The Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute has launched a new pineapple cultivar that smells like a mango and is better adapted to rainy weather, saying it could be a new star of exported fruits.
The new cultivar, named Tainung No. 23, was developed by the institute’s Chiayi Agricultural Experiment Station after 24 years of research.
Bred from two parent pineapple cultivars — Tainung No. 19 and Tainung No. 21 — the new cultivar is better adapted to Taiwan’s rainy environment, station associate researcher Kuan Ching-shan (官青杉) told a news conference in Chiayi City on Friday.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Due to the nation’s hot and wet summers, many pineapple strains yield poor-quality fruit, which might contain too much moisture, have a weaker flavor or ripen too quickly, the station said, adding that this results in losses for farmers.
The effects of climate change have made the situation worse, it added.
By comparison, the Tainung No. 23 pineapple features a mango smell that would not be affected by the summer weather, with its sweetness and sourness nicely balanced, Kuan said.
Dubbed “mango pineapple” by farmers, the new cultivar’s average sweetness reaches 18.2 degrees, with a sourness of about 0.7 degrees, he said, adding that it tastes delicate and does not have apparent fibers.
According to the Agriculture and Food Agency’s fruit sweetness scale released in 2018, sugar cane for ordinary consumption (not for making sugar) usually has 20 degrees of sweetness, while a quality pineapple should have at least 13 degrees.
Weighing 1.4kg each on average, the new pineapple looks like a short cylinder, and its skin takes on an orange hue when it ripens, Kuan said.
Its plants are relatively short, to help farmers, the station said, adding that farmers should use machines to save on labor when caring for the plants.
Its fruit produced in autumn and winter can be stored longer, making it suitable for exporting, the station said.
The Japanese market has responded positively to the pineapple, station director Chen Kan-shu (陳甘澍) said, adding that farmers interested in growing it can contact the station for authorization.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
RSS