As Taiwan prepares for the Dragon Boat Festival, businesses around the country are making zongzi, the traditional rice dumpling eaten during the holiday. Some businesses are putting their own special twist on the treat, using local ingredients to showcase the uniqueness of Taiwanese cuisine.
As Taiwan prepares to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival later this month, businesses around the country are preparing zongzi, the traditional rice dumpling eaten during the festival.
Some businesses are putting their own special twists on the treat by using local pineapples and other ingredients.
Agricultural official Huang Kuo-chou says that this shop last year made 15,000 zongzi using 8,000 locally grown pineapples and local sticky rice.
After China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples last year, agricultural cooperatives throughout the country had to think of creative ways to sell the fruit.
Surprisingly, putting them into these traditional rice and meat dumplings has been a hit. This year, the same shop is aiming to sell 20,000 of the snacks.
In Xi Luo Township, one business is planning on selling 50,000 zongzi made with local golden rice. Employees have to work overtime to fill orders.
Agricultural official Shen Pei-sheng says that they’ve tried bringing workers from outside the township to make the dumplings, but they made too many mistakes.
He adds that because the township only makes a limited quantity of golden rice, they cannot make more than 50,000 rice dumplings per year. To those that didn’t put in an order, he says not to worry. They can always try again next year.