Iyokan

The iyokan (伊予柑 - Citrus × iyo), also known as anadomikan (穴門みかん) and Gokaku no Iyokan,[1] is a Japanese citrus fruit, similar in appearance to a mandarin orange, with Dancy as the pollen parent and Kaikokan as the seed parent.[2] It is the second most widely produced citrus fruit in Japan after the satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu). Ehime Prefecture accounted for 90% of Iyokan production in 2021.[3]

Iyokan
Iyokan
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Sapindales
Family:
Rutaceae
Genus:
Citrus
Species:
Citrus × iyo

Iyokan was discovered in 1886 in the orchard of Masamichi Nakamura, a resident of Yamaguchi Prefecture. In 1889, Yasunori Miyoshi, a resident of Ehime Prefecture, bought the original tree and brought it home, and it became a specialty of Ehime Prefecture. Originally marketed as "Iyo mikan", it was renamed "Iyokan" in 1930 to avoid confusion with Unshu mikan (Citrus unshiu). The name "Iyo" was taken from the ancient name of a place in Ehime Prefecture, the Iyo province.[3][4][5]

Description

The peel is thicker than that of a mikan, but it can be peeled by hand. The skin is very shiny and brightly colored and, once peeled, the flesh gives off a very strong scent.[5] The flesh is slightly sour and more bitter than an orange, but sweeter than a grapefruit.

There is a variation grown into a pentagon shape to promote good luck and to revive the popularity of the fruit,[6] also giving it another nickname, Gokaku no Iyokan, which translates into "Pentagonal Iyokan"[7] It is sometimes placed into fish feed to mask the fishy flavor.[8]

In Japan, the citrus can be seen during springtime as a seasonal KitKat flavor with messages of "good luck" to students studying for exams on each packet. The name "iyokan" is also a near-homophone for "good feeling" in Japanese, and is used as such in its marketing.[9]

See also

References
  1. "Japanese farmers create pentagon-shaped oranges". whatsonxiamen.com.
  2. Shimizu, Tokurou; Kitajima, Akira; Nonaka, Keisuke; Yoshioka, Terutaka; Ohta, Satoshi; Goto, Shingo; Toyoda, Atsushi; Fujiyama, Asao; Mochizuki, Takako; Nagasaki, Hideki; Kaminuma, Eli; Nakamura, Yasukazu (2016). "Hybrid Origins of Citrus Varieties Inferred from DNA Marker Analysis of Nuclear and Organelle Genomes". PLOS ONE. 11 (11): e0166969. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1166969S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166969. PMC 5130255. PMID 27902727.
  3. 伊予柑 (いよかん) 愛媛の地で育まれ“伊予”の名を冠した柑橘 (in Japanese). Ehime Prefecture. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  4. いよかん (in Japanese). Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, Mikkabi. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  5. "Ehime Citrus fruits > Varieties of Ehime Citrus fruits > Iyokan". ehimemikan.asia. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  6. "五角形伊予柑で合格めざす！ 「五格いよかん」 日土橘4Hクラブ". ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-02-04.
  7. "Pentagon Shaped Iyokan Citrus Fruits". Design You Trust. Design, Culture & Society. Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  8. "To tickle the taste buds, try farmed fish raised on local specialties". AJW by The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  9. "受験生応援". 【公式】 ネスレ通販オンラインショップ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2019-02-04. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
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