Malu grapes ripen as annual festival kicks off
By Pan Qingyun and Fei Lai |
July 30, 2012, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE annual Malu Grape Festival has started in Jiading District as the nationally known grapes are ripening.
This year's festival started on July 8 and will last for three months through September.
During the ripening season, visitors can walk, ride or self-drive through Malu Grape Art Village and experience the pastoral beauty of lush greeneries and winding rivers.
People can go to the fruitful grape theme park to have the fun of picking fruit by themselves. Every weekend in August, Malu Grape Theme Park will be open at night.
Meanwhile, the organizers will carry out three series of activities including the "Grape Farm Experience Tour," "Self-driving Tour to Lotus New Town," "Culture and Leisure Tour in the Morning."
The activities aim to showcase the lively ecology of Jiading New Town through combining grape culture with talent shows, microblog talent competitions, Chinese Valentine's Day dates, self-driving tours around the new town, limousines appreciation and even snooker matches.
As in previous years, Malu grapes that sell for 80 yuan (US$12.5) per kilogram are only sold at the Grape Research Institute and Malu Grape Park during the grape festival.
The daily sales average 2,000kg and 5,000kg during the peak days.
"The price is truly not low, but they are worth it," said Shan Chuanlun, director of the Grape Research Institute.
In fact, "the higher the price, the better the quality of the merchandise," Shan added.
High cost, limited production and great market demand leads to high prices, according to Shan.
Shan said plantation cost of each acre reaches about 132,000 yuan, since they use only organic fertilizer instead of chemical one and do the weeding with manual power rather than herbicides.
They also implement "birth control" for Malu grapes to ensure the quality of the fruits.
The average acre yield is strictly controlled at 3,000kg, only a quarter of the average acre yield of ordinary grapes.
Malu Grape Park boasts more than 70 grape varieties in different size, sweetness and hardness.
In early July, the latest variety "selenium-rich grape" went on sale. They are sweeter than the ordinary grapes, and are believed to contain trace element selenium benefitting for health.
Currently the Malu Grape Research Institute is optimizing more than 20 grape varieties into "selenium-rich grapes," according to director Shan.
This year's festival started on July 8 and will last for three months through September.
During the ripening season, visitors can walk, ride or self-drive through Malu Grape Art Village and experience the pastoral beauty of lush greeneries and winding rivers.
People can go to the fruitful grape theme park to have the fun of picking fruit by themselves. Every weekend in August, Malu Grape Theme Park will be open at night.
Meanwhile, the organizers will carry out three series of activities including the "Grape Farm Experience Tour," "Self-driving Tour to Lotus New Town," "Culture and Leisure Tour in the Morning."
The activities aim to showcase the lively ecology of Jiading New Town through combining grape culture with talent shows, microblog talent competitions, Chinese Valentine's Day dates, self-driving tours around the new town, limousines appreciation and even snooker matches.
As in previous years, Malu grapes that sell for 80 yuan (US$12.5) per kilogram are only sold at the Grape Research Institute and Malu Grape Park during the grape festival.
The daily sales average 2,000kg and 5,000kg during the peak days.
"The price is truly not low, but they are worth it," said Shan Chuanlun, director of the Grape Research Institute.
In fact, "the higher the price, the better the quality of the merchandise," Shan added.
High cost, limited production and great market demand leads to high prices, according to Shan.
Shan said plantation cost of each acre reaches about 132,000 yuan, since they use only organic fertilizer instead of chemical one and do the weeding with manual power rather than herbicides.
They also implement "birth control" for Malu grapes to ensure the quality of the fruits.
The average acre yield is strictly controlled at 3,000kg, only a quarter of the average acre yield of ordinary grapes.
Malu Grape Park boasts more than 70 grape varieties in different size, sweetness and hardness.
In early July, the latest variety "selenium-rich grape" went on sale. They are sweeter than the ordinary grapes, and are believed to contain trace element selenium benefitting for health.
Currently the Malu Grape Research Institute is optimizing more than 20 grape varieties into "selenium-rich grapes," according to director Shan.
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