What I am battling: Yuzu.

The day before yesterday, when I got home, there was a mountain of yuzu at the entrance...
Looking at it, I realized all the fruit had been picked from the yuzu tree in the garden that had been covered in them just that morning.

I see, I see.
So you're telling me to battle with yuzu this week!

My father's field

My house is next to my parents' house, separated by a parking lot, and behind it is a field that my father cultivates.
It's too big to be called a home garden, but since he's not a farmer, I wonder if it's really just a home garden? That's the scale of the field.
He started it after he retired, so it's been over 30 years now.
Every vegetable he grows is magnificent and delicious. In that respect, it's enough to call him a "farmer."
That is the kind of father I have.

My Type A father

8:00 AM. After my father finishes hanging out the laundry, he heads straight to the field.
There are various things to do in the field depending on the season, but my father always pulls weeds, no matter what.
Except for rainy days and hospital days, he pulls weeds every single day.
The weeds are to be pitied. If they grow even one centimeter, they immediately become my father's prey.
Where my father is, no weeds grow.

That is the work ethic of a meticulous Type A man.

The management of a meticulous man

In spring, there's cabbage, potatoes, snow peas, and onions.
From summer to autumn, there's cucumber, tomato, green pepper, broccoli, edamame, and lettuce.
In winter, there's Chinese cabbage, daikon radish, turnips, carrots, and garland chrysanthemum.

My father's work is like that of a craftsman.
He prepares seedlings and seeds efficiently, prepares the soil, and plants the vegetables.
He plants things like cucumbers and tomatoes two weeks apart so that the harvest doesn't all come at once.

It is the planned and detailed harvest management of a Type A person.

A neat and tidy field

For example, daikon radish.
At this time of year, one row of daikon is planted.
Naturally, as the daikon grow to a good size for eating, he pulls them out one by one, starting with the largest.
Then, toward the end of the season, the slow-growing daikon are left in a disorganized state.

I don't think my father likes this sight.
Perhaps he hates the sight of a field with only a few radishes left in a row.
He wants to pull them all out cleanly and prepare for the next crop.

"Pull them out soon."
"Give some (daikon) to a friend."
Once he starts saying that, it's usually about three days later.
All the daikon have been pulled out and are piled up in front of our entrance...

This yuzu situation also involved this kind of exchange, leading to a mass harvest and then a pile at the entrance.

Once the harvest begins in the field, he wants to clear it all out at once.
He wants to tidy up the fruit trees, too.

It is the field of a Type A person who is impatient and loves organization.

I, the battler

"If you don't need the daikon, just throw them away."
Knowing my personality, that's how my father says it.
There's a mountain of daikon!
There are more than I can use, but I can't just throw them away when he says that.

I made oden and pickles.
The leftovers were turned into dried daikon.

The same goes for the Chinese cabbage.
I made hot pot and pickles.
I like kimchi, so I even tried making it this season.
The kimchi I made was delicious, but to turn all that forcibly harvested Chinese cabbage into kimchi, I would need a dedicated kimchi refrigerator.
As a minimalist, I can't have an extra refrigerator.
I gave up on the path to becoming a kimchi master.
In the end, Chinese cabbage is best just for pickles.

...If you've read this far, can you tell?
This article is about "the battle between my father and the yuzu."

The history of my battle with Yuzu

Yuzu is an opponent I have been fighting for many years.

At first, I made it into Yuzu jam.
It's good in yogurt, good as Yuzu tea, and good to give away to friends.
However, when making it by hand, the amount of sugar is a concern.
Do I really have to add this much sugar...?
I was worried about the sugar, so I tried making it with honey, but honey is expensive.
It goes against my principles to spend too much on ingredients just to consume Yuzu.

I also tried making Yuzu peel, not orange peel.
I also tried Yuzu miso.
However, these also failed.
Despite the effort, I couldn't consume much of it.

I tried processing it into salted Yuzu.
When making hot pot, it was salted Yuzu hot pot every time, and when grilling meat, it was always salted Yuzu sauce.
...My family got tired of it immediately.

After all the trial and error and twists and turns, I finally found the ultimate destination for Yuzu consumption!
That is...

The battle with Yuzu!

Yuzu left in front of the entrance.
I have to consume these today.

The final destination and the pinnacle I, a Yuzu processing artisan, have reached is Yuzu ponzu.

To those of you saying, "Oh, is that all? Yuzu ponzu!"
Yes, exactly!
When all is said and done, Yuzu ponzu is the best and strongest way to process Yuzu.

Processing is fast, material costs are low, and homemade tastes better because of the aroma.
"Fast, cheap, and delicious!" - a Yuzu ponzu that would surprise a certain beef bowl chain.

Today, I diligently turned about 150 Yuzu fruits piled up at the entrance into ponzu.
Washing 150, cutting 150, squeezing 150...
I thought while squeezing.
Since I've settled on Yuzu ponzu as the only option for Yuzu, should I buy a better juicer?

No, no, I'm aiming to be a minimalist, so is it okay to increase my tools just to squeeze Yuzu to death a few days a year?

While asking myself that, I finished squeezing...

Oh, no!!

It's great that I made the juice, but I don't have enough containers to put the ponzu in!!
The juice is 1.5L.
Since I mix equal parts juice, mirin, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and vinegar, the final yield is 7.5L.

Yuzu is a tricky agricultural product (fruit?), isn't it?
Relatives, acquaintances, and neighbors will take vegetables, but with Yuzu, everyone says, "Well, just a little bit."
They are happy to have it if it's there, but they don't need a large amount.

I'll turn such pitiful Yuzu into ponzu,
so everyone, please take some off my hands!!

My battle this week.
What do you think?

This is what I do in my daily life! Lol