Hands that once held hoes now pick up pens – Kinmen’s grandpas and grandmas sell natural “sorghum-pickled napa cabbage”

Reporter Chen Ziying / Comprehensive report

If napa cabbage is available everywhere in Taiwan, why should you specifically try the sorghum-pickled napa cabbage from Jinsha Township in Kinmen? The members of the Jinsha Township Vegetable Production and Marketing Group are a group of grandpas and grandmas. Thanks to their hard work and careful tending, this year’s heading cabbage has had a bumper harvest. In the first phase, 20,000 kilograms have already been harvested and are being turned into pickled cabbage. This weekend on the 11th and 12th, they will go to Taipei’s Hope Square for a sales exhibition.

 
▲ This year’s bumper crop of heading cabbage in Jinsha Township; naturally fermented sorghum-pickled napa cabbage. (Photo / Provided by Kinmen County Government)

The Kinmen County Government stated that although the grandpas and grandmas are older in age, they actively learn about safe agricultural policies, striving to replace excessive pesticide use with biological agents such as pheromones. The hands that once held hoes are now learning to pick up pens again to carefully record their farming efforts. In 2011 (the 100th year of the Republic of China), they also obtained the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) certification. Wu Tiancai, the head of the production and marketing group, said that the grandpas and grandmas have been involved in pickled cabbage production for about four years. Previously, under the technical guidance of the Food Science Department at Kinmen University, they used Kinmen’s distillery lees for natural fermentation. All the heading cabbages have passed the quick pesticide screening test conducted by the county’s Animal and Plant Disease Control Center. This year, due to favorable climate and other conditions, the yield has been abundant. The public is welcome to purchase.

 
▲ The tangier and sweeter the pickled cabbage gets in colder weather, and buying vegetables comes with a free inflatable otter neck pillow. (Photo / Provided by Kinmen County Government)