Japan is well known for its love of peaches (there are 7th-century writings that wax poetic about the fruit’s blossoms), so it’s no surprise that the East Asian nation takes pride in its sweet, juicy export.
But when I saw a box of three in Harrods selling for £80 (about £27 each), I physically shuddered.
To put this into context, a pack of four white-fleshed peaches in Waitrose (what I consider a “treat”) costs £3.60.
When I looked at the prized produce, it looked more like a Tiffany display than a fruit station: enclosed behind glass and ornately displayed on a tray under bright lights.
The friendly vendors informed me that these peaches come from Yamanshi Prefecture in the Kyoutou region of the country.
If you have £80 to spare, these would certainly make a perfect gift for a peach fanatic, says Elmira.
This includes Fuefuki, a city beloved by tourists and so closely associated with the fruit that it is known as “the peach city” and is the largest producer of peaches (and grapes) in Japan.
It was physically painful to spend so much more than my weekly grocery budget on produce, and I clutched the bag with my new purchase protectively as I walked on my tube ride back from Knightsbridge.
However, opening them at home was like Christmas Day. The experience was truly glamorous when I opened the fruit boxes and laid them out to taste.
If you have £80 to spare, these would definitely make a perfect gift for a peach fanatic.
It seemed almost forbidden to me to wash and cut one of the peaches, which was large and firm to the touch.
Unlike the variants we may be more accustomed to in Europe, these were white inside and turned completely pink towards the seed.
I was so enchanted by the sight of them that I almost forgot that they are famous for their light, refreshing and sweet taste.
I braced myself for a delicious £27 worth of treat and wondered if I could actually go back to Tesco after this.
It seemed almost forbidden to wash and cut one of the peaches, which was of considerable size and firm to the touch, Elmira said.
While it was a delicious peach (although, as Elmira discovered, it might have been slightly unripe), it was “nowhere near worth £30”.
Unlike the variants we may be more accustomed to in Europe, these were white inside and turned completely pink towards the seed.
However, as I bit into the peach, I felt the strangeness of the price hit me, hard, for a second time.
While it was a delicious peach (although, I discovered, it could have been slightly unripe), it was nowhere near worth its £27 price tag.
Long story short, I started listing things that would have cost me a similar amount: a nice, juicy steak with peppercorn sauce, a very filling meal at my favorite restaurant, a block of sashimi-quality organic salmon.
The peach is everything a peach needs to be: it’s light, refreshing, and summery, and it has a structural integrity that meant it didn’t drip juice after a bite.
But it seemed like there were no exceptional farming practices or incredible ingredients that would justify a price anywhere near that.
It seems there is a lot to know about the art and craft that goes into growing peaches.
The friendly saleswomen informed Elmira that these peaches come from Yamanshi Prefecture in the Kyoutou region of the country.
According to the For food blog, in Japan peaches are grown under much more ‘controlled’ conditions and are ‘covered with small paper bags while green to protect them and encourage them to grow pale and sweet’.
The author also explained that each fruit is hand-picked and placed side by side to prevent bruising. This undoubtedly increases the cost of transport, a delicate and expensive matter even within Japan itself, and even more so internationally.
The blog also notes that unlike Western peaches, there is a special way of eating the Japanese fruit.
Instead of eating it straight, they recommended chilling it in the refrigerator before cutting it along the bone and peeling off the skin.
I ran into the kitchen to try it and while it certainly enhanced the sweetness a bit, I didn’t feel it was worth paying £80 for.
Earlier this month, Harrods had also sold peaches from the Fukushima region, which was hit by a nuclear disaster in 2011, the report said. BBC.
The magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake of March 11, 2011, triggered a 41-meter tsunami that struck the eastern coast of Japan and caused three nuclear reactors to melt down.
Nuclear fuel was melted and released into the environment, and 300,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. After years of reconstruction, Japan plans to reopen the Fukushima exclusion zones in 2030.
It was the same price (a box of three for £80) and was part of the region’s attempt to restore confidence in local produce.
This is the first time that peaches from that region have been available in a European store.