The Kabosu

Hello, everyone! Today I will write the Kabosu, one of the specialties of Oita prefecture.

The amount of the Kabosu which is produced a year in Oita prefecture was 4,430t and 1,300 million yen in 2006. The production of the Kabosu in Oita prefecture occupied 97% of all of it in Japan. The main areas which produce the Kabosu in Oita prefecture are Usuki city, Bungo oono city, Taketa city and Kunisaki city.

<The history of the Kabosu>

Oita people planted the Kabosu in the garden in their private house in order to use as a medicine a long time ago in Taketa city and Usuki city. According to the tradition which was passed down in Usuki city, a doctor who was called “ 宗源 ” began to plant the Kabosu in the Edo period. The literature on the Kabosu appeared first after the world warⅡ. But there are some trees that the age of their trees are more than three hundred years old in Usuki city.

<The Kabosu is >

The Kabosu classifies a citrus, such as the orange, and is taken from three to five years to bear fruit after planting the seedling. The flowers of the Kabosu bloom in May and are picked some small fruits and some bruised fruits, it is called “摘果”, in order to grow the bigger Kabosu. The Kabosu is able to absorb more water from the soil by 摘果. They are harvested in August.

The flowers of Kabosu

Next, I will write how to cook with the Kabosu. The acidity and good smell of the Kabosu go with the grilled fish, chicken and beef and the Nabemono, it is Japanese hot pot dishes, and so on. Also, there are the Kabosu juice, the Kabosu cake and the Kabosu cookies and so on. The Kabosu has the vitaminC which has effects to prevent catching a cold and the citric acid.

Do you know the festival of a pacific saury in Tokyo? That is held near the Meguro station every year and one of the famous festivals in Tokyo. Oita prefecture has supplied the Kabosu to this festival since 1999. The Kabosu is necessary to the grilled pacific saury from Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture.

 

                                                        

The festival of pacific saury in Meguro

Oita people have developed actively the product with the Kabosu. And the products have periodically been evaluated by the salesmen on the food floor in the famous department stores in Japan. This purpose is to improve the quality of the products and extends the market. There are more than three hundred products at present. The products of the Kabosu are the Kabosu dressing, the Kabosu jam, and the Kabosu mayonnaise and so on and registered for 229 products of the Kabosu.

I like the Kabosu pepper and always buy it when I came back in Oita. It goes with grilled and boiled a chicken and a poke, a Miso soup and a Nabe and so on. The nice smell and the hot taste whet a my appetite. I recommend it.





 

The Kabosu pepper