In 1994, Gwangyang Cheong Maesil Farm launched the first plum concentrate product in Korea. This
concentrate was made by selecting green unripe plums (cheongmae) grown using 100% organic farming
methods and heating the plum juice for 72 hours. This product is sugar-free, additive-free and made only from
plums. The company produces 30 kinds of products including this concentrate, plum juice, plum jangajji
(pickled plum), plum gochujang (red chili paste) and doenjang (soybean paste). Cheongmae concentrate
accounts for 10%, cheongmaewon (liquid extract) for 60%, plum jangajji for 20%, and plum gochujang
and doenjang for 5% each. "Cheongmaewon liquid extract consists of 70% plum, 3% plum concentrate,
25% oligosaccharide and 2% (sugar) dextrose. Minimal sugar is used to extract the ingredients in the plum.

Gwangyang Cheong Maesil Farm, which received the Agricultural Product Power Brand Award in October
2007, cultivates 60,000 square meters (6 hectares) of land and produces an average of 50-60 tons of plums
per year. In 2021, the farm produced 52 tons of plums and bought 397 tons from neighboring plum farms.
In 2022, they produced 55 tons of plums and bought 354 tons. The farm had sales of 5.14 billion won in 2021

and 5.2 billion won in 2022. Its export business, which started in 2003 with 48,588 kg and USD397,572, has
reached a cumulative export value of around USD5 million to countries such as the United States and Australia.

Over the years, the 3,000 traditional jars used to age the plums at Gangyang Cheong Maesil Farm have
gradually deteriorated over time, and now only about 1,500 remain. Despite the decline in the number of
jars, the popularity of the Plum Village Festival has continued to grow. In March, when the plum blossoms
are in full bloom, up to two million people flock to the small village in southern Korea. During the 10-day
festival, when the plum blossoms are at their peak, over a million tourists gather to experience various
plum-related cultural events. Gwangyang Cheong Maesil Farm is also the birthplace of this festival.

Traditional clay jars are so effective at naturally fermenting food that they are often referred to as
'breathable' containers. These jars have been used for thousands of years to make Korean kimchi, doenjang
(soybean paste), gochujang (red chili paste) and other local foods. Gwangyang Cheong Maesil Farm
still uses these traditional jars to ferment some of its gochujang, doenjang and plum extract. Each jar holds
about 200kg of plums, and about 30 tons of plums are produced each year by ripening them in these jars. This
is about 10% of the total annual production, 300 tons of processed plums. The remaining 80-90% is ripened
in modern tanks. The finished product is made by mixing plums ripened in jars for six months with those
ripened in tanks for 1-2 years.