Gu's Chinese Toon

Gu's Chinese Toon

　　      Gujiayu Village in Luquan City has 195 households, 751 residents, and 1,453 mu of arable land. The village is known for its specialties including Chinese toon, persimmons, walnuts, and jujubes, among which Chinese toon is the most famous. According to elders in the village, in ancient times it was offered as a tribute to the emperor. With the deepening of reform and opening up and the improvement of people's living standards, the reputation of the village’s Chinese toon has grown steadily. It has become the main production area supplying the Shijiazhuang Chinese toon market and is also exported to places like Beijing and Taiyuan. The village is surrounded by mountains, with fertile soil, abundant sloping and idle land, no pollution, and no use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. These unique natural conditions provide favorable support for the development of Chinese toon. In recent years, the village Party branch and the village committee have planned rationally and carried out regional cultivation, achieving significant progress in Chinese toon production. The cultivation area has now expanded to over 300 mu with 150,000 plants. Chinese toon trees can be seen everywhere around villagers’ houses. Under the leadership of the village committee, the “Hebei Province Luquan City Chinese Toon Development Base” has been established, and the “Gu’s” trademark has been registered with the National Trademark Office. Experts have verified that the “Gu’s” Chinese toon from this village belongs to the purple oil toon variety, considered the finest type of Chinese toon. It boasts a rich aroma, is crisp and juicy, sweet with no fibrous texture, and its nutrient content—including sugar, protein, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, vitamin C, and aromatic oil—is 1–1.5 times higher than that of ordinary Chinese toon. Chinese toon not only has high nutritional value but also considerable medicinal benefits. Its decoction can inhibit golden staphylococcus, pneumococcus, dysentery bacillus, and E. coli. Boiling its leaves can treat scabies and skin rashes, while pickled Chinese toon can help with digestive issues from changes in water and soil. A folk saying in China goes, “Eating Chinese toon keeps you free of miscellaneous illnesses.” Currently, the village has formulated a three-year Chinese toon development plan to further promote greenhouse-grown Chinese toon for year-round production, aiming to expand cultivation across 700 mu in the entire village.

　　        The “Gu’s” and “Red Leaf” brand Chinese toons grow at the northern foot of Baodu Fortress, within a national 4A-level scenic area. They come from six specialized villages: Gujiayu, Xiyangzhuang, Xixuezhuang, Xihu Shen, Duanzhuang, and Bailuquan. According to research, their history spans over a thousand years, and they were once tributes to the royal family, beloved by many. These five villages are surrounded by mountains on three sides, receiving ample sunlight during the day and nourishing dew at night, with large diurnal temperature variations. This special growing environment gives Gu’s Chinese toon its distinctive rich aroma and appearance, making it a premium variety. Gu’s Chinese toon is a red oil toon variety. Its leaves are clean, smooth, and hairless on both sides—naturally distinct from southern and greenhouse-grown varieties—and rich in protein, vitamins, fiber, essential amino acids, and minerals. Historical records in the Tang Herbal Classic also document its medicinal values, such as disinfecting and treating sores, curing ailments, reducing internal heat, and eliminating food stagnation in the spleen and stomach. From seedling to harvest, Gu’s Chinese toon requires almost no fertilizers or pesticides, fully meeting green food standards. Gujiayu Village has now been nominated as a pollution-free vegetable production area. Between 2002 and 2005, it was recognized as a high-quality product at the China (Langfang) Agricultural Products and Premium Varieties Trade Fair. Gu’s Chinese toon sprouts quickly and hits the market early, typically harvested before the Qingming Festival over a 45-day period. Under dwarfing and dense planting, the yield is about 500 jin per mu. It is projected to reach 8,000 mu within three years and 10,000 mu within five years.

　　        The Gu’s Chinese Toon Professional Cooperative was established in 2001. It currently has over 500 member households, with 5,000 mu of Chinese toon cultivation and an annual output of 1.5 million jin. The cooperative sells to Shijiazhuang, Beijing, Tianjin, and the northeastern regions. Around the Qingming Festival each year, a Chinese toon-picking festival is held. The cooperative has built two fresh Chinese toon storage cold rooms and a packaging and processing workshop, capable of sorting, packaging, and processing fresh toon according to client requirements to ensure satisfaction. They have made practical improvements to planting methods, enhancing technological input and the level of scale, intensification, and standardization.

　　        The cooperative has also achieved off-season sales of natural Chinese toon, offering gift packaging and deep processing. It has introduced quick-freezing preservation and low-temperature vacuum drying technologies. Currently produced items include: 1. Quick-frozen preserved Chinese toon, flash-frozen for freshness, retaining the same color and aroma as fresh toon with a shelf life of up to one year. 2. Vacuum soft-packaged Chinese toon, canned toon, and dried Chinese toon.