Taoyuan No. 3 Fragrant Rice Wins Big: Top Ten Classic Premium Rice Selection Results Announced
The results of the annual Top Ten Classic Fine Rice were announced today: the fragrant rice group was led by Taoyuan County, which took 3 of the 5 spots, all of them the Taoyuan No. 3 variety, beating last year's biggest winner, Tainung No. 71. Among them, Wu Chun-hsien from Daliao, Kaohsiung, broke through with Kaohsiung 147, and his brother-in-law Chen Yi-hung also won in the non-fragrant rice group, with the family making the shortlist for 4 consecutive years. The judges pointed out that this year's fragrant rice quality was not as good as in previous years - full of aroma but with a rather firm texture, not as soft and chewy as the non-fragrant rice, possibly due to the effects of hotter-than-usual weather.
The Council of Agriculture holds a national rice competition, which this year enters its tenth year. After the "Top Ten Classic Fine Rice" selection was added in 2007, it has become an annual event for farmers. This year, more than 1,500 farmers took part in the selection. Since last year it has been divided into a fragrant rice group and a non-fragrant rice group, with ten selected in each group in the first stage. In today's final selection, the aroma of rice wafted from the Agriculture and Food Agency early in the morning. Fifteen judges used color, aroma and taste as the judging criteria, selecting 5 winners in each of the fragrant rice and non-fragrant rice groups.
Last year's fragrant rice group was split between Tainung No. 71 and Taoyuan No. 3; this year Taoyuan No. 3 stood out alone, with 7 shortlisted and ultimately 3 winning spots. The Agriculture and Food Agency pointed out that Tainung No. 71 is mostly grown in the central region, and this year rice blast disease was severe in central and southern Taiwan, China, which may have affected the quality of Tainung No. 71.
The Top Ten Classic Fine Rice has built up a reputation; this year more than 1,500 farmers took part, with taste and aroma the key judging points