Plant Bio

Dekopon is a seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange.

It is a hybrid between Kiyomi and ponkan (Nakano no.3), developed in Japan in 1972.

Originally a brand name, “Dekopon” has become a genericized trademark and it is used to refer to all brands of the fruit; the generic name is shiranuhi or shiranui. Dekopon is distinctive due to its sweet taste, large size and the large protruding bump on the top of the fruit.

The fruits are usually grown in large greenhouses to keep them at a constant temperature, and are harvested from December to February (winter in Japan). In the case of garden farming, they are harvested from March to April.After harvesting, dekopon are usually left for a period of 20–40 days so that the levels of citric acid in the fruit decrease, while the sugar levels increase to make a more appealing taste to market. Only products with sugar level above 13°Bx and citric acid below 1.0% can be sold with the name dekopon.