OKAYAMA of JAPAN；Fruits picking in Okayama

Okayama is blessed with soft and delightful climate.
Thanks to that, we can harvest various kinds of fruits all year round.
My favorites are peaches and grapes which have a good reputation nationwide

Speaking of fruits from Okayama, strawberries are in season at the moment
So I’ll show you some spots where you can taste fresh strawberries

 

I highly recommend a strawberry picking if you’d like to taste fresh strawberries.
We visited ‘Yasuhara kanko ichigoen (strawberry farm)’.

It takes about 40min by car from Okayama station.

You can eat strawberries as much as you like within 40munites (1500yen). As you can see, strawberries are grown on the shelves in this greenhouse, so you don’t need to stoop to pick them

 

Fresh strawberries are juicy and sweet

I got a big one

This is ‘Akihime’ which is mild and sweet.

In this greenhouse, there are four types of strawberries, and each of them has different taste.

Personaly, I’m fond of ‘Akihime’ and ‘Beni-hoppe’ which has rich flavour.

Condensed milk goes well with strawberries You can buy it at the entrance.
 

Apparently, tasty strawberries have four distinctive features.

They have vivid red colour, shiny skin, deep coloured seeds, deep green calyxes.
  It was really fun to pick them and taste them
They tasted far better than what I bought at supermarket

By the way, this farm closes if it runs out of strawberries.
So maybe you’d better visit there in the morning

Yasuhara kanko ichigoen

Address: 433 Hayataka, Kurashiki City
Tel: 086-482-0990
Opening time: 10:00
Close: please check on the website
Price: adults 1500yen (40min)
Access: 10min by car from Hayashima IC
01415.net/

Besides this farm, we have many other places where you can enjoy fruits picking.
You can pick strawberries in spring (December - May), peaches in summer (July - September), grapes in autumn (August - November) etc…　

Why don’t you try it

 

Apart from that, we have fantastic local specialty of fruits produced in Oakayama.
It’s a fruits parfait, a glass of fruits in season and ice cream
http://www.okayama-cci.or.jp/fruitparfait/　　(fruits parfait of Okayama)

　　
 So, shall we try it

We headed for a sweets shop in Okayama City, ‘gelateria Misao’.
It takes about 50min by car from Okayama station.
The way to there is a bit complicated, but it should be ok if you follow small signboards on the road.

Here we are
 
 

Such a lovely shop

This shop belongs to Misao farm, and it’s known for its freshly-made ice cream and other sweets.

This is a fruits parfait with strawberries from Okayama.
 

Strawberries are so sweet
And the ice cream is also good, it lives up to the reputation


We also tried ice cream, ‘kinkan (kumquat)’ and ‘cherry blossoms’.  　
Uhh, they are so good

 

It’s really nice to chill out in the terrace seats enjoying the scenery
Momotaro seems to be relaxed, and as well as a dog of the shop.
 

By the way, there’s a cage behind the shop, and you can see unusual birds like white peacocks
And it goes without saying that there are many other animals in this farm 
So, it's the best place for sweets and animal lovers

gelateria Misao
Address: 628　Kitananaku, Minami Ward, Okayama City
Tel: 08636-2-5542
Opening time: 10:30-18:00 (May-September)  
                         10:00-17:00 (October-April)
Close: Mondays (October-April)
Menu: a fruits parfait 650yen, ice cream (double) 350yen
http://www.jelato-misao.com/

Speaking of strawberry, don’t forget ‘ichigo daifuku’  It’s a Japanese popular sweets, rice cake with whole strawberry in it

A sweets shop ‘Kangetu-do’  in Kurashiki City is known for its specialty line of ichigo daifuku.
It takes 10min by car from JR Kojima station.
   

There are 9 flavours (some of them are seasonal)
 
Each daifuku (a rice cake) has bean-paste inside.
The flavour is varied, white bean, red bean, chocolate, green tea, pumpkin… 

What’s more, this shop offers daifuku with other fruits like banana, mango, blue berry, chestnut
  All these daifuku look gorgeous I wish I could have a taste of all…

Finally we made up our mind.
 Here’s ichigo-daifuku
 
The rice cake is so soft
Sweet bean-paste matches a fresh strawberry...
Pumpkin flavoured bean paste was also nice, and as well as tomato one.

Of course, we also tried daifuku with other fruit
 
They are delicious

Oh, just one thing, this shop is quite popular, so daifuku sometimes sell out before the noon.
Maybe you should go in the morning, or book daifuku on the phone

 
Kangetsu-do

Address : 1-7-34 Shimonocho, Kojima, Kurashiki City
Tel : 9:00-18:00 (it closes if daifuku sell out)
Close : Mondays (it opens if it’s a holiday), the first Tuesday of the month
Menu: daifuku  from 158yen
Access: 5min by car from JR Kojima station

 

I hope you enjoyed our story full of fruits from Okayama

 Please try them when you come to Okayama! I’m sure you’ll like them

 

A: Yasuhara kanko ichigoen      B: gelateria Misao     C: Kangetsu-do