This past week we went to a Miyazu Mikan farm. For a small fee, we were able to pick as many mikan as we wanted to eat, while also filling up an entire basket of mikan! It was a great experience and everyone was able to eat their fill and have fun. Mikan are sweet seedless citrus fruits similar to a tangerine or mandarin orange. Originally from China, they have been popular in Japan for hundreds of years since as far back as the 15th century! All the way up until 2013, the mikan was the most consumed fruit in Japan (it was just overtaken by bananas and apples). With their popularity, it’s no surprise that eating mikan during the colder months in Japan when it grows is a beloved tradition. While it hasn’t been cold enough in Yosano for me to do this yet, I’ve been told several times that the ideal way to enjoy a mikan is while sitting at a kotatsu. I have my basket of 20+ mikan all set and ready for that colder day when I can enjoy this fabled bliss. With this proper way of eating a mikan, there also comes theories on how peeling your mikan reflects one’s personality and even their blood type! Here we go: - If you peel neat, artistic shapes like a spiral, you are probably blood type AB and are talented and composed. - If you peel cleanly, you are probably blood type A and are an earnest and neat person. - If you peel roughly and wrap the remnants in tissue, you are probably blood type B and a passionate and creative person. - If you break the peel into small pieces and make a mess, you may be blood type O and an easygoing person with leadership ability. I personally have no idea what my blood type is, but I peel my mikan pretty cleanly trying to keep it to a single “piece” of peel. I could see myself being an earnest and neat person, so now I just need to find my blood type and really put this to the test. How do you peel your mikan? Do you find it accurately reflects your personality? Of course none of this is scientific in any way, but reflects the fun relationship Japan has with this cute fruit. You hear that, apples and bananas? You may have passed the mikan in consumption numbers, but you won’t take the mikan’s place in our hearts.