A small patch of wild mugwort growing along the foot of Mount Dalmasan has been reborn as a rice cake carrying the taste of home, spreading warm sharing ahead of Chuseok.

Lee Eun-hye, CEO of Wellness Agricultural Corporation who settled in Mabong-village, Songji-myeon and has been developing various foods utilizing mugwort, introduced this year's mugwort rice cakes. Unlike the conventional method of directly adding boiled mugwort or mugwort powder into the dough, she captures the original aroma and color of mugwort by utilizing low-temperature vacuum and compression extraction technologies grown in the clean ecological environment of Mount Dalmasan. In particular, utilizing extraction equipment with the support of Haenam County to properly blend fresh mugwort and mugwort, combined with organically produced glutinous rice, it delivers a healthy taste and is receiving a great response.

Ahead of Chuseok, special orders from hometown figures who sympathized with this purpose continued.

Kim Su-gwan, director of Gwangju Sangmu Dental Clinic who is originally from Haenam, ordered 200 boxes of mugwort rice cakes to deliver to neighbors in need and acquaintances. This is to share the affection of the hometown during the Chuseok holiday, placing meaning on the fact that agricultural products produced in the hometown have been made into new local foods.

Director Kim said, "It is even more meaningful in that we can think of our hometown through healthy food, and that agricultural products grown in the natural ecological environment of Haenam are made into products," adding, "I ordered them because I wanted to share the affection of my hometown with neighbors and acquaintances in celebration of Chuseok."

The utilization of mugwort is not the first time. CEO Lee previously pulverized mugwort harvested from Mount Dalmasan and developed and commercialized fresh noodles mixed with Haenam-grown dwarf wheat. She has also conceived ways to connect local resources obtained from the natural environment of Mount Dalmasan into food, and expand this back into tourism and ecological experiences.

CEO Lee Eun-hye said, "Starting from the memory of mugwort rice cakes made by my grandmother in my childhood, I commercialized the mugwort discovered on Mount Dalmasan in a new way," and added, "By adding the local nature, agricultural products, and human touch here, we are making food containing the story of Haenam rather than just a rice cake."

The business centered on mugwort is also leading to attempts to explore new possibilities for local agriculture.

CEO Lee plans to establish the "Haenam Agriculture and Regional Co-existence Social Cooperative" in the future to organize small and medium-sized local farms and build an agri-food industrial ecosystem connecting production, manufacturing, processing, distribution, corporate procurement, public procurement, and export.

CEO Lee stated, "In the process of Haenam's high-tech industry growing, we must create a structure where agriculture is not marginalized and grows together," and added, "The goal is to convert the growth of future industries into an opportunity for Haenam agriculture and connect the globalization of K-food to the income of Haenam farmers."

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