Dream wine rice sake has finally come true! Yoshino No.1 is a clean and sweet wine, which is recognized by experts.

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The first intonation brew made by ancient rice "Yoshino No.1" comes out of the oven! Zhongfu Distillery uses Yoshino No. 1 produced in Yilan Mountain to make sake, which is a special variety with a hundred years of history. It was once known as "Emperor Rice" for paying tribute to the Emperor, which is quite suitable for making wine. Ren Yongxu, a green farmer who produced Yoshino No. 1, did not use any chemical fertilizer in the planting process, and used cultivation techniques to overcome the problems of plant height and easy lodging of Yoshino No. 1, and the final yield was even as high as the usual cultivation record.

The Ma brothers, who run the Zhongfu winery, said that the quality of Yoshino No. 1 planted in this cooperation is quite good, but the domestic sake industry is not as developed as in Japan, and it is exciting to be able to successfully produce "Yoshino brew" under the condition of lack of machinery and equipment. The winery held a presentation a few days ago, and a number of relevant businessmen and scholars came to evaluate it, saying that Yoshino's wine "tastes sweet, its body is clean," its entrance is elegant and fragrant, and its food is not attractive, but can also show its elegant demeanor.

Zhongfu Distillery member Shan Qingnong Ren Yongxu planted "Yoshino No.1" to produce sake "Yoshino Yin Brew" (Photography / Lin Yijun) sake needs good rice, and the taste and aroma of the wine are better.

Ma Hezeng, director of the Zhongfu winery, said, "most of the rice commonly seen in China is edible rice, so it's okay to make rice wine, but if you want to make sake, you need to use rice wine."

General rice wine is distilled wine, sake is brewed wine, the production process and taste are completely different. Japanese sake sold on the market is mostly made from exclusive varieties of rice, such as Yamada brocade, 5 million stone, Meishan brocade and so on. Compared with edible rice, rice wine has larger particles, heavier and better water absorption, lower protein and fat content. When sake is used to make sake, the wine will be more full, including taste and aroma.

Ma explained that sake requires first milled rice, the whole rice essence to the rest of the rice heart, the rice core composition is pure starch, the wine Mimi heart is white, the starch content is higher than edible rice, not only the quality is more suitable for brewing sake, but also save cost, while edible rice has a relatively high content of protein and fat, and it is also relatively difficult to grind to the rice heart containing only starch. If it is not polished clean, the outer layer of protein and fat will make sake appear foul smell.

In the past, Zhongfu Distillery used to work with farmers as rice "Yoshino No.1," but the harvest was not very satisfactory. It was not until this year that he met Yilan Shan Qingnong Ren Yongxu, and finally had rice that could be used as sake.

Yoshino No. 1 (Photo courtesy / Ren Yongxu) Yoshino No. 1, a century-old wine variety in the east, is generous in daytime, and it is difficult to grow.

Yoshino No. 1 is a Taiwanese-Japanese hybrid rice breed that has been around for a century. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese government encouraged Japanese to emigrate to Taiwan. in 1913, Aoki from Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu moved to Yoshino (the old name of Ji'an Township, Hualien County) and crossed his hometown Kikuchi rice with Taiwan's local indica rice. In 1919, he bred rice close to the flavor of his hometown, which was widely spread in the local area. In 1927, he paid tribute to the Emperor of Japan and was named Yoshino No.1. In 1953, Yoshino-1 planted an area of 1415 hectares in Taiwan.

Taitung Agricultural Reform Farm and Hualien Agricultural Reform Farm used Yoshino No. 1 as parent to Yu Dong No. 24 and Hualien No. 18 respectively. Because of its special historical status, Yoshino No. 1 still preserved varieties, and carried out purification and fertilizer experiments in 1985. Li Chaoyun, a retired associate researcher at the Rice Research Office, believes that Yoshino No.1 has a large grain and a big heart in the middle, much like the Japanese rice variety, which is suitable for wine production.

Peng Yongchuan, a veteran farmer in Ji'an Township, Hualien, said that Yoshino No. 1 smells so fragrant that a family cooking can even smell it across the street. The variety of Yoshino No.1 is characterized by large grain, high elasticity and viscosity, but with high plant height, few tillers, soft rice stalk, easy to be damaged by diseases and insect pests and lodging easily. For farmers, planting is a great challenge, especially the control of nitrogen fertilizer.

Yilan Qingnong awakens Yoshino No.1. There is no fertilizer in the whole process, and the output keeps pace with the usual practice.

After decades of silence, Yoshino No. 1, which is so difficult to grow, was awakened by a green farmer in Ilan. This year, Ren Yongxu, a green farmer in Yuanshan Township, applied for rice seeds from Yoshino No. 1 to plant 0.5 points of land on a trial basis. During the process, there was not a single bag of fertilizer, and the challenge of plant height and easy lodging was overcome by field management.

Ren Yung-Xu, a 35-year-old graduate from National Taiwan University Forestry Institute, has adopted natural farming methods throughout the planting process. He says that the key for Yoshino No. 1 to grow well is to reduce the weight of the aboveground parts and deepen the roots, so he will sun up the fields as much as possible after the rice grows tall. reduce the moisture in the field.

"when there is less water in the field, when the upper part of the rice is short of water, the roots will dig down and look for water, and the weight of the above ground will be reduced, and the lodging probability will decrease." Ren Yongxu said that when Yoshino grew up, it was about 140 centimeters tall, which was higher than the varieties of edible rice he had planted before. the harvest also asked for help from experienced people, and the final drying was 180 kilograms of dry grain. "this data is very close to Hualien's record in Ji'an, and almost the same as the yield of conventional cultivation."

If there are farmers who want to plant, they can apply for seedlings from Flower change Farm.

Of the 180 jin of dry grain harvested by Ren Yongxu for the first time, 100 kilograms were supplied to the Zhongfu winery, while 30 kilograms were bought by other small and medium-sized processors and restaurants. It is obvious that other operators are also very curious about "Tianhuangmi."

"this is the first time to try to grow wine and rice, and it will be better for income." Ren Yongxu said that processed products are very important to farmers, with less time pressure on sales and higher income. He used to grow edible rice, and only when facing inventory pressure would he ask Zhongfu Distillery to help produce processed products. Now Yoshino has successfully produced the brew, and in the future he will adjust the planting ratio of edible rice to wine rice. He currently has 50 kilograms of Yoshino No.1 dry valley as a provenance, which is expected to expand to a third of the land next year.

If farmers also want to grow Yoshino No.1 rice on a trial basis, they can apply for seedlings from Hualien Agricultural Reform Farm.