' which derived from the Japanese word for Venus. Brazilian farmers have succeeded in adapting the variety to tropical to temperate climate in the highlands of

São Paulo state SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

. The work was done by Unkichi Taniwaki, a farmer of Japanese origin. ''Kinsei'' is easily harvested from May to September. In the high season for ''kinsei'', each fruit costs around US$0.50 at the Brazilian street market and supermarkets. In South Korea and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

dekopon is called ''hallabong'' (한라봉) named after

Hallasan Hallasan is a shield volcano on Jeju Island in South Korea; it is the highest point of South Korea and the second-highest mountain in Korea overall, after Paektu Mountain. The area around the mountain is a designated national park, the Hallas ...

, the mountain located in Jeju Island, where it is primarily grown. The citrus budwood was imported into the United States in 1998 by a California citrus grower, Brad Stark Jr. The rights to the sterilized budwood were purchased in 2005 by the Griffith family, owners of the nursery TreeSource and packing facility Suntreat. The dekopon was released as a commercial product in the US under the name "Sumo Citrus" in early 2011.

Others

Dekopon have become so popular in Japan that the chewing candy brand giant

Hi-Chew is a Japanese fruit candy sold by Morinaga & Company. Origin Hi-Chew candy was first released in 1975. It was re-released in the packaging of individually wrapped candies in February 1996. The origins of Hi-Chew began when Taichiro Morinag ...

(ハイチュウ) has released a limited-edition dekopon flavor. In commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the first shipment of dekopon, Japan Fruit Growers Cooperative Association designated 1 March "Dekopon day" in 2006.

References

External links