Longan honey and mushroom are on season now! “Taichung Longan Honey” (「臺中蜂華」龍眼蜜) and high-quality mushrooms were promoted on Wuquan Parkway (美術綠園道) on June 16 and 17 by farmers from Waipu, Wufeng, and Taiping where bee farms are highly concentrated and Xinshe where mushrooms are abundantly produced. The promotional event attracted large crowds and generated sales of over one million NT dollars in every single day.
Taking advantage of sunny weather on the weekend, the Agriculture Bureau of Taichung City Government invited Farmers' Association from Waipu District and Xinshe District to hold on Wuquan Parkway this promotional event for longan honey and mushroom. Present on the event were Mayor Jason Hu, Tsai Jing-qiang (蔡精強, Director-general of Agriculture the Bureau), Zhang Da-chun (張大春, Director-general of Tourism and Travel Bureau), City Councilor Liu Shi-zhou (劉士州), Legislator Jiang Qi-chen (江啟臣), and Tsai Ke-long (蔡柯隆, special assistant to Legislator Tsai Jin-long (蔡錦隆)). Mayor Hu personally gave out “Taichung Longan Honey” to citizens on the scene, making everyone very happy.
Mayor Hu said he learned of how wonderful Taichung's agriculture is only after the merger of Taichung city and county. For example, mushrooms produced in Taichung alone account for 60% of the total production in Taiwan, while longan honey is so precious that he feels very proud of it. Mayor Hu mentioned that he had recently promoted Taichung’s agricultural products to the U.S. markets with a big success. He told American consumers that buying high-quality Taichung's agricultural products is taking “health” home! In addition to the longan honey and mushroom, Mayor Hu also recommended “seaweed pork” (海藻豬) produced in Waipu District. He stressed that the pork is rich in Omega-3, a kind of highly healthy and nutrient fish oil. “Seaweed pork” has been causing a sensation in the market since its launch. Many major restaurants and hotels are purchasing it in large quantity, making it in short supply.
Mayor Hu said he is confident that Taichung City will become the capital of "agricultural products" in the world if we work together hard enough. To enhance the quality of mushrooms produced in Taichung, the Agriculture Bureau and Xinshe District Farmers' Association held a mushroom quality evaluation contest recently, in which the "champion mushroom” award was conferred to Zhan Zhen-long (詹鎮隆), a mushroom farmer from Xinshe District, because his mushrooms were highly rated in terms of appearance, weight, thickness, aroma, color and taste. Mayor Hu awarded Zhan the gold medal together with NT$ 20,000 prize money. "Taichung Longan Honey" produced by the beekeeping production and marketing teams stationed in Waipu, Wufeng, and Taiping has won the ISO 9001:2000 certificate and passed the longan honey quality evaluation contest held in this year, in which 12 beekeepers were awarded with "Grand Prize" and "First Prize" after strict examination and selection by the experts.
To prevent fake honey from impacting the market, Taichung City Government has been strengthening cooperation with farmers associations in every district and “Taichung Longan Honey” is representative of the highest quality honey products. “Taichung Longan Honey” is loved by not only domestic consumers but also overseas markets, including Europe, the United States, and Japan. It is estimated that its export sales will exceed 5 tons in 2012, said Agriculture Bureau. Because of low rainfall in this spring, the quality of longan honey is much better than before and people shall not miss to taste it, urged Agriculture Bureau. Meanwhile, the Sea of Flowers Festival in Xinshe is also under active preparation. Mayor Hu extends his invitation to everyone. Come and enjoy the most natural flora show in Taiwan.