Strongest line-up ever! Over a hundred gift-packed rice pastries to choose from
Director-General Hu indicates that to meet the ever-changing taste of Taiwanese consumers, the AFA has been working diligently in recent years to expand the scope of rice processing and build a supply chain that can supply quality rice and rice flour with great consistency. Also, nationwide competitions on creative ways to use rice flour and counseling on bulk production are being conducted to invoke new ideas in the industry. As of today, the promotional efforts have led to over 200 commercialized rice-based products on the market. Rice flour’s high water retention and low oil absorption attributes endow pastries with rich tastes that are delicate but not overly creamy so that consumers can enjoy rice like never before.
For this year’s competition, the AFA offers generous prize money, with NTD 150,000 awarded to the first place. 50 competing bakeries include prestige names like five-star hotels Palais de Chine Hotel and Tayih Landis Hotel Tainan as well as local favorites Long Fong Tarng Cake and Florida Bakery. Under the condition that ingredients are 51% or more in domestic rice flour, pastry chefs mix up authentic Taiwanese ingredients like lichees, pineapples, tea leaves, mangos, and kumquats to create more than 100 items of rice pastries. Noteworthy items include aboriginal-style salted pork (Kasilaw) shortbread; a low-sugar, low-fat rice chocolate cracker based on white chocolate flavored with four-season tea leaves and pomelos; and a rice cookie assorted with Taiwanese garlic to bring out a unique flavor consist of both eastern and western elements. Each pastry is shaped and decorated distinctively from gift-packed bakery items on the market, and many customers can’t wait to order.
The contest concludes with Meide Bakery and its Fruity Shells and Lemon Cakes victorie
The AFA says this year’s competition has adopted “domestic rice and specialty ingredients” and “package design” as its core components for greater market appeals. The judges grade each pastry on the basis of the proportion of domestic ingredients, ease of carrying and consumption, market potentials, and sensory evaluation. Aside from mastering the rice (rice flour) processing techniques, the pastry’s moisture content has to be just right to meet the 14-day shelf life required by the contest rules while keeping its taste. Another hallmark of this year’s contest is that 84 items are made using TAP certified rice flour and ingredients, which further assures that those enticing pastry gifts are equally assuring, safe, and sound in quality. When all dust settles, Fruity Shells and Lemon Cakes by Meide Bakery are selected as this year’s champion pastries. All competing rice pastries are now open to orders. Visit the AFA website at http://www.afa.gov.tw/ for ordering information. We encourage everyone to give them a try and discover the wonderful taste of Taiwanese rice pastries.
