Mikan (Orange) Season

Wherever you live, you have probably seen bags or boxes of little Japanese oranges for sale in your grocery stores.  Here they are called Mikans, or formally Unshu Mikan, but in other places Satsumas, Tangerines or Mandarins.  Cold weather ripens the fruit, so Mikan season starts soon after Halloween.  We have been enjoying eating them for nearly two months now.

There are plenty of places to go pick Mikans straight off the vine.  One area to do this is Oshima Island.  Here are some of the Mikan picking farms we found...

It is so fun getting the fruit fresh and ready to eat.  Something we will surely miss when we leave Japan.  Luckily we should still be able to buy boxes of them in the US (or wherever we might travel).