Jute Soup: Taichung's Taste of Summer
If you have read Taiwan Travelogue by Taichung-born author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (translated by Lin King), you may remember Chapter 3, "Muâ-Ínn-Thng / Jute Soup." This is that soup. In Taichung it is called muâ-ínn (麻薏, also written 麻芛 or 麻穎; often typed as mua-inn): the tender young leaves of the edible jute plant, a close relative of molokhia. On hot summer days, people here cook the leaves with sweet potato into a cool, slightly bitter soup.
Taiwan Travelogue won the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024 and the International Booker Prize in 2026.
A Food Born from Burlap Sacks
During the Japanese colonial era, Taiwan needed huge numbers of burlap sacks to ship rice and sugar, so farmers were encouraged to grow jute. Only the fiber was used for sacks and cloth; the leaves were left over. Taiwanese families did not want to waste them, so they stripped out the veins and cooked the leaves with sweet potato. That frugal dish became muâ-ínn soup, a specialty of Nantun in Taichung.
麻穎, 麻芛, 麻薏: Three Ways to Write One Word
In Mandarin, 芛 sounds like 尾 ("tail") and refers to a plant's new shoots. In Taiwanese Hokkien the word is pronounced ínn, which also means a young sprout. It is often written 麻薏, but 薏 means Job's tears, so 穎 is the more accurate character. Taiwan Travelogue uses 麻薏, and WISH LIN uses 麻芛 in its product names.
Taichung's Cooling Summer Soup
The leaves are stripped of their veins and rubbed by hand to wash out the bitter juice, then simmered with sweet potato. The season peaks in midsummer, and because the leaves are rich in pectin and nutrients, muâ-ínn soup is widely believed to cool the body and be gentle on the stomach.
What Does It Taste Like?
A gentle bitterness, then a sweet finish and a fresh green aroma. Some say it tastes like vegetables, others say matcha, but it is not quite either. It simply tastes like Taichung.
Why Can You Only Find It in Taichung?
During the Japanese colonial era, farming in Taiwan became more specialized. Central and southern Taiwan were both suited to jute, but the south later shifted to sugarcane, while Fengyuan in Taichung became one of the main jute-growing areas. When a jute processing plant was built in Wuri, growing and processing jute took root around Nantun. Nantun is still one of Taichung's main muâ-ínn growing areas today.
Jute vs. Sweet Jute
Most muâ-ínn sold today comes from a sweeter variety called sweet jute (甜麻). It is less bitter, so it needs less washing and is easier to cook, but it also loses some of the dish's signature bittersweet flavor. WISH LIN still works with farmers who grow the original jute under contract, to keep the traditional taste and to keep this crop alive on local farmland.
When Is It in Season?
Mua-inn season traditionally runs by the lunar calendar, from the Dragon Boat Festival to the Mid-Autumn Festival (roughly June to September). With warmer weather in recent years, the season often lasts longer than it used to.
WISH LIN's Jute Pastries
WISH LIN (林金生香) is a pastry shop founded in 1866 in Nantun, Taichung. Working with local farmers and the Tian Mama (田媽媽) rural women's group, we make jute pastries such as jute sun cakes, lucky pastries (幸運菓), and chiffon cakes. Each one carries the fresh aroma of jute and its sweetness within a gentle bitterness.
See our jute pastries in the product list at the bottom of the jute page (in Chinese). If you visit Taichung, we would love to see you at our shop.
Visit Us
- WISH LIN 林金生香: No. 59, Sec. 1, Wanhe Rd., Nantun Dist., Taichung (台中市南屯區萬和路一段59號)
- Tel: +886-4-2389-9857
- LINE: @1866.tw
