Alishan brown sugar story 採訪阿里山香糖

Chiayi's hosting the Taiwan Lantern Festival this year (happening later this month), so we went back to Alishan, which is in Chiayi, to do another travel story.

My assignment was to introduce the beautiful mountain cherry blossoms and maybe talk a little bit about Alishan brown sugar. Well, there were hardly any mountain cherry blossoms left, so I mainly played with brown sugar and watched the sun rise the next day. In Chinese they say, "changes change plans, and phone calls change changes which change plans," (計畫趕不上變化，變化趕不上一通電話).

It was the first time I saw the famous Alishan sunrise and its sea of clouds. It is one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. And with tea farms around every bend up there, I can imagine gods and goddesses drinking tea, chatting, enjoying the peace and looking at the heavenly landscape in the mornings before they have to tend to human troubles later in the day.

It was also the first time I saw how brown sugar was made, and I got to experience it for myself! Areas where people were making brown sugar smelled so sweet and delicious. First, you cook cane sugar juice, stirring it constantly towards the end, otherwise it will stick to the pan and burn. When it's thick enough (the guy tests it by taking a pinch of the boiling syrup and quickly putting it in cold water and seeing if it is thick and pliable), you pour it onto a metal surface, pushing the golden colored liquid around like you would when smoothing out a zen garden, until it starts solidifying. This helps the water evaporate. Then you take metal spatulas and mix it around until they look like little nuggets. This mixes air into the sugar so the sugar doesn't turn hard and brittle like a candy. My, these guys are delicious when still warm.

They're great for baking, cooking, with tea/coffee and WARM MILK. Or you can get the ones mixed with ginger and drink it with hot water - perfect for cold winters.

But going back to the sugar canes, they're grown in Alishan, but not in huge amounts, just enough for locals to make their own sugar and a little bit of money in Jan/Feb when they're not busy picking or processing tea. And in Jan/Feb, kids are on winter holiday, so they come home to help mom and dad make brown sugar. Most kids in Alishan move out to Chiayi after primary school, because there aren't any middle/high schools or colleges in the mountains.

Kids are usually very excited when we come up in our marked cars. We have decals of our latest primetime soap operas on our cars for advertisement. So the sugar producer's daughter took lots of pictures, and we swapped before leaving. I gave them her pictures and she gave me hers. I let her use my camera towards the end too. :) That's where the nice pictures of myself came from.

Here's the transcript of my story.

Alishan Brown Sugar
(Making brown sugar in Alishan)

The Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held in Chiayi, and if you're planning a trip over there, you can also swing by Rueili, Alishan. In addition to watching the sunrise and the sea of clouds, this time of year you can also experience for yourself making brown sugar. Today we follow Michella Jade Weng into the sugar cane fields of Alishan.##

Watching the sun come up over Alishan and its sea of clouds is an experience one will never forget. Follow the beams of light shooting over the mountaintops and giving color to the sky as the sun slowly rises.

Alishan in the winter, just as mountain cherry blossoms and white pear blossoms finish blooming, has something fun for people to try. If you'll just follow your nose...

Michella Jade Weng
Something smells really good. Let's find out what it is.

This is sugar cane being made into brown sugar.
After the juice is extracted, boiled, stirred and reduced, it's cooled on a metal surface. During the cooling process, the liquid is pushed around until enough air gets mixed in, the water evaporates and the temperature comes down. Then it’s ready for us to have a taste.

Lai, Mei-chun
Brown sugar producer
We mainly produce tea, but in between the winter and spring harvests, we have some spare time, so we make brown sugar. Visitors can give it a try too.

Locals have been producing brown sugar for their own use for decades now. They’ve only begun selling it and making its production part of the tourism industry during the last few years. So if cutting down sugar canes and making their juice into brown sugar seems your cup of tea, give it a try the next time you're in Alishan.

Michella Jade Weng, Formosa TV, Chiayi

燈會就要在嘉義登場了
所以我們又回到阿里山做相關的旅遊新聞

原本題目設定介紹阿里山櫻花
順便帶點黑糖製作的體驗行程

還是老話一句
計畫趕不上變化
變化趕不上一通電話

櫻花幾乎都凋謝光了
想拿膠帶把它黏回樹上都不行

還好黑糖製作畫面很多
還好隔天的日出很美

所以結構大調整
還好老闆覺得只要達到吸引人去玩的目標就好
不然真的頭殼抱著燒

在黑糖那邊真的玩得很開心
砍甘蔗，煮甘蔗汁，做黑糖
加上這一家人很親切

小孩放寒假回到山上幫忙
看到我們的電視劇宣傳車(我們的採訪車)
就一直拍照
拍車子，拍我們
走之前，我們就交換照片
最後我讓她用我的相機
所以有些有我在裡面的照片還不錯看
人不美，但一台好相機
多少可以加幾分，彌補一下
:)


這則新聞的稿子
有長版和短版
畫面夠多所以可以做兩個版本

嘉義看燈會 阿里山製香糖

今年台灣燈會將在嘉義舉行，您如果到嘉義的話，還可以順便上阿里山走走，欣賞日出、雲海的美景，如果趕在元宵節前去的話，還可以到瑞里體驗砍甘蔗、做香糖。現在就跟著民視鏡頭，一起上阿里山欣賞美景去！##

阿里山日出，先從雲海美景開始欣賞，接著太陽才慢慢上升，把雲映照出各種顏色，讓人看了一生難忘。

阿里山的冬天有山櫻，還有雪白的梨花。

而在元宵節前，有樣好玩兒的東西，可以用鼻子聞得到...

民視記者 翁郁容
好香喔 不曉得這邊在煮什麼 一起來看看

這就是在做阿里山的黑糖，叫做"香糖"。
濃稠度差不多了就把甘蔗汁倒到鐵板上冷卻，接著就開始推它，到結塊為止。

黑糖業者 陳健民
其實我爸爸的時代就開始做這個了 幾十年前做這些都是自己在食用

黑糖業者 賴美春
我們的主業是茶 剛好冬季 就是冬茶和春茶之間農閒的時候(在做香糖)
民眾可以體驗什麼?

可以跟我們去田裡面砍甘蔗

去田裡面砍甘蔗?我們也要來試試看！

民視記者 翁郁容
這樣嗎 好 1...2...哇！

一點也不困難，但要小心別被甘蔗皮刮到喔。

之後把甘蔗拿回去榨成汁，煮一煮，就對了！

瑞里香糖DIY，好玩又甜蜜，元宵節前，您也來試試看吧！

民視新聞 翁郁容 葉尚松 嘉義報導





嘉義看燈會 阿里山製香糖

今年台灣燈會將在嘉義舉行，您如果到嘉義的話，還可以順便上阿里山走走，欣賞日出、雲海的美景，如果趕在元宵節前去的話，還可以到瑞里體驗砍甘蔗、做香糖。現在就跟著民視鏡頭，一起上阿里山！##

阿里山日出，先從雲海美景開始欣賞，一開始，只見，一道一道的光芒先從雲海後方竄出，接著太陽才慢慢上升，有時候被雲遮住，反而更漂亮。因為會把雲映照出各種顏色，讓人看了一生難忘。

阿里山的冬天有山櫻，襯著藍藍的天空，對比特別美麗，還有雪白的梨花，盛開時好像棉花糖長在樹上。

而在元宵節前，有樣好玩兒的東西，可以用鼻子聞得到...

民視記者 翁郁容
好香喔 不曉得這邊在煮什麼 進去看看

老闆娘慢慢攪拌著熱騰騰的甘蔗汁，好香好香喔，幾乎整個瑞里都是這甜甜，有點兒像烤地瓜的味道。這個等下就會變成黑糖，在這裡叫做"香糖"。但煮到一半，老闆竟然徒手沾鍋子裡沸騰的湯汁，捏了一些出來，做什麼？不會燙嗎？！

黑糖業者 陳健民
這是要看糖放在冷水裡 是不是會脆脆的 這樣就能做成成品了 這樣就能起鍋了

民視記者 翁郁容
不會熱嗎?

黑糖業者 陳健民
當然會 所以速度要快


憑感覺就知道什麼時候可以起鍋，這可是多年累積下來的經驗。接者就把稠稠、金黃色的甘蔗汁倒到鐵板上冷卻。這時候大家就可以拿起工具，把糖漿推來推去，好像在海邊玩沙子。除了冷卻，也是要讓當中的水分蒸發。糖漿越來越難推，開始結塊，有沒有看起來像黑糖了呢？

黑糖業者 賴美春
可以吃一塊看看 熱的糖喔

民視記者 翁郁容
可以嗎?

黑糖業者 賴美春
對啊

民視記者 翁郁容
喔 熱騰騰

黑糖業者 賴美春
現場才有的

自己參與製作過程，格外美味！

黑糖業者 陳健民
其實這在我爸爸的時代就有在做了 好幾十年前 這都是做來自己吃的

黑糖業者 賴美春
我們主業是茶 剛好冬季跟春季 農閒的時候(做香糖)

民視記者 翁郁容
民眾可以體驗什麼?

黑糖業者 賴美春
可以到我們的田裡面砍甘蔗

[[ns]]

黑糖業者 陳健民
從頭這邊砍下去

民視記者 翁郁容
就這樣嗎 好 1...2... 喔~

一點也不困難，但要小心別被甘蔗皮刮到喔。抓著親手收割的甘蔗，特別有成就感，散步回到店之後，再把它榨成汁。

[[ns]]

甘蔗汁過濾後就可以下鍋煮了。老闆強調他們香糖無農藥，使用有機肥，都是和太太兩人手工製作。曾經有旅客對他們說，"夫妻若同心，黑糖變黃金"。

瑞里香糖DIY，好玩又甜蜜，元宵節前，您也來試試看吧！

民視新聞 翁郁容 葉尚松 嘉義報導

香糖可以用來煮東西，做甜點
配咖啡，茶，還有...熱牛奶！！！

幕後好笑的事情

第一天我們剛到的時候
他們正好在煮
就要起鍋了
但是因為拍攝需要時間
Samsung一直說“等一下等一下”
所以老闆娘就一直啦一直煮
煮到終於拍完了
已經不是黃金色了
變成...肉鬆色

口味還是很好
但色澤就不太一樣
黑黑焦焦的
歹勢啦...
老闆娘真的人很好
其實我覺得這家人
是我在旅行新聞裡面採訪過的
最友善，最樸實，最不作做的受訪者之一

如果您想上阿里山
還是要特別注意路況
雖然風災後，路大致上都通了
但是還是有些地方蠻危險的
不過當地人騎摩托車好像幾乎都不戴安全帽
也都騎得很快
所以說不定是我太緊張

我們這次被安排住在茶壺民宿
蠻乾淨的
老闆人也很好
晚上吃完飯帶我們去夜遊散步
他還帶我們到他姪子開的民宿看星星
哇，那邊景觀真好
下次想住住看那邊
叫做麗景民宿

這次採訪雖然依舊一波三折
不過是我最開心的採訪經驗之一
最長時間接觸的香糖業者人很好
這次拍的畫面
日出很漂亮，製糖很有趣
所以真的好開心

更多的照片在這裡

On a funny note, when we arrived the first day, they were cooking sugar cane juice which was ready to be taken off the heat and cooled. But filming takes time and Samsung kept saying, "wait wait wait," so the lady kept stirring and stirring and stirring, all the while the syrup was getting darker and darker. When it was finally poured out, it was no longer a golden color. It was...brown. It still tasted great, but looked...well...a little burnt. The owners were really nice and accommodating, to say the least. Actually, these were some of the nicest and down-to-earth people I've met on my travel assignments so far. I like them very much.

We stayed at a B&B called "Chahu" this time. It was clean. The owner there was quite nice too. After dinner, he took us out for a walk and even brought us to his nephew's B&B, "Legend" to look at stars. His nephew's place has a great view. I'd like to give that place a try the next time I stay in the area.

The road condition up in Alishan hasn't completely been restored to pre-Morakot form, so it's still a bit dangerous in some places. But then again, locals seem to all ride their motorcycles really fast and without wearing a helmet, so maybe I'm being paranoid.

I had a great time on this assignment, which is kind of rare, actually, and not without its troubles in the beginning. The sugar people who we spent most of our time with were really nice and we got some beautiful video of the sunrise and shots of having fun with making sugar, so it was really good.

More pictures here.

松齋香糖
陳健民 (老闆) +886 937 799 393
賴美春 (老闆娘) +886 912 129 686
+886 5 250 1435
嘉義縣梅山鄉瑞里村117號

原味香糖 (大約)
300g 200元
600g 400元

薑味香糖 (大約)
250g 200元
500g 400元

可宅配



茶壺民宿
嘉義縣梅山鄉瑞里村100-6號
+886 5 250 1806
www.ruili.com.tw
ruiliteapot@gmail.com

瑞里麗景景觀民宿
+886 5 250 2288
+886 920 046 722
052502288.travel-web.com.tw


Song Jolly (songji brown sugar)
Chen Jianming +886 937 799 393
Lai Meichun +886 912 129 686
+886 5 250 1435
#117, Ruili, Meishan, Chiayi County

Original flavor (roughly)
300g TWD200
600g TWD400

Ginger flavor (roughly)
250g TWD200
500g TWD400

Phone orders OK.

Teapot (chahu bed & breafast)
#100-6, Ruili, Meishan, Chiayi Couty
+886 5 250 1806
www.ruili.com.tw
ruiliteapot@gmail.com

Ruei Li Legend (bed & breakfast)
+886 5 250 2288
+886 920 046 722
052502288.travel-web.com.tw