🍱 Hoshigaki Namasu

Persimmons are grown throughout Japan. Saga prefecture does not produce large amounts of this fruit. Not much land is dedicated to growing persimmons but there are unique types of them grown in Saga. One type, with the brand name, “Onsen Bijin” (=Hot Spring Beauty) and grown in Takeo city, is a sour persimmon whose sourness has been taken out using special techniques. The fruit is left to ripen on the trees until they become a deep red color. The texture is crunchy, but the fruit is very juicy. This Onsen Bijin is not produced in large quantities and only 50 to 60 boxes of this fruit are made per year, which makes them rare. Another brand, “Kyara Gaki”, can only be grown on trees with an age between 50 to 100 years. The persimmons grown on these old trees are sweeter than ordinary persimmons and has been gifted to the Imperial Household Agency in the past. In autumn, many persimmons are left out to dry like orange curtains and this is scenic to the region.In such Saga Prefecture, "kaki noren" (=persimmon curtains) have become an autumn tradition.Dried persimmons are made by hand, one by one. The skin of the sour persimmon is peeled and then the fruit is tied with a piece of string and hung from a high place such as under eaves. They are called "kaki-Noren" (persimmon curtains) because the rows of dried persimmons look like orange curtains hanging down, particularly around Mount Sefuri and Mount Tenzan. This tradition has been around for around 300 years.The temperature in the areas surrounded by the mountains have extreme ranges, which make the climate ideal for making dried persimmons. The dried persimmons are soft and chewy and are very popular. Dried persimmons can be eaten as is,They can also be eaten for cooking, such as to make “Hoshigaki Namasu”. "Namasu" is eaten as one of the New Year's osechi dishes, and this "Hoshigaki Namasu" is indispensable in the Matsuume area of Daiwa-cho, Saga City, where dried persimmons have been produced for many years.