The Japanese have also perfected edible art which food prepared elaborately. Even the simple sushi dishes are appealing to the eye. The more complex sushi come in art forms like a cone, bird, fish, or flora designs.

Other forms of cooking also have an aesthetic appeal like grilling and garnishes for baked or fried dishes. The Japanese take great pride in being able to present food in a way that pleases both the palate and the eye.

If you are going to be in Japan, make it a point to eat out. It is a culinary experience unlike in any other country in the world. Even the simple noodle dish goes through hours of preparation  and years of skillful training.

Grilled chicken is never a simple case of cutting up skinless chicken breast, marinating and serving hot. Grilled chicken, also known as Yakitori is marinated and grilled according to specific temperatures and cooking conditions.

Like the Tenugui, edible art in Japan is using basic kitchen ingredients but creating something truly beautiful. If you have time to look at Japanese confectionary art, you will see incredible beauty in the wagashi (confectionary). There is even a craft for creating edible art called kogei-gashi which is created according the seasons in a year. All ingredients must be edible. It’s a form of art that began in the late 1600s, and was never meant to be eaten. At that time, it was merely as decoration on the table.  Today, it’s an art form like an edible bonsai tree, cherry blossoms, or a complete garden setting that can be consumed – but only after the show.

Apples: Apples appear during the months of October and November. We can find mostly red apples with a beautiful bright red skin in Asia. In Japan, Fuji accounts for most of the production of these Pearmains. They are pretty sweet and delicious.

Mandarin Oranges: Mandarin oranges are quite popular in autumn and winter. They are found mostly in Japan and India. The hybrid variety of this type of orange rarely has seeds. Japanese love to eat Unshu-mikan, the most popular variety of mandarin, sitting at kotatsu (a small table covered by a quilt with a heater underneath) watching TV during winter. Cleopatra Mandarin oranges appear in large quantities in India during winter.

Blackberries: This autumn fruit is rich in vitamins. Blackberries that are larger and sweeter are found in Southeast Asia. This fruit that comes from the bushy plant appears in early autumn.

Blueberry: Blueberry, a spherical and medium to dark blue fruit, appears in late autumn and is found in most of the countries in Asia. It grows throughout September and is sweet to eat raw. It can also be consumed with pancakes or lightly spooned over rice.

Damsons: They are small plums with beautiful blue skin found during autumn in Asia. They are usually bitter and sometimes sweet to eat raw. So they are mostly used commercially to prepare jam and jellies.

The other autumn fruits are fresh figs, Grapes, pears, plums, and raspberry.

Among winter fruits we have Cara oranges that appear only in winter. There are also Oro Blancos that is similar to a Chinese grapefruit found in winter. You can also find different citrus fruits like Kumquaths and fo-shou in China during this season. Kumquaths are tiny orange citrus fruits. Fo-shou, which represents Buddha’s hand, is a unique fruit popular among Chinese. Different varieties of bananas and planktons are also found immensely during winter.

There are many delicious fruits that are native to Japan. For centuries, local populations that were living on the island have sufficiently fed and flourished on these fruits. If you are visiting Japan make sure to enjoy the real taste of Japan in these fruits.

Some of the popular native Japanese fruits include, Actinidia kolomikta, Amanatsu, Ardisia, crenata, Citrus depressa, Daidai, Dekopon, Diospyros kaki, Ehretia acuminate, Fuji (apple), Iyokan, Japanese citrus, Kabosu, Kiyomi, Kyoho grape, Mutsu, and Natsumikan.

Fuji

Often thought to be named after the Mt. Fuji, this Japanese apple is considered to be the bestselling apple of Japan. In 1930, this was developed by Mr. Fujisaki in Tohoku Research Lab, hence it carries his name. This is the second generation cross between the native Japanese apples of the same name and two American apple varieties. Since its arrival on the market in 1962, it has been very popular due to its delicious taste and ruby red color. This apple contains more then ten percent sugar, and it has very long shelf life. It can be kept for almost six months without refrigeration. Most Fuji apples come from the Aomori region. Incidentally it became very popular in US as well, where it was introduced in 2003.

Actinidia kolomikta

This is another popular Japanese fruit locally known as Miyamamatatabi. This is a cousin of the European vine and forms normally as red drops. It is also said to be a native fruit from the Russian far east. This is a very long lived vine, it grows up to ten meters and its best species is Kolomikta. These are vines from cold climates, so they  normally produce kiwifruit like delicious berries. The growing of this plant is an art, but the results are astonishingly delicious. These are part of salads, appetizers, and even part of savory dishes or dry fruit. One interesting fact about this is that the plant attracts cats.

Citrus Depressa

Citrus Depressa is named in Japan pectinifera, Okinawa, or shikwasa. The English call it a Taiwan tangerine. These are flat lemons with thin-skins. These are normally smaller than green citrus fruit, but they are juicier and have much more flavor. These are native to Okinawa, and are normally very sour in taste. They are normally added as a garnish, to lemonade, or are part of a tea that is sweetened.

The Daidai

The Daidai fruit is normally known as the bitter orange. The Japanese name is gwanggyul. This fruit is usually picked very late, so it has less fruit, but the taste is more mature and slightly bitter. The skin is very thick so it retains the green color. Mostly, the skin is used in food rather then the fruit it self. This is very important fruit as it is used in Japanese New Year celebrations. Other uses include being part of cakes and the famous dish Kgami Mochi.

The Dekopon fruit

Dekopon fruit is an extremely sweet and fruity citrus. These don’t have seeds and it was developed as a hybrid of Kiyomi and Pnkan brands. Very rich on vitamin c, this fruit is normally recommended for health reasons. In the USA this is available on the market under its generic name “Shiranuhi”.

Known as the King of Fruits, the Durian has an odor extremely foul like no other fruit, with a formidable-looking skin protecting its soft, tender fruit. Yet, people would go through the trouble of fighting through the thorny-looking façade to experience the juicy bit inside. So what makes this fruit that can weigh up to ten pounds so special?

If you crack open a Durian, you will see sections of seeds neatly arranged, which is covered with a creamy, custard-looking flesh. Some would describe the experience of eating the fruit as eating custards in a lavatory. It is not something people would enjoy doing, but the experience itself is special. Some people would hold their noses as they eat the fruit, attempting to enjoy the fruit without the smell. Yet, the smell lingers in the mouth and clothes for a long while.

The unpleasant smell of the fruit is so strong and lasting, that it is forbidden in hotels, restaurants, and public transports, even where Durians are famous for. This controversial, seasonal Asian fruit is very well-known that there are also specially-made signs that indicate no Durians allowed in the vicinity. Some people try to hide them when they enter the hotel, but the odor is so strong that it easily escapes to the whole floor if opened in a hotel room.

This King of Fruits is also said to be an aphrodisiac. Eating it makes your body feel warm, where Asian cultures believe that it is a “heating” fruit, which needs to be countered by consuming a “cooling” fruit, or by drinking water off the emptied shell of the Durian. One belief about the fruit and its “heating” element is that consuming it with alcohol can be deadly, since alcohol warms your body, too.

Durians are so loved that some cultures have also made Durians into dishes, by making them into flavorings for cakes and candy, or eaten with a meal. It seems that it is unstoppable to how far people would go to eating it.

Longan is a tropical fruit, extremely sweet. It is round in shape with brown shell and about 3 cm in diameter. The fresh fruit is juicy and white while the dried one is almost dark. In Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine, it is also believed to have an effect on relaxation. So it is often used in soup and sometimes canned to sell. Longan is almost always harvested in Guangdong and Guangxi.

Litchi

Litchi is a tropical and subtropical fruit native to China. The fruit is white and delicious with good smell so is mostly eaten fresh. The fruit of litchi grows up to 5 cm long and 4 cm wide. The outside of the fruit is covered by pink-red, roughly-textured rind that is inedible but easily removed to expose a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh. The harvest season is summer so people like to freeze them and eat frozen. It is almost the best fruit in summer to Chinese people but it is thought to give internal “heat” if you eat too many.

Myrica Rubra

Myrica rubra is also called “yangmei”. Chinese cultivation is concentrated south of the Yangtze River, where it is of considerable economic importance. It is spherical, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) in diameter, with a knobby surface. The surface color is typically a deep, brilliant red, but may vary from white to purple. The flesh color is similar to surface color, or somewhat lighter. The flesh is sweet and very tart. At the center is a single seed, with a diameter about half that of the whole fruit. It tastes sweet but a little flavor of a drug so that it also used in medicinal liquor.

Olive

Olive is now popular all over the world and wildly used as olive oil. But the fruit of olive is delicious and healthy. At the first time, olive is one of the special fruits cultivated in China, especially the tropical area (like the Mingjiang River area).  Olive is about 1.5 cm to 2 cm long and 1 cm diameter with a tough seed. The flesh of the olive is green and turns into grape when it is totally ripe. Olives have good perfume and tastes a little bitter at the first time. In china, olive can not only be eaten as fruit but also made into preserved food. Olive has medicinal effect as well. It can relieve the pain of headache and stomach.

Durian

The durian is the tropical fruit well known as the “king of fruits”. The fruit can grow as large as 30 cm long and 15 cm in diameter. The color is green to brown and it has a special smell that a lot of people do not like.  Its shape ranges from oblong to round with sharp angle. The durian are almost always cultivated in Hainan and Hong Kong. A durian of about 1.5 kilograms can cost about 80~100 yuan.

Images: Baidu.com