Kinmen organic farm gives visitors a chance to bottle bitter melons
Kinmen organic farm gives visitors a chance to bottle bitter melons
2024-07-16
The phrase “Food and Farming Education” refers to experiences that help people understand how food gets onto our plates. Well, in Kinmen, one small organic farm is really living up to the saying. Their latest offer for visitors is a chance to bottle bitter melons. Bitter melon in a liquor bottle is a traditional sight in Kinmen homes. But many visitors can’t imagine how it’s done. Now they can try their hand at it, and also taste an unusual bitter melon dish before going home.
A green bitter melon in a bottle. This Kinmen couple run an organic farm, and have just launched a new bitter melon bottling offer. Under the guidance of the farmers, visitors can experience putting a baby bitter melon in a bottle.
The farm owner demonstrates first. The bitter melon has to grow up inside the bottle from its first days. It looks simple, but it’s hard to do in practice. You have to watch out for the exact position of the melon in the bottle, and the string that it’s tied on also needs to be just the right length, otherwise the melon might not grow well. After the bottling is finished, the mature bitter melon can be seen flourishing about two weeks later.
Member of public
I just realized that it’s actually very detailed work. You need to put it in the kaoliang liquor bottle when it’s still very small. And then you tie it up, so that was quite a surprise.
The farmer says that many Kinmen residents have bitter melon liquor at home. Visitors wonder how such a big melon gets inside the bottle. The farm grows organic produce, and right now is better melon season. So they decided to offer this bottling experience as a form of education as well as a fun leisure activity.
Hung Chen-chu
Organic farmer, Kinmen
We’ve always seen bottles of bitter melon liquor in homes. And it so happens that we’re an organic farm and we’ve grown organic farms for a long time, so we thought, “Can we combine our farming experiences with this?” And it’s a very meaningful way to promote our work locally in Kinmen.
Apart from the classic bitter melon recipes, the farmers suggest taking the tender shoots from the bitter melon vine and flash-frying them. The dish makes a lovely feast for the visitors after their bottling exploits. It’s truly an event that lives up the slogan of “food and farming education.”
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先有苦瓜再有酒瓶? 金門苦瓜酒"塞瓶秘辛"曝光
2024-07-16
有不少金門民眾，家裡都有一瓶苦瓜酒，但瓶子內的一大根的苦瓜，究竟怎麼裝進去的？金門有機農場的一對年輕夫婦，辦理苦瓜裝瓶和自釀苦瓜酒的食農教育實作體驗，來替大家解惑。
綠色大苦瓜，裝在玻璃瓶內，金門一對夫妻，經營一間有機農場，首次開放苦瓜裝瓶食農體驗，在農場主的解說指導下，親自為剛結果的小苦瓜套上瓶子。
農場主親自示範，原來苦瓜從小就得生長在瓶子裡，看起來簡單，但實際操作可不容易，不但要注意小苦瓜在瓶內的位置，繫繩長度也要拿捏得宜，不然瓶內的苦瓜可能無法順利生長。完成裝瓶後，約兩個禮拜時間，就可以看到長大的苦瓜。
[[體驗民眾]]
"剛剛發現它其實是一個很細膩的工作，要在它(苦瓜)很小的時候，就把那個高粱酒瓶放進去，然後再把它綁起來，所以這個就比較意外。"
農場主表示，很多金門民眾家裡都有苦瓜酒，不少人常常會對這麼大一根苦瓜如何入瓶感到興趣，正好農場所生產的農作是透過有機種植，又是苦瓜產季，因此，辦了一場苦瓜裝瓶食農教育實作體驗。
[[金門有機農場主 洪禎鞠]]
"一直以來都有看到家裡會有一罐苦瓜酒，那剛好我們就是有機農場，長期以來也有種植有機苦瓜，想說如果能結合食農體驗的話，對金門在地是一個很有意義的推廣活動。"
除了一般的苦瓜料理，農場主特別摘取苦瓜藤的嫩鬚，快炒後讓參加民眾能大快朵頤，體驗樂趣又能品嘗美味，名符其實的食農教育。
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