Buying authentic Lishan honey apples: Taichung City Agriculture Bureau urges support for local products

Recently, imported apples from South Africa have appeared on the market passed off as locally grown honey apples. The Taichung City Agriculture Bureau said that imported honey apples are coated with a layer of wax to keep them fresh, giving them a smooth and glossy skin, a neat and rather round shape, and a taste that is neither crisp nor sweet and does not develop honey; authentic Lishan honey apples have a rather irregular shape and mottled patterns and colors on the skin, but a rich fruity aroma and a crisp texture. The public is urged to support local agricultural products and choose authentic Lishan honey apples.

This year, affected by Typhoon Meranti, Lishan honey apples saw a reduction of about 30%. Low-priced imported apples from South Africa are grabbing market share, dealing a blow to the local honey apple market. The Agriculture Bureau said that Lishan honey apples from Heping District, Taichung City, gradually hit the market in late October. Authentic Lishan honey apples cost about 110 yuan to 180 yuan per jin, while imported apples from South Africa cost only one third of that price. Unscrupulous vendors pass off imported apples from South Africa as Lishan honey apples, which not only misleads consumers but also causes double losses for farmers.

The Lishan area has a large temperature difference between day and night, so the honey apples produced there convert stored starch into sugar, storing it in the form of fructose to prevent frost damage, which creates translucent honey cores inside the fruit. If people want to judge sweetness, they can weigh the fruit by hand: the heavier the honey apple, the greater the chance it has developed honey. After cutting it open, if the honey cores in the flesh spread outward around the center of the core, it is an authentic Lishan honey apple.

The Agriculture Bureau called on the public to eat local and seasonal food and support local industry, noting that successive wind disasters have reduced Lishan honey apple production, and that low-priced imported South African apples passed off as Lishan honey apples will affect farmers' livelihoods. It urged people to correctly choose Lishan honey apples, which are rich in fruity aroma and crisp in texture.