Linyuan's Golden Harvest Kaohsiung's Onion Farming District／林園洋蔥
Linyuan's Golden Harvest
Kaohsiung's Onion Farming District
◎English translation:Peng Hsin-yi
◎Photos: Lin Yu-en
It is a warm winter day in Linyuan and the "Golden Harvest" is well underway. Farmers collect heaps of onions and pile them up along their sun-drenched fields. The aroma fills the air as they pack them up to and get them ready for shipping out to Kaohsiung's local markets and Taipei's wholesale market.
Linyuan's Onion Farm District is approximately 100 hectares. The Onions take approximately 6 weeks to mature, with a peak season between January and February. Mr. Yang Chen-yuan of the Linyuan Farmers' Association explains, "Onions thrive in environments graced with salty sea breezes". Due to Linyuan's close proximity to the ocean and its particular soil composition, it is an ideal location for onion farming. Also, due to Southern Taiwan's year-round sunny weather, Linyuan's onions grow rounder and more succulent. The larger ones even reach one catty (about 600 grams or 1.5 lbs) and have become very popular due to their impressive size and rich flavor.
"In its hay day, Linyuan's onion farms were much bigger than today and at that time the onions were nearly all exported to Japan", reminisces Mr. Gong Long-hui (a veteran famer who has grown onions in Linyuan for more than 30 years). Mr. Gong explains LInyuan's onions are a type known as "Dingyuan No. 6". These onions are larger than average, not tear-inducing, milder, sweeter and juicier than other onions. After a few days in the sun, the outer skin turns brown, dry and thin. The inner layers are juicy white, featuring finer grains and have a crispier texture that will almost melt in your mouth. It has a short shelf life. Even when they are refrigerated, they don't last more than two months due to its high water content.
Mr. Yang explains the way he knows the onions are ripe and ready for harvest is when the leaves are droopy and the tips turn earthward. After the harvest, the leaves are used as compost, enriching the soil for the next batch of onions. If there is too much rain, the onions become vulnerable to pests and diseases transmitted by pests. If disease outbreak does occur, cross infection happens quickly and all the farmers could suffer tremendous loss. These days, there is only one onion harvest per year which is mostly distributed domestically. However, farmers still face a lot of competition from imports. Farmers like Mr. Huang Yuan-tai hopes consumers will choose domestic produce. He believes Linyuan's onions are far tastier than the imported ones. Most consumers are familiar with yellow onions which are popular for their longer shelf life and used more frequently in recipes, but red and white onions are also available. The red and white varieties are not as delicate and juicy as the yellow ones, but red onions are excellent for red wine.
Mr. Gong offers tips on picking good onions. He explains he looks for ones that are full and round. With this inside information, everyone can now buy perfect onions, so maybe it's time to get out those onion recipes and make a wonderful meal featuring Linyuan's onions.
林園洋蔥
◎文／張嘉玲
◎攝影／林育恩
冬陽正暖，田壟上一落落的洋蔥羅佈於林園道路兩側，農用採集場內，散落四處的洋蔥果實吸收陽光後，微微散發出洋蔥特有的馨香味，農戶忙著揀選果實，分級包裝，預備將洋蔥販售至台北果菜拍賣市場或是本地市場。
林園洋蔥栽種面積約100公頃，洋蔥盛產期為每年的1～2月，成長期約三個半月，林園農會楊振源表示，洋蔥喜愛生長在空氣中含有鹽份的地區，近海的林園區常年經海風吹拂，土質適合洋蔥生長，又有充足陽光照耀，成熟的洋蔥果實渾圓，可重達12兩~1斤，廣受市場歡迎。
「昔日林園洋蔥佔地幾百甲，全外銷日本。」在林園區種植洋蔥已達三十多年的農戶龔隆輝如是說，可見林園洋蔥過往的繁盛風華。龔隆輝說，林園洋蔥採用定遠6號，果實大而飽滿，水份多 、甜份高，現採現收，值得一提的是，林園的洋蔥沒有一般洋蔥所具有的辛辣味。採收後的洋蔥經過日曬，外皮乾燥 ，容易剝開。揭開外皮，裡層質地白嫩 ，水份保存完整。林園洋蔥口感脆，纖維細緻，由於水份多，較不易冰藏，存放時期約兩個月。
楊振源表示，洋蔥葉片呈現垂倒狀時 ，表示已經「熟成」，可以摘採。摘取果實後，農戶會將洋蔥葉放回田埂裡，當成天然肥料。龔隆輝表示，洋蔥成長過程中，懼怕多雨水的天氣，還有害蟲啃咬所造成的疫病，一旦染病後植株易相互傳染，造成巨大損失。現今林園區出產的洋蔥以內需為主，每年只收成一季的洋蔥，數量因不敷需求而面臨外來洋蔥的競爭，農戶黃源泰表示，林園區所生產的洋蔥口感遠比外國洋蔥更佳。林園洋蔥生產以黃洋蔥為主，尚有紅洋蔥與白洋蔥兩種，後兩者纖維較粗，紅洋蔥可用來調酒，但市面上還是以黃洋蔥較受歡迎，存放期限較久，亦作為蔬菜使用。龔隆輝說，挑選洋蔥時，呈渾圓狀的洋蔥即是上乘選擇。今夜何不以林園的優質洋蔥佐拌入菜，細細品嚐。