From creepy pears in the shape of a baby to heart-shaped lemons and watermelons, Japan has the market cornered on unusually shaped fruit. Now we’ve come across a five-sided orange produced in Ehime Prefecture. What’s more, these pointed fruits are supposed to help you pass your school exams!
The pentagon-shaped iyokan, a Japanese citrus fruit similar to an orange or mandarin, were grown by the Hizuchi Tachibana 4H Club. Not only do they have a unique shape, the fruits have a cute play-on-words name, as goukaku iiyokan can mean “pentagon iyokan citrus” and “to have a good feeling about passing” depending on the Chinese characters used. It seems the oranges were created as a good luck charm for students gearing up to take their exams.
▼ Pentagon oranges and their happy inventors.
The idea was conceived five years ago and it took a full three years for a successful crop of pentagon oranges to be produced. Farmers must carefully encase each fruit in a mold, which presses up against the fruit as it grows to form the pointed sides.
Packed with vitamin C, good for cold prevention and equipped with a clever good luck name, these pentagon oranges are sure to be an exam season staple in the coming years.
[ Read in Japanese ]