Recently, the grape cultivar "Shine Muscat" has become overwhelmingly popular in supermarkets and fruit stores all over Japan. Shine Muscat is a new cultivar developed by the Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, NARO (NIFTS) and registered in 2006. It has been released into the market just ten years ago. Since 2014, Shine Muscat has ranked fourth largest in cultivation area among the grape varieties grown in Japan. Here are the reasons for the rapid spread of its popularity nationwide.
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Shine Muscat has large-yellow green berries with strong sweetness due to above 18 Brix. Due to low acidity, the sweetness is even higher than Kyoho variety, which is also known as the king of grapes. |
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It is characterized by a refreshing Muscat fragrance derived from European grapes. Grape varieties that can be cultivated in open fields with refreshing Muscat fragrance are rare. Hence, it became a hot consumer item. |
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Large grain sized Shine Muscat similar to Kyoho cultivar, with firm flesh and crispy. Its sweet juice spreads throughout the mouth with its first bite/the moment it is chewed. |
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Shine Muscat is attractive with smooth glossy skin with bright green color. It is popular as it can be eaten comfortably by hand because there is no need to peel the skin. |
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Shine Muscat can be cultivated to produce seedless fruits. Seedless Shine Muscat are easily consumable for children and elder people alike. Hence, it is also popular as gifts and ideal for making sweets. |
 It is fresh & cross section is beautiful both lengthwise and breadthwise. | |
Muscat is said to be one of the historical fruits loved by Cleopatra too. However, it is quite difficult to grow European grapes, such as Muscat, in Japan due to abundant rainfall. Hence the so-called Muscat scented grapes have not been cultivated much. Even when it is crossed with US grape cultivars suitable for cultivation in Japan, it produces fragrance peculiar to the US grapes and not the desirable Muscat fragrance.
NARO has succeeded in developing the Shine Muscat cultivar after extensive research for almost 30 years. A landmark breed that allows European grape cultivation in Japan while retaining the characteristics of European grapes that are firmly chewed by Muscat incense! Since the registration of this cultivar in 2006, it has become popular not only among grape farmers but also among the consumers due to its delicious taste and ease of cultivation.
Eatable with skin and hard to crack
In rainy Japan, European grapes that can be eaten with skin are prone to fissure Therefore, it was necessary to grow them in glass or plastic enclosed greenhouses. But Shine Muscat hardly causes fissure, and cultivation is possible in open fields or simply by covering with easily removable rain proof vinyl sheets.
Relatively strong resistance against diseases
Although rain causes disease in grapes, Shine Muscat has characteristically strong resistance against "Downy mildew" disease similar to Kyoho grapes.
Color management is not necessary as it is green colored
One of the tedious job for the grape farmers is color management. Black varieties such as Kyoho, Pione and Delaware, red varieties such as Kaiji are called colored grapes preferred by consumers due to their unique colors. Several factors such as temperature, sunshine, fruit quantity etc. affect the coloring of the fruit. In that aspect, color management is not necessary for shine Muscat as it is green in color.
Improvement of cultivation technology progress throughout the nation
Improvement of cultivation technology in various places pruning to cut off extra branches, production of seedless grapes by gibberellin treatment, flower shaping and pelletizing to enlarge the fruit grain and arrange the cell shape etc., are some indispensable works to produce delicious Shine Muscat. These cultivation techniques are being improved day by day all over the country. Since the criteria to harvest and the size of the target tufts are also slightly different depending on the region, It may be interesting to try Shine Muscat produced in various areas.
NARO produced a lot of fruit varieties!!
Although it is not well known, NARO has produced some of the most popular fruit varieties such "Fuji" apple as the world's best apple variety "Fuji", the pear varieties "Kosui" and "Hosui" pear varieties which account for 40% and 27%, respectively, in terms of cultivation area for Japanese pears, peach variety "Akatsuki" which is the most cultivated peach in Japan, and the most popular orange variety "Shiranuhi" (Dekopon). For more information about the fruit varieties developed by NARO, please check our website!
