16 Jul 2007

Palau produces taro wine

8:36 am on 16 July 2007

Taro wine or sochu was one of the new products featured at the recent Belau Fair.

It was produced with a wine extracting machine donated to Palau's community college agricultural extension school by a senior volunteer from Japan's International Oversees Cooperative Agency

Taro wine is made by fermenting rice and yeast for 7 days then adding cooked and mashed taro for another 7 days.

The fermented mulch is then distilled and extracted in 3 hours at 50% alcohol.

It is then diluted to 20% alcohol.

The cost of production for this brand new product is estimated at under $5 a bottle

Thomas Taro, Vice President of Palau Community College hopes the "taro sochu" will be successful and increase the value and production of taro by local farmers.