Tainan’s city government yesterday announced this year’s pre-order mechanism for direct Irwin mango shipping to Japan as well as the new breed of “champagne mangoes” available on the domestic market.
The Tainan Yujing Lian Hsing Fruit Production Cooperative began to collaborate with the city government and Breeze Super on providing pre-ordered direct shipping service three years ago.
Cooperative manager Lin Yi-chen (林易辰) said the pre-ordered direct shipping of Irwin mangoes from Taiwan to Japan has been well received.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government via CNA
People can place orders at Breeze Super supermarkets in Taiwan and the ordered Irwin mangoes would be shipped in a single batch by sea to Japan, he said.
The mangoes would then be delivered to recipients by collaborating Japan-based delivery service provider, Yamato Transport, he added.
The cooperative this year launched what it calls “champagne mangoes,” which are developed using high-quality Irwin mango strains.
Lin said champagne mango trees grown in Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) are planted in soil similar to the chalk soil in France’s Champagne region.
Farmers would let champagne mangoes ripen and fall naturally on the trees so that the mangoes would turn fully red and have high sweetness, he said.
Champagne mangoes average about 15 degrees Brix in sweetness, while regular mangoes are usually 12 to 13 degrees Brix, Lin said.
Allowing the fruit to naturally ripen and fall delays the harvest time by 10 to 30 days compared with regular mangoes, he said.
Regular mangoes grown in the open must be wrapped individually with bags to prevent damage by fruit flies, Lin said.
In this case, bagging would reduce sunlight exposure, which is important for the color change and sweetness, he said. Champagne mangoes are grown in net pouches to protect them from fruit flies, Lin said.
Each mango is wrapped in a pouch and tied to tree branches to prevent them from dropping directly to the ground, with a reflective panel at the bottom, he said.
The panel is to ensure each fruit’s lower part can turn red as well with sufficient reflected sunlight, Lin said, adding that that is a Taiwanese agricultural innovation.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said Tainan has close to 20 sister cities in Japan, including in Kyoto and Yamaguchi Prefecture.
“The city government hopes that Tainan’s seasonal mangoes of the best quality can be shared with people in Japan,” he said.
Breeze Group vice president Gordon Kao (高銘頂) said Breeze Super is working to developing the premium ingredient market, adding that it aims to shorten the distance from farm to fork and provide consumers with high-quality agricultural products.
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