For the epicure that has everything, there’s now a melon available in Japan that’s worth as much as a new car.
The Yubari King is a cross between two varieties of cantaloupe, and must be grown in the Yubari region in order to bear that name — just as Kobe beef, another Japanese culinary luxury, must be produced in that certain geographic region.
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The Yubari King is known for it’s sweetness and, of course, its price tag, which just reached a whopping $27,000 (though that was technically for a pair). That price is only reserved for the choicest melons however, with average Yubaris typically going for $50 – $100, which is still ridiculous when you think about it—but not, like, the cost-of-my-college-loans ridiculous.
The melon may be the most expensive that Japan has to offer, but it certainly isn’t the only premium fruit that the country’s farmers have assiduously cultivated.
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Last summer, a single cluster of Ruby Roman grapes sold at a market in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan for nearly $11,000. Do a little bit of math and that comes out to over $350 per grape.
More recently, individual Japanese strawberries were selling in Hong Kong for roughly $22 a piece, and came cushioned on a pink styrofoam pillow and faux hay.
With the current fetching price of Japan’s luxury fruit market apparently booming, it makes $200 square watermelons seem almost quaint.
