Gujeung Gupo Ssanghwa

When I was in Korean medicine school, I heard stories about places that would mix caramel or similar ingredients to achieve the color of Sukjihwang.

Sukjihwang only becomes black and lustrous after Saengjihwang is steamed and dried nine times. That black color is the mark of proper preparation, but if one can merely imitate the color, there's no reason to complete all nine steps. On the surface, it's indistinguishable.

So, we decided to do it ourselves. We receive Saengjihwang, then steam and dry it, and repeat the steaming and drying nine times until the color is just right. When we used what we made in our clinic, the response was different. We've been making it the same way ever since.

We don't do it nine times to get the color; the color appears when it's done nine times.

Gujeung Gupo is very labor-intensive. During the nine repetitions, the production line must be dedicated solely to that one batch. For factories that handle products from multiple companies, this process simply doesn't make economic sense.

To extract quickly, you can raise the temperature. But then the aroma dissipates, and a bitter taste remains. So, instead of temperature, we use time. We cold-steep it for 24 hours and extract it at a low temperature for 12 hours. This process takes a day and a half, which also ties up the production line for a long time.

JAIMDANG BIO only produces JAIMDANG products. Since we don't handle other companies' goods, we can dedicate our production line for extended periods, allowing us to incorporate this meticulous process. The sweetness comes solely from domestic honey. The ingredient formulation is researched in collaboration with the Korean medicine doctors and herbalists at JAIMDANG Korean Medicine Clinic (Jaimdang Korean Medicine Clinic), and manufacturing is handled by JAIMDANG BIO.