30 Years with Oriental Raisin Tree: A Forester Opens New Horizons in Product Development

The Korea Forest Service (KFS Commissioner Lim Sang-seop) announced on the 1st that Ri Kwon-su (59) the head of the Malgeunsan Farming Association in Jinju Gyeongnam has been selected as the ‘Forester of the Month.’

Ri Kwon-su followed in his father’s footsteps starting his journey in forestry by cultivating landscape trees in the early 1990s. He later heard about the hangover relief and liver function improvement effects of the Oriental raisin tree and began developing products based on this tree.

However the Oriental raisin tree posed challenges due to its inconsistent fruit yield which made raw material supply unstable.

To address this Ri collaborated with Gyeongsang National University for over five years to develop a method for extracting the same active ingredients from the leaves of the tree which were previously discarded as from the fruit stalks. The leaf extract contains 2.5 times more flavonoids and 2.8 times more polyphenols both antioxidants than the fruit stalk extract.

Using this patented method Ri received support from the Korea Forest Services Forest Science and Technology Commercialization Project in 2020 to develop his flagship product Hovenia Issue which generates annual sales of 150 million KRW.

Park Eun-sik Director General of the Forest Industry Policy Bureau at KFS stated “We are continuing our research to analyze the functional and pharmacological properties of forest products so they can be utilized in various fields. We will keep discovering and presenting forest products that contribute to health improvement to the public.”

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