In Korea, Hongsi (ripe persimmon) is sometimes eaten frozen. If you eat frozen Hongsi with a spoon, it becomes an ice cream-like dessert. There is one place that put frozen Hongsi on the market: it is Icehongsi Cheongdo Agri-cultural Association Corpor-ation (ICAAC) in Cheongdo, Gyeongsangbuk-do. Ice Hongsi gives the unique sweet taste of Hongsi and the coolness of ice at the same time. ICAAC has been making ice Hongsi for 30 years and is called the origin of Ice Hongsi in Korea.

#What is Ice Hongsi?

Ice Hongsi is made by freezing Hongsi, using Cheongdo Bansi as the ingredient. Cheongdo Bansi has a high sugar and high moisture content,  so it is great to eat as a dessert or snack like ice cream or sorbet when made in Ice Hongsi. After ripening Hongsi for freezing with harmless softener to the human body, quickly freeze it at -50℃, peel the skin, and wrap one Hongsi in one cup.

#The Best Persimmon, Cheongdo

Bansi, is the Only Ingredient The core product of ICAAC is Ice Hongsi-literally frozen Hongsi. When the association was established in 1995, there was no Ice Hongsi. It was an idea of ICAAC CEO Lee Hae-doo who was running a persimmon farm in Cheongdo, a major producer of persimmons in Korea. It was aimed to promote consumption of Cheongdo Bansi (seedless flat persimmon), which was evaluated as Korea’s best persimmon. CEO Lee Hae-doo recalled, “Based on the idea that fish caught in a deep-sea fishing boat is cooled quickly and stored for a long time, we started to freeze Hongsi to taste Cheongdo Bansi all year round.” Cheongdo Bansi is the only persimmon without seeds in Korea, so there is no need to sort out seeds when eating Hongsi. The fruit is soft and is high in sugar content and moisture. So, Cheongdo Bansi is perfect for making Ice Hongsi. The 30 years experience of processing Ice Hongsi by ICAAC since release of Ice Hongsi has been added to such characters, making ICAAC as the continued leader in the Korean Ice Hongsi market.

#Peeling off Hongsi Skin was the Right Choice

ICAAC simply froze Hongsi at first. It was difficult to eat because of the skin and was especially avoided by elementary school students who had to eat Ice Hongsi for school lunch. This prompted CEO Lee Hae-doo to peel off the skin of Hongsi in the early 2000s. He emphasized, “Peeling off Hongsi skin was a decisive factor in sustaining the legacy of Ice Hongsi to this day.” That it also developed its own softener is also noteworthy. It is a booster used to make astringent persimmon into Hongsi, and ICAAC made its own softener using ethylene gas in 1996 based on study data from the Korea Rural Development Administration that ethylene gas from plants acts as a softener. Softener is harmless to the human body and is used to make Hongsi, which is quickly frozen at -50℃. ICAAC is also devoted to quality control, such as obtaining HACCP and FSSC22000 certificates.  

#One Hongsi in One Cup, a Simple Dessert

The main importing country of Ice Hongsi is the United States. Products exported to the United States are shipped through Pulmuone, Korea’s leading food company. ICAAC receives Pulmuone’s strict quality inspection for exporting Ice Hongsi. It exports the products not only to the United States but also to Canada and Australia, as well as Germany, Indonesia, Japan, and China albeit small. Recently, Vietnam has shown interest in Ice Hongsi too, so ICAAC is working on it. Ice Hongsi is convenient and easy to eat because it is individually packaged. CEO Lee Hae-doo said that Ice Hongsi is also drawing attention as a dessert product abroad as in Korea, especially because it is rich in vitamins and amino acids and is effective in recovering from fatigue and preventing colds. CEO Lee said, “Ice Hongsi is a traditional Korean food that retains the taste, aroma, and the rich fiber of Korean persimmons. We will work hard to serve Cheongdo Bansi as a dessert for people all around the world.”