Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/29
By: Sunrise Huang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) A by-product of Taiwan’s renowned tea industry, tea seed oil is

Photo courtesy of the New Taipei Agriculture Department

growing into an essential ingredient of various Taiwanese gourmet foods, such as stir-fried chicken with tea seed oil, and consumers can now see how high-quality oil of this kind is produced in New Taipei’s Pinglin District, home to Baozhong tea.

The tea oil model factory, set up in 2015 as part of the Pinglin Tea Cultural Museum at the Pinglin District Farmers’ Association, is the first factory in northern Taiwan to show visitors how tea seeds are pressed into premium cooking oil, according to the New Taipei Agriculture Department.

Tea oil contains 90 percent monounsaturated fatty acids, thanks to which it is dubbed in Taiwan as “Oriental olive oil,” department officials said.    [FULL  STORY]