The Birthplace of Yurawase Mikan
Citrus groves cover whole hillsides in the town of Yura, Wakayama Prefecture. Many are for the cultivation of Yurawase mikan, a locally propagated variety of Satsuma orange (Citrus unshiu). Yurawase (Citrus unshiu Yurawase) ripen early and are harvested from late September, while the skin is still partially green. This is several weeks or months ahead of other, more typical mikan varieties. Yurawase have a soft, thin skin and bold, orange flesh divided into juicy segments by an ultrathin membrane. They have a well-balanced flavor profile that results from a high sugar content and equal levels of acidity.
The Yurawase mikan was first identified in 1985 by a local farmer who noticed that the fruit on a branch of one of his trees was coloring ahead of the rest. Tests and investigation over the course of a decade revealed the anomaly to be a new variety of mikan created by bud mutation. The parent cultivar was a Miyagawawase (Citrus unshiu Miyagawawase), one of the most common early ripening mikan varieties in Japan. The mutation had manifested in a single Miyagawawase tree from 270 that the farmer had planted decades earlier in 1960.
Today, Yurawase are grown across Japan, including throughout Wakayama Prefecture, but their roots remain firmly in the town of Yura. There is a monument to the discovery in the Miogawa district in the north of the town, where the mutation was first identified. Many of the citrus farmers in Yura grow Yurawase as well as other mikan varieties and other citrus fruits such as yellow konatsu oranges and grapefruit-sized hassaku oranges. Much of the harvest is sold outside of Wakayama Prefecture, but some fruit is sold locally or used in juices, jams, dressings, and other regional products.