Fruit

From north to south, Japan covers vast latitudes and so is blessed with a variety of fruits, ranging from apples and pears in the north to various citrus fruits and the Japanese loquat in the south. Mikan, known as satsuma, is probably the most popular Japanese fruit in the West but kaki (persimmon) and nashi (pear) are also making their way into Western supermarkets. The beautiful reddish orange colour of kaki makes it ideal to use in cooking, since it expresses both the fruit season itself and the autumnal colour of the leaves.