 |
| Genuine Fruit Gift Hampers |
In contrast to Japanese department stores and special vendors like Senbikiya, Australians do not value their fruit as highly or place such an appreciation on luxury fruit gifts.
In Japan, luxury fruit belongs to an unique merchandise category that remains almost exclusively for providers of fruit gifts. Gift fruit-- which can consist of grapes, cherries, peaches and pears-- is nourished in a special way, unique from common, normal fruit.
And for this reason it commands a higher price, whether it be in a fruit hamper or not.
"Japan is probably the only nation in the world where you have fruit as a gift concept," said Ushio Ooshima, a supervisor at Senbikiya, whose main store in Nihonbashi alone sells 40 to 50 expensive melons a day and as many as 200 a day in the course of the mid-year and end-year gift-giving times. At Senbikiya, "99 percent of the transactions here are for gift," Ooshima said.
In the historic society of get well gift giving, a melon may be provided as a significant present to an important client, a business acssociate, to a professional to whom a debt of gratitude is owed, or to an ill friend as a get-well-soon gesture. Providing a fruit gift basket in Sydney is a completely distinct concept - where the focus is on affordability and fruit portion sizes.
Fruit Gift Hampers
The extraordinary prices demonstrate exceptional procedures used in cultivating the fruit basket fruits. While an ordinary melon in grocery stores rarely costs more than $5, the high-priced version, usually a variety of musk melon, is nurtured by significant growers in particular locations, of which Shizuoka prefecture and Hokkaido are two of the best known. In Australia, we are most likely to be thrilled with a tantalisingly fruit bouquet or edible bloom that features fresh fruit with free delivery.
In Shizuoka, west of Tokyo, the fruit gift melons are grown in sophisticated green houses, equipped with air-conditioners that fine-tune the temperate to optimal levels day and night. Melon vines are grown and harvested in a soil bedding that is separated from the ground, said Tsuneo Anma, overall executive secretary of a growers' group based in Fukuroi city that produces the "Crown" brand of melons. Producing 3.5 million melons yearly, the agricultural cooperative is the biggest specialty-melon grower in Japan. It is no wonder that hospital fruit and sympathy fruit are popular reason for sending a get well soon fruit hamper.
The soil separation is imperative to regulate moisture levels. "The moisture uptake by the tree roots must be optimized to promote proper amount of photosynthesis," Anma said. "If fruit gifts trees are grown in the ground, the roots will grow unregulated," making water absorption difficult to control. This is another reason free delivery fruit baskets are in a completely different league to thises prized luxury fruit presents.
In Japan, luxury fruit belongs to an unique merchandise category that remains almost exclusively for providers of fruit gifts. Gift fruit-- which can consist of grapes, cherries, peaches and pears-- is nourished in a special way, unique from common, normal fruit.
And for this reason it commands a higher price, whether it be in a fruit hamper or not.
"Japan is probably the only nation in the world where you have fruit as a gift concept," said Ushio Ooshima, a supervisor at Senbikiya, whose main store in Nihonbashi alone sells 40 to 50 expensive melons a day and as many as 200 a day in the course of the mid-year and end-year gift-giving times. At Senbikiya, "99 percent of the transactions here are for gift," Ooshima said.
In the historic society of get well gift giving, a melon may be provided as a significant present to an important client, a business acssociate, to a professional to whom a debt of gratitude is owed, or to an ill friend as a get-well-soon gesture. Providing a fruit gift basket in Sydney is a completely distinct concept - where the focus is on affordability and fruit portion sizes.
Fruit Gift Hampers
The extraordinary prices demonstrate exceptional procedures used in cultivating the fruit basket fruits. While an ordinary melon in grocery stores rarely costs more than $5, the high-priced version, usually a variety of musk melon, is nurtured by significant growers in particular locations, of which Shizuoka prefecture and Hokkaido are two of the best known. In Australia, we are most likely to be thrilled with a tantalisingly fruit bouquet or edible bloom that features fresh fruit with free delivery.
In Shizuoka, west of Tokyo, the fruit gift melons are grown in sophisticated green houses, equipped with air-conditioners that fine-tune the temperate to optimal levels day and night. Melon vines are grown and harvested in a soil bedding that is separated from the ground, said Tsuneo Anma, overall executive secretary of a growers' group based in Fukuroi city that produces the "Crown" brand of melons. Producing 3.5 million melons yearly, the agricultural cooperative is the biggest specialty-melon grower in Japan. It is no wonder that hospital fruit and sympathy fruit are popular reason for sending a get well soon fruit hamper.
The soil separation is imperative to regulate moisture levels. "The moisture uptake by the tree roots must be optimized to promote proper amount of photosynthesis," Anma said. "If fruit gifts trees are grown in the ground, the roots will grow unregulated," making water absorption difficult to control. This is another reason free delivery fruit baskets are in a completely different league to thises prized luxury fruit presents.
Hospital Fruit Delivery
Growers trim the vines so that only three melons will grow on each tree. When the baby melons grow to the size of a human fist, two are chopped off to allow the most promising one to monopolize all the nutrients from the vine. That one melon is expected to mature into the juicy, beautiful and revered $100 dollar fruit. Imagine if we were to offer fresh fruit at prices like this on FruitBaskets.net.au?
How different does the high-priced melon taste from an average one? "They are definitely different, from the scent of it to the texture of it," said Shigeko Hoshi who lives in Tokyo and occasionally eats the expensive get well fruit when her household receives one in a fruit gift basket. "The sweetness is exquisitely balanced with the sourness of it.".
Many Japanese consider the exclusive melon, like the significant grape, cherry or pears, to be the perfect fruit gift, set apart by its aura of high-end and added value from what is otherwise a mass-produced natural product. When we shared this image on social media via twitter and facebook, we were shocked that people would pay such an extra price for luxury fruit gifts.
"People go, 'What a difference does a get well gift melon make,"' Ooshima said. "People usually don't eat the very best for themselves. They set it aside for others as a gift hamper," which is the very spirit of Japanese gift-giving.
"Less than 1 percent of the melons we grow certify as 'fuji,"' said Anma, referring to the top grading, which combines the greatest potential for fresh fruit taste with a perfect shape and look. "They need to look perfectly round with the mesh-like surface pattern impeccably even.".
While melons are the most expensive luxury fruit gifts as a category, even fuji-grade melons can be out-priced by out-of-season fruit
