citrus

Five 500ml bottles filled with shiikuasa juice lined up on a kitchen counter, with a saké warming bottle (tokkuri) and cup (ochoko) standing in front of them.

A cutting board on a kitchen counter, with a knife resting next to a glass juicer and a shiikuasa fruit that has been sliced in half. The cutting board is surrounded by a bowl containing squeezed citrus rinds, a glass bottle topped with a funnel and containing some juice, and a stainless steel mesh strainer.

Top view of the top tray of a refrigerator freezer compartment, blanketed entirely in siplock bags filled with frozen shiikuasa juice.

Close up view of the branches of shiikuasa tree with a dozen or so fruits.

A net bag filled with shiikuasa fruit freshly cut from the tree, some with leaves still attached.

There are six varieties of citrus in the back garden: mikan; yuzu; lime; lemon; hassaku; and shiikuasa. If you aren’t familiar with it, the last in that list is commonly grown in Okinawa and southern regions of Japan. It’s so common in Okinawa that, during the visit for Mieko’s last rights, I was hard put to find orange juice on the shelves of a local market, until I realized that shiikuasa was in plentiful supply.

A bitter orange tree still bearing fruit stands in the middle of a garden, with the back entrance to the house behind. The tree and garden are covered in a light dusting of snow.