Prime Produce: Local Ingredients Reimagined
2026 / June
This month we visit farmers across Taiwan who are revitalizing traditional produce into brands that are taking the market by storm, in a movement that is a microcosm of the transformation and upgrading of industries islandwide.
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Featured Story
Cilantro, Love It or Hate It!
A Polarizing Herb Takes Creative New Directions
Such is the dislike that coriander inspires among some people that it has given rise to its own annual date of antipathy—International I Hate Coriander Day—on February 24th. Scientific research suggests that for haters, their dislike of coriander (the plant and seed) and cilantro (as its leaf ......
A Rice Processing Miracle
—The Transformation of Chishang Rice
Rice from Taitung's Chishang Township is famous far and wide, and the Chi-shang Farmers’ Association produces a range of processed rice products, with annual sales surpassing NT$100 million. Interestingly, the initial motivation for these processed products was to reduce public rice stocks.......
Old-Time Liquor
Scores a Comeback
It is early morning, and people crowd Shizi Market in Jieshou Village on Nangan, one of the Matsu Islands. Amid stalls selling pot-side paste and vermicelli with “old wine,” I detect a scent of coffee, sidle up to the counter at VII Coffee, and try their famed HI!KAJU, a mixture of coffee and ......
Citrous Reinvention:
Minxiong Kumquat Factory
Stepping out of the car at Minxiong Kumquat Factory in Chiayi County’s Minxiong Township, we’re greeted by the pleasant contrast between a glass-fronted building and a brick house. Here visitors get to learn how kumquats lend themselves to the creation of pastries, fermented tofu, ice cream, ......
Springtime for Hualien’s Outsize Pomelos:
From Ugly Fruit to Sustainable Resource
In agricultural parlance, large Wendan pomeloes are often referred to as “out-of-grade” fruit or “seasonal leftovers.” Because Taiwanese consumers prefer the smaller pomelos produced by mature trees, the less visually appealing large ones were long destined to be sold at low prices or even dis......
More Than Just a Fruit:
The Many Faces of Shetou’s Guavas
Shetou Township is located in southeastern Changhua County. Its free-draining sandy loam soil is fertile and well suited to growing crops. The Babao Irrigation System, which draws its water from the Zhuoshui River, passes through the township. Here both industry and agriculture flourish: The l......
Donggang’s Bluefin Tuna Destiny
Donggang Township, in Taiwan’s southernmost county of Pingtung, brims with excitement when the Pacific bluefin tuna arrive. From the opening ceremony of the auction for the season’s first catch, the town takes on a festive atmosphere that lasts two months. This is not only the time for bumper ......
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