Members of the Nippon Bartenders Association's branch in Mie Prefecture have created original cocktails that make use of typhoon-damaged Jiro persimmons — a local specialty of the town of Taki that is now in harvest — that cannot be shipped for sale.

Until now, persimmons unfit for sale had been consumed by producers and their neighbors. But since ripe Jiro persimmons have sugar content as high as 17 degrees Brix, the Taki Municipal Government, concerned about excessive sugar intake by residents, asked the association to develop cocktails based on the fruit.

The bartenders developed eight cocktails, including a Moscow Mule variation made by grating half a Jiro persimmon and mixing it with orange juice, vodka and ginger ale, a concoction that involves mixing the fruit with ume (plum) liquor and a nonalcoholic drink made by mixing persimmons and oranges with crushed ice.