Few Americans could be expected to identify a carambola - but if they inquire at the right places, they'll soon be able to buy carambola wine, one of the newest products of the Republic of China. Those looking for something different in potables may find it quite tasty.
A carambola is a fluted light green tropical fruit about the size of a lemon, popular in Taiwan and most other Oriental lands south of the temperate zone. When cut crosswise, the slices are star-shaped. The taste is rather tart.
Carambola is one of three new light wines being manufactured and marketed by a unique institution, the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau. The other two are banana and pineapple wines. Orange and tangerine wines will be added later.
These are products of the Taipei winery. Their alcoholic content is about 5 per cent. The new wines will augment the stability of the Taiwan fruit growing industry and widen the choice of customers at wine shops all over the island.
Most of the production of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau is sold locally, but there are substantial and growing exports. Production and sales have increased in every recent year - including those of world recession. So have profits paid into the treasury of Taiwan Province.
In 1975 the Monopoly produced 2,427,504 hectoliters of beer and liquor (about 64,314,850 gallons) and 1,980,892 cases of cigarettes. A case contains 10,000 cigarettes, which means an output of near 20 billion individual cigarettes. Sales of cigarettes amounted to more than US$296 million, and beer and liquor sales to over US$213 million. Total sales of the Monopoly were"1fearly US$527 million. The agency funneled more than US$271 million worth of profits into the provincial treasury.
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau takes no position on whether people should or should not smoke or drink. It undertakes to supply the demand, maintain high production standards, keep prices stable and return revenue to the government. Actually, few Chinese are heavy drinkers or smokers. Beer and wine are popular, especially with meals. By the end of a banquet some diners may be a bit tipsy, but there is comparatively little drunkenness.
As in the Western world, cigarettes are the most popular of tobacco products. Despite publicity to the effect that cigarette smoking can be harmful to health, consumption is increasing. There seems to be considerably less smoking among women than in Western countries.
Smoking by students is forbidden through the high school level. Rules are broken, yet teen-agers are not often seen with cigarettes dangling from their lips. There are, however, no laws preventing the purchase of Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau products by the young. If a 12-year-old goes to the store for a bottle of wine and a carton of cigarettes for papa, the merchant fills the order without question. Use of the products is presumed to be a family matter. Family unity and discipline are strong in China.
The Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau is an inheritance from the Japanese, who held Taiwan for the 50 years from 1895 to 1945. It was established in 1897 under the Taiwan Viceroy as a monopoly for dealing in opium. In 1905 the Japanese added salt, tobacco and camphor to the list of items handled. Most of the world's supply of camphor came from Taiwan at that time. In 1931 the Japanese added liquors, pure alcohol, gasoline, matches and instruments for weighing and measuring to monopolized products. The system was an efficient way of collecting excise taxes.
When the Republic of China regained Taiwan and adjacent smaller islands in 1945 at the end of World War II, the sale or use of opium and derivatives was strictly prohibited except for medicinal purposes. Sales of weighing and measuring instruments and matches were turned over to private enterprise. The Salt Administration, an agency of the Ministry of Finance, took over the sale of salt and the state-owned China Petroleum Corporation that of gasoline. The development of synthetic camphor took the profit out of sales of the natural product, although camphor wood remains a raw material for carvings and furniture. The Monopoly got out of the camphor business in 1967. Tobacco and products, alcoholic beverages and alcohol for medicinal purposes are now its sole commodities.
But the agency does a lot with these few.
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau operates 10 wineries and distilleries in addition to a new Nantou Winery which later will make the light fruit wines. It has three breweries - at Taipei in the north, Taichung in central Taiwan and Tainan in the south. There are three cigarette factories and four redrying plants to process the tobacco grown in considerable quantities in central Taiwan. The bureau also has a bottle manufacturing plant, a cork and crown factory and a large printing plant. There are two research units, one in Taichung devoted to tobacco products and one in Taipei concerned with liquors.
At the start of each fiscal year, the Monopoly's production department draws up a schedule of what is to be manufactured and marketed. This is based on the sales records of the previous year plus a survey to determine any new preferences of the buying public.
The Monopoly sets retail prices, which are generally much lower than those of comparable products in the United States. Merchants are given an 8 per cent discount to provide their margin of profit.
The Monopoly produces bottled and draught beer and some two dozen varieties of wines, liquors and other spirits in three categories - fermented, distilled and blended. The monopoly refines pure alcohol, which is a by-product of the state-owned Taiwan Sugar Company.
Rice rather than grapes is the basic ingredient of most Chinese wines. Alcoholic content is low. (File photo)
Wine has been made throughout the span of human history. According to the New Testament, Jesus turned water into wine at a Canaan wedding feast in the first of his miracles.
In China and other ancient lands, wine-making goes back to the dawn of record keeping. A Chinese character for "wine" was found inscribed on one of the "oracle bones" of the Shang dynasty (1766 to 1122 B.C.). Shang wine vessels made of bronze in a variety of designs have been unearthed at archeological sites in Northern China. Historians say wine ~as used primarily in rituals to honor the deities of those early days.
According to legend, wine-making was first developed by Yi Ti in 2197 B.C. Being a loyal subject and wanting to share his good wine with the sovereign, Yi Ti presented a sample to Emperor Yu. The emperor took a sip - in fact, he might have taken several sips - and began to feel lightheaded. Thereupon he declared:
"In future generations emperors will lose their empires because of wine!" After that one tipple, Emperor Yu imbibed no more of Yi Ti's new product.
Wine was popular in China by the time of the country's great sage Confucius (551-479 B.C.). Confucius enjoyed wine. But being a man who advocated the philosophy of the middle way, he drank in moderation and never became intoxicated. Or so his disciples said.
Li Po, the Chinese poet of the T'ang dynasty (618-907 A.D.), lived about the same time as the Persian poet Omar Khayyam. Omar wrote in "The Rubiayat" of finding paradise in the wilderness underneath the bough with "a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou" and urged visitors to his grave to "turn down an empty glass."
Li Po had similar tastes. In fact, he was so often inebriated that he wondered why the Emperor was indulgent enough to keep him on as court poet. In one of his verses, Li Po wrote:
"Among the flowers with a jug of wine
I pledge myself without any company
I raise the cup and drink to the bright moon .. "
Wine that inspired Li Po probably was made by processes similar to those followed by experts of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau today - and from the same principal ingredient - rice.
The cheapest kind of rice wine, which sells retail for only NT$10 (26 US cents) for about a fifth, saw a big increase in consumption during the economic recession. Price was the factor. This wine also is widely used in cooking.
The deputy director of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau, T. P. Wen, reported that some farmers of southern Taiwan add the cheapest wine to food for their ducks - apparently in belief that it makes the birds appreciate their own food more, thereby producing plumper, juicer flesh. The Monopoly makes no recommendation of its products for use by birds and other animals, said Wen - but the ducks apparently enjoy the wine.
None of the rice wines is expensive and the cheapest is widely and liberally used in Chinese cooking. (File photo)
Taiwan's favorite alcoholic beverage is beer. Most Westerners who have sampled Taiwan beer agree it is good. It is made with equipment largely imported from West Germany and by German brewing methods.
As in other countries, malting barley is the main ingredient of Taiwan's beer. Wen said barley was grown in China and Korea for centuries before it was introduced to the U.S.A. It thrives in parts of Taiwan, but island farmers find other crops more profitable in their limited growing area. The barley used in the making of Taiwan beer is imported from Australia. The hops – another vital ingredient of beer - are imported from West Germany. They come in powdered-pellet form.
By far the most popular of the wines of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau is Shaohsing. This wine was long produced in the Southeastern provinces of the China mainland. It is made from glutinous rice and wheat. Shaohsing is aged in large ceramic containers for two and a half years before it is bottled, by which time it has aged and acquired what is described as "a pleasant flavor and mellow taste."
If something a little more exclusive is wanted, the VO (very old) Shaohsing can be recommended. It has been aged for five years before bottling and is described as better than ordinary Shaohsing in color, flavor and taste.
Chinese Yellow Wine is made from wheat and "peng lai" rice and is said to contain "many nutritive ingredients good for health."
Red Rice Wine, a specialty of Taiwan and the nearby mainland province of Fukien, is made from glutinous rice and red yeast. It is aged for two and a half years before bottling, except for the VO variety, which is aged five years or more.
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly long has used several different fruits in making wine. (Home wine-makers compound many more for family use from the numerous tropical and subtropical fruits grown in Taiwan). One of the most popular commercial wines is made from Chinese plums - (the plum blossom is the national flower of China). Red Plum Wine gets its start from plum juice aged for a year. A Wulang wine made from tea is then added.
Monopoly wineries use grapes grown in Taiwan in making two more conventional wines red and white. Two popular wines on the unusual side are made from the tropical longans and lychees. These fruits, about the size of walnuts, grow on trees in clusters. They have a hard shell, inside which is sweet plum-like flesh around a large seed. (Dried lychee "nuts" are often sold in Chinese restaurants in the United States.) Longan wine is said to be a beneficial tonic for pregnant women and nursing mothers.
These wines have alcoholic content of from 12 to 20 per cent.
Monopoly distilleries produce more potent drinks from several sources - including grape brandy and Taiwan rum made from sugar cane and molasses.
Then there is "Kaoliang Spirit," which has an alcoholic content of about 60 per cent. This powerful concoction has been known for many generations as a specialty of North China. Kao liang is made from sorghum, a plant related to sugar cane which thrives in Taiwan and nearby islands. After extended fermentation, the sorghum juice is distilled. A publication of the Monopoly describes the result as "rich and refreshing in taste, a typical Oriental liquor with a peculiar delicacy of its own."
It also is a beverage to be approached with great caution. Most Western imbibers agree that it well deserves its reputation of being "liquid dynamite. "
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau sells but does not make the most famous of the Kaoliang spirits. This is the variety made on the embattled island of Kinmen, the Republic of China stronghold in the Taiwan Straits just off the coast of the Communist-held mainland. The Taiwan Monopoly does not claim jurisdiction there, for Kinmen, several nearby islets and the Matsu group farther north are part of Fukien province. But the Monopoly from time to time sends experts to Kinmen to offer any help needed in making Kaoliang Spirit, which many connoisseurs regard as the best.
The Kinmen distillery has a pottery plant using local clays to make artistic ceramic bottles, jugs and decanters for merchandising its product. These are prized for themselves as well as the contents. The Kinmen pottery plant has branched into the manufacture of vases, teapots and other ceramic items.
Ceramic containers used to store Shaohsing for aging hold about 25 liters (nearly 7 gallons). (File photo)
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly packages some of its products in ornate ceramic containers, but these are purchased from local pottery manufacturers.
Going along with the still widely held belief in ancient Chinese medicines, the Monopoly Bureau offers a line of tonics. Prices are high but so is the demand.
Fu Wine is made from glutinous rice and wheat. Young dressed chickens are put in the liquid and soaked during the aging period, which lasts a year and a half. Fu Wine is described as "good for the health."
This product carries on a tradition from the China mainland. When a baby girl was born, a large pottery container was filled with chickens and wine. The container was sealed and buried in the earth. Eighteen to 20 years later, the container was dug up as the piece de resistance at the young lady's wedding feast. Toasts drunk in chicken-wine as old as the bride were supposed to bring good luck to the happy couple.
Ng Ka Py Liqueur is composed of more than 10 kinds of Chinese medicines combined with Kaoliang Spirit, honey and malt syrup. It is described as helpful in the treatment of rheumatism and in building up blood energy, as well as being "a beverage with color, aroma and taste prized by connoisseurs."
Hu Ku Liqueur is a still more exotic item. It is made by soaking various Chinese medicinal herbs and tiger bones in Kaoliang Spirit. The bones are said to come from tigers which once roamed the jungles of Southeast Asia. This product is regarded as a remedy for rheumatism and other ailments.
Seng Rong Liqueur is made by soaking deer ho)'fl, ginseng and Chinese herbs in Kaoliang Spirit. The bottles bear antlered deer heads- on the labels. This liqueur is a popular remedy for such ailments as dizziness, lumbago, anemia and "general weakness. "
Wu Ji Liqueur is made by soaking young chickens and herbs in medicines and Kaoliang Spirit. Each label portrays a pair of chickens. Wu Ji is used as a tonic in the treatment of various women's ailments.
Then there is Mei Kwei Lu Liqueur. It is made by soaking roses in Kaoliang Spirit. The wine has a special fragrance and a taste described as "coming from the living rose."
The Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau does not make such Western alcoholic beverages as whiskey, gin and vodka. These drinks are preferred by some Chinese, however, and the Monopoly is exclusive agent for imports equating to more than 2 per cent of domestic liquor production. Imports are taxed at a high rate to keep prices up and limit the competition with local wines and spirits.
The Monopoly imports limited quantities of Western tobacco products.
Taiwan produces sizable amounts of tobacco under strict control of the single customer, the Monopoly. Imported for blending are flue-cured Burley tobacco from the United States and tobaccos produced in the Philippines and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Tobacco from the Philippines is used exclusively in the manufacture of handrolled Taiwan cigars called "Gentlemen," which come in two sizes. A small filtertip cigar includes Turkish tobacco.
While importing tobacco for blending, the Monopoly Bureau also exports a surplus of Taiwan tobacco. Hongkong and other Southeast Asia countries are the main customers. Last year leaf tobacco exports totaled more than 5,375,000 kilograms - nearly 12 million pounds - and sold for more than US$7,500,000.
The Monopoly manufactures two kinds of cigarettes especially for members of the Republic of China armed forces as well as eight other brands - six of the British type and two of the American type. The British type cigarettes are generally considered milder than those of American style.
Taiwan-made cigarettes retail at prices as low as NT$10 (US 26 cents) a package. One of the American-style brands, "Jade Mountain," is menthol flavored and sold in green packages. By far the most popular brand is "Long Life," a filtertipped English type. "Long Life" cigarettes are sold in yellow packages bearing the portrait of a bearded Chinese sage carrying a large plum and accompanied by a crane - traditional symbols of longevity.
Despite widespread claims that pipe smoking is less harmful than cigarette consumption, the production and sale of pipe tobacco has declined steadily in Taiwan as the manufacture and smoking of cigarettes has increased. In 1975 the Monopoly produced 63,887 kilograms of pipe tobacco - about 140,500 pounds. That was only about one fourth the production of 1967. Pipe tobacco is marketed in two brands. One is compounded specially for the Taiwan aborigine mountain people, many of whom, the women included, are pipe smokers.
TIWMB cigarette machinery is of the most recent vintage and the product is the equal of that in the United States and Europe, including fllter tips and menthol. (File photo)
The Monopoly does not make or market such products as chewing tobacco or snuff. These are little used by the Chinese.
The Monopoly engages in a limited amount of advertising - mainly signboards and TV spots - to show what it has available and call attention to new products. It rarely advertises in publications and does not use any of the "hard sell" methods of Western advertising.
While the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau's main purpose is to serve the demands of the people of Taiwan, it also addresses itself to the foreign market. Most exports go to overseas Chinese in Hongkong and countries of Southeast Asia. There are some buyers in Japan, the United States and Europe. A small but growing Western taste is developing for Taiwan wines, especially in Europe.
Last year exports of Taiwan cigarettes reached 668 cases, bringing in US$27,345. Exports of liquor totaled 8,132 hectoliters (over 213,000 gallons) and brought in nearly US$550,000 in foreign exchange.
In Imperial China, wine was well established as a beverage imbibed for pleasure by the time of the Sung dynasty (960-1280 A.D.). The Sung government set up wine halls for officials. More important functionaries had gold and silver drinking vessels. Pretty courtesans sat outside the wine hall doors waiting to be called in to keep the men company. Private wine halls soon were opened for men outside the government.
These establishments have their counterparts in the wine restaurants that flourish in Taiwan today - with more than 100 in Taipei alone. Such places became popular during the half century of Japanese occupation and have continued to do well despite high taxes.
Women customers are not welcome in wine restaurants. Men are offered wine, food and the company of pretty young hostesses. Some of the girls sing and dance. All strive to see that the wine glasses are quickly filled and refilled. This sort of entertainment is costly - depending in part on how' many girls the customer has at his table.
Wine restaurants are popular among Asian foreign visitors to Taiwan, especially the Japanese. Government employees, incidentally, are forbidden to set foot in these places. They are too expensive, leaving the implication that any civil servant is present as a guest from whom favors may be sought.
Most Chinese shun bars. What drinking is done takes place at home, often with a small group of friends, or at restaurants. Chinese women seldom drink more than a token glass of wine - but there are exceptions.
Parties or dinners can be quite noisy, but there is comparatively little intoxication. For one reason, the wine glasses are tiny. Chinese do not follow the Western custom of quickly downing two or three drinks. The usual practice is to imbibe over a long period of time, accompanying drinks with food ranging from appetizers to substantial dishes. The Chinese have a greater interest in food than drink and their cuisine has been developed into a fine art. The right amount of wine is believed to add taste to the food. Too much wine will destroy the pleasure of eating.
Drinking may develop into elaborate guessing or counting games involving numerals, colors and numbers of coins or fingers exposed or hidden. The loser must down a glass of wine. Any Westerner drawn into such a game is likely to wind up under the table.
The etiquette of a Chinese dinner requires that if a person feels inclined to take a sip from his wine glass, he should glance around the table, catch the eye of someone else and raise his glass in toast. The other diner replies in kind. A teetotaler makes the gesture with water, a soft drink, tea or by touching the wine cup to his lips.
A Westerner at a Chinese dinner where wine is served needs to learn four Chinese words. The first two are "kan," meaning "dry," and "pei," meaning "cup." If "kan pei" is called for, the diner is expected to show a "dry cup," inverting his glass to prove it. This is the equivalent of the English "bottoms up'" If there should be frequent calls of "kan pei," the responding diner may find himself stoned in short order.
So it's advisable to learn the other two words, "Sui yi," meaning "As you wish."
A diner responding to a "kan pei" challenge with a smile and "sui yi" is privileged to drink as much or as little as he wishes - provided he puts his glass back on the table before the challenger drains his.