These ponkan bath salts were made by the Muchachaen company.

Founded in the 1970s as a collective of local farmers, Muchachaen has grown into a local enterprise with a social purpose.

Exploring the heritage and possibilities of historic citrus cultivation in the western region of Ehime, the range items under the Muchachaen or Yaetoco brands, aim to put something back to the community in which their fruit was grown.

Blessed with sunshine, Ehime is known for citruses. In this case it is the ponkan, an easy to peel mandarin, for which Ehime is the main cultivating region in Japan. From a single harvest each year, not all the fruit are shapely enough to be sold individually, and very large or very small ponkan often make their way to becoming juice. The skins however, are often wasted in this scenario. Of course they might make it into a marmalade, but in this case the ponkan skins are distilled for their oils, and blended into these bath salts. The aim is to recreate the smell of a just peeled citrus, and a luxurious, juicy moment in the bath.

Some of the peeling work for this project was done by local retirees in Muchachaen’s home region, generating side-employment and community for them, and sweet ponkan bath salts for the owners of the five sachet sets.

The box is 14.7cm by 8.7cm by 4.2cm. It weighs 300g.

Ingredients: Sea Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate, Mandarin Orange (Ponkan)  peel extract, Citrus reticulata var poonensis Peel, Chinpi(JPN), Pearl Powder and Hydrated Silica