Widely known as the ‘King of Fruits’, mangoes which widely start ripening during the hot summer months are harvested across the world in different periods, especially from the middle of the summer to the winter, depending on the location and variety of mangoes. They are majorly ready for picking during the late summer and autumn. However, a farmer in Japan’s Hokkaido Island has gone against the odds and is presently harvesting some of the juiciest and tastiest mangoes during the cold winter months. The mangoes which the farmer claims to be naturally produced are probably also among the most expensive mangoes as they are sold for as much as $230 (roughly Rs 19,000) each.

According to a Bloomberg report, the 62-year-old Hiroyuki Nakagawa harvests his ‘winter special’ mangoes at his farm in Hokkaido’s Otofuke. While the temperatures outside are dropping to as far as minus -8 degrees Celsius, the temperature inside his greenhouse clocks in around 36 degrees Celsius.

Japanese farmer harvests special winter mangoes

As per the report, Nakagawa has been growing mangoes in the snowy region of Japan’s northernmost island for more than a decade now. Earlier he ran a petroleum company but later switched to mango cultivation.

Under the guidance of another mango farmer who was convinced about growing the fruit in winter months, Nakagawa founded his farm and established his startup named Noraworks Japan. A few years after this, he trademarked his mango brand as Hakugin no Taiyo, which roughly translates to “Sun in the Snow.”

Since then, he has been running his business quite efficiently and presently sells them for around $230 each. Noting that he wanted to create something “natural out of nature”, Nakagawa recalled that he never thought an experiment in sustainable farming would one day yield the world’s most expensive mangoes.

Speaking about how he managed to grow mangoes in the cold months, the farmer shared his secret of using the two natural resources i.e., snow and onsen hot springs. He stores snow from the winter months to cool his greenhouses during the summers in order to delay the fruits’ blooming, then he uses natural hot springs to warm the greenhouse and harvest around 5,000 mangoes out of season.

Apart from this, he also highlighted about a few advantages that harvesting in winter came with. From fewer insects to a low-humidity climate and better access to labor, the winter months turned out to be the best and most sustainable period for harvesting mangoes for Nakagawa.

The mangoes are also much sweeter than normal ones with higher sugar content and a buttery smooth texture, claimed Nakagawa.

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