Danjong in the film The King's Warden ascended the throne at age 12 in 1452 after his father Munjong died. But in 1455, three years later, his uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, seized the throne. He is the very same Grand Prince Suyang who asks in the movie The Face Reader, "Do I have the physiognomy to be king?" Danjong was exiled to a mountain village in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province.
Danjong spent a little over four months in exile. It is said that Choo Ik-han, who served as the mayor of Hanseong, picked wild fruits such as hardy kiwi in the mountains and presented them to Danjong, who had been exiled to Yeongwol. Though he does not appear in the film, Choo Ik-han is counted, along with Eom Heung-do, as a loyal retainer who guarded Danjong to the end. In the end, it was wild mountain produce that comforted the ill-fated king to his last.
Hardy kiwi is not a fruit that appears only in Danjong's time. It is named in the Goryeo-era song "Cheongsan Byeolgok," in "Gangwon-do Arirang," and in the Joseon-era medical text "Donguibogam." It is an indigenous fruit that has long grown in Korea's mountains and fields and become part of people's diet.
But not many people know hardy kiwi today. People are more familiar with kiwi, a fruit close to hardy kiwi. Hardy kiwi is much smaller than kiwi, about the size of a jujube or an olive. You can eat it whole without peeling, and when ripe it is soft and very sweet. It is rich in nutrients such as vitamins A and C. The problem is the market. The period to enjoy hardy kiwi fresh is short, and harvesting and distribution are tricky.
◇Finding a "crop others don't grow," and meeting hardy kiwi
At Saemmal Farm in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, visited on the 26th, a hardy kiwi field of 9,917 square meters (about 3,000 pyeong) stretched out. The 650 hardy kiwi vines planted here yield about 10 tons of fruit every year.
CEO Gwak Mi-ok, 66, who runs the farm, did not choose hardy kiwi from the start. After working in Seoul as a public health official, she settled in Yeongwol, her police officer husband's hometown, then raised cattle and cultivated various crops such as chwinamul, balloon flower root, deodeok, and astragalus.
Farming, however, was not easy. Revenue swung widely with market prices. At one point, annual sales at a 49,587-square-meter (about 15,000-pyeong) farm amounted to only 17 million won.
Gwak searched the internet to find a new crop. Using Cheollian at the time, she studied agriculture and forestry, looking up materials from the Korea Forest Service, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rural Development Administration, and local agricultural research and extension services.
Just then, the government launched a pilot program to distribute hardy kiwi vines to farms. Nearly 20 people nationwide took part, but for various reasons they gave up cultivation one by one, and Gwak was the one who remained to the end.
Yeongwol's natural environment also suited hardy kiwi. On the mountainous, sloped land, clay loam mixed with gravel provides good drainage, and the soil retains some moisture even in drought. Excluding facility costs, the annual expense for farm inputs such as fertilizer and compost is said to be less than 1 million won.
◇A precious fruit harvested one month a year… Diversifying into jelly sticks, powder, jam
Hardy kiwi is divided into early-, mid-, and late-season varieties and is usually harvested from early September to October. Although harvest timing varies by variety, the period when consumers can enjoy it fresh is a little over a month.
Harvesting is also tricky. Hardy kiwi tastes best when it feels soft to the touch, but it is not easy to check ripeness with the naked eye. Its skin is sensitive and browns with even slight scratches during harvest. It poses no problem for eating, but hurts marketability. Being squashed or mashed during distribution and transport is another headache.
"I wear disposable latex gloves and move the fruit carefully so it won't be damaged," Gwak said, adding, "There are also cases where hardy kiwi gets squashed or mashed during distribution."
Greenhouse cultivation is not easy either. Even with the top opened, hardy kiwi vines are damaged if they receive too much heat in summer. With the market size still small, it is difficult to invest hundreds of millions of won to build facilities.
◇Beyond the limits of fresh fruit to ade, jelly, and powder… A decade of processing research
In the end, the way forward for hardy kiwi lies beyond fresh fruit. Saemmal Farm processes hardy kiwi into ade, jelly sticks, powder, jam, and more. The aim is to expand sales, concentrated in the roughly one-month harvest season, into products that can be enjoyed year-round.
They devoted nearly 10 years to product development. Gwak visited NongHyup's research and development (R&D) unit multiple times and, in the process of developing new products, discarded 3,000 kilograms of hardy kiwi.
"Current hardy kiwi production is about 10 tons a year. We started with 600 pyeong and added another 2,400 pyeong," Gwak said. "We are also preparing to develop new products such as tea using hardy kiwi leaves."