Warm winter cuts daylily output, driving up prices: May auction average tops 130 yuan per kg
The Agriculture and Food Agency recently announced that, affected by high temperatures in February and March, daylilies in some townships have reached the threshold for cash disaster relief. According to data from the Agricultural Product Market Trading Information Station, taking the Taipei market as an example, daylily arrivals in the same period in May were only about 40% of last year's; with lower volume driving prices up, the price rose from an average of 77.2 yuan per kg last year to 134.8 yuan per kg this year.
Under the "Items and Amounts of Cash Relief for Agricultural Natural Disasters," farmers whose daylily damage rate reaches 20% or more can receive 24,000 yuan in relief per hectare. Hualien daylily farmer Li Defa said that due to the warm winter, this year's daylily output was only about 20% of the past. In addition to the lowland daylilies in May, the annual daylily season also includes high-mountain daylilies in August, and Li Defa said the August output remains to be seen.
Hsiao Wen-lung, chairman of the Taiwan Daylily Association, said the stereotype from past "excessive sulfur" issues with daylilies has kept consumer willingness low. Therefore, in recent years the daylily association has not only guided farmers on how to process daylilies safely, but also introduced consumers to various new ways of eating daylilies.
Hsiao Wen-lung gave an example: if consumers buy sulfur-free daylilies and cook them using the old method, they will find the texture poorer; this can be solved simply by soaking them in water first, letting the daylilies absorb enough water before cooking, and they can still enjoy daylily dishes with a crisp texture. Huang Hsiu-e, owner of the 964 Station on Liushishi Mountain in Hualien, said that because sulfur-free daylilies are less crisp in texture, besides cooking them, daylilies can also be steeped in water to drink, and even added to fresh milk or lemon tea for a good flavor, or made into a daylily burger. If consumers still want to drink daylily soup, they can soak the daylilies in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes before putting them in the pot, then add them at the end of cooking to enjoy a delicious daylily soup.
