Just let that sink in for a minute. That’s a real, edible Penta-orange. It’s an “iyokan,” also known as a “Japanese Summer Orange”, which are mandarins crossbred with oranges from the Ehime prefecture. The interesting shape is a result of the oranges being grown in pentagon-shaped boxes, so the country that brought you canned bread and robotic girlfriends won’t have messed with the genetics of your weirdly-shaped fruit.
As of right now, there are only 300 of these odd little fruits available, but there are plans to make many more. These have the possibility to inspire entirely new dishes and creations based around geometric shapes and it’s possible that other fruits and vegetables may see themselves in new shapes in the near future.
What Sparks Our Fire: Low-tech ways of messing with food are somehow a little more fun than genetic pentagons.
How would you eat this penta-orange?