Slighter, more slender and with a more delicate skin than European varieties, Kyuri are a sweeter alternative with crisp, cool, succulent flesh.

During the Festival of Obon – a summer festival honouring ancestors – families fix wooden sticks into fresh Kyuri to make effigies of spirit horses which are intended to ferry ancestors from the realm of the dead to the party as quickly as possible.

• Plant seeds on their sides, inside from January or outside in a sunny spot from late May
• Intolerant of frost
• Warm weather required for strong growth
• Water the soil rather than the leaves to deter fungal infections

• 2g
• 160 x 110 x 2mm
• Includes 10 seeds approx