Fengxiang County

Young jam maker sources fruit produced on pesticide-free orchards

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• published: 07 Mar 2016
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Taiwan’s population of agricultural workers is facing a serious aging problem, requiring an urgent replenishment of new blood and vitality. In Tainan, 25-year-old farmer Lin Wei-hsun has become involved in the production of pesticide-free jam. He personally visits orchards to learn more about the fruit and the special characteristics of each fruit for future use as jam. This is Liu’s way of making a pesticide-free product. Follow our report to learn more about his work. This jar of fresh jam is produced from pesticide-free fruit. It is the work of a young Taiwanese entrepreneur, Lin Wei-hsun.As a young child, he remembers his grandmother making mulberry jam. After finishing his military service, Lin began pursuing a similar path which soon sent him in search of fruit orchards. He traveled far and wide looking for fruit with the best flavor.Lin and farmer Huang Cheng-rong became good friends because of a mutual interest in producing jam. In the beginning, Lin sought to produce jam made with lemons, which Huang found very puzzling. Huang Cheng-rong Lemon FarmerIn the beginning, I wanted to say making jam just isn’t that simple. Lemons are quite sour. Was he really interested in producing a jam with such acidity?But in facts, Lin was only seeking the use of lemons to produce jams made only from natural ingredients.Lin Wei-hsunJam MakerIncreasing the jam’s acidity means it has more layers (of flavor), and then it can be considered more sweet and sour, with the lemon helping maintain the jam’s color and the freshness longer.Lin worked on organic farms, where he noticed pesticide-free products smelled better and were fresher. But because of a lack of interest, the fruit wasn’t popular on the market, even though farmers felt it was the most problem-free.Huang Cheng-rong Lemon FarmerYou see I just picked this (lemon) and its looks (so ugly). But I think this is the most natural, and it shouldn’t have any effect on the fruit.Because Lin produced jam, he was able to cooperate with farmers on planting fruit to reduce their dependence on pesticides and reduce the number of items that cannot be sold because of their strange appearance.Lin Wei-hsunJam MakerThe skin of this fruit cannot be seen when making jam. But the fruit has a lot of flavor so by making jam we can create added value for locally grown agriculture products. A potential source is in Yuanlin in Changhua County. He was seeking out one of the ten Shen-Non Prize for farming award winners, Chiang Tsai-lang. Chiang’s orchard contains pesticide-free guava, which is a perfect ingredient for Lin’s jam.Lin Wei-hsunJam MakerChiang shipped some of his guava to me. It was quite obvious that the flavor of this guava was quite strong. If I left it for a long time, the entire room will take on the smell of this guava. When Lin selects fruit, he puts particular emphasis on fruit’s aroma – a key indicator of whether or not the jam will turn out well.Chiang’s guava is quite popular. He doesn’t sell it in bulk to the market, Instead, he waits for orders from clients. Lin is now experimenting with sweet Bull’s Eye Guava.Chiang Tsai-langGuava(Wei-hsun’s jam) is very delicious and made conscientiously. This diced guava permeates the whole workshop with a very rich aroma. Lemon is added to enhance the flavor of the jam. Later, it’s all put into a pot to be boiled which needs to be carefully attended, or it may burn.Voice of Lin Wei-hsunJam Maker The normal version of the jam is that it has a very bright color, like the color of the fruit. The moisture won’t be completely evaporated. For burnt jam, you can tell from the overall appearance that it is no longer edible.At the beginning, Lin’s foray into jam making did not go well. He was unable to develop an ideal flavor. He later found out his problems were associated with watery fruit, which didn’t have the right aroma. Lin Wei-hsunJam Maker For example, crystal or pearl guava is not suitable for making jam. I never succeeded in making jam with those fruits. And I didn’t know that the type of fruit that I used could be the problem.During this period of exploration, Lin purchased many different types of fruit and different equipment. He spent the tens of thousands of NT dollars he saved from military service and his family even advised him to give up this pursuit. Wu Yue-yunLin’s Mother His father told him that getting an office job may be better as life would be easier and he wouldn’t need to deal with all of these worries.Lin, however, did not give in the failure. Even when he had no money he would go work in a factory. And then he would study from books. In the end, he learned the secret to producing good jam.Lin Wei-hsunJam Maker I bought some jam from Christine Ferber, a famous jam maker in Alsace France. Later I purchased her recipe books and I learned that jam does not need pigments or additives but can be very natural, hea...