There are many well-known medicinal materials and edible herbs in the mountains of Korea.
Among them is platycodon (root of balloonflower) widely known to the people for its peculiar taste, fragrance and potency.
Platycodon looks like insam. So it is called a cousin of insam.
The Moranbong Ragwon Health Food Production Station has turned out black platycodon good for the improvement of the people's health by processing wild platycodon of Mt. Kumgang.
In the course of turning black, the saponin content of the black platycodon has got over 10 times higher than that of the ordinary one and its physiological activators increased.
If platycodon is likened to insam, black platycodon can be likened to red insam.
Black platycodon makes bronchial mucosa strong to prevent and improve bronchial disorders such as cough, sputum and asthma.
Polysaccharide inulin has outstanding blood sugar controlling effect to be called natural insulin. It greatly helps prevent and improve diabetes and is effective for preventing cancer.
The station also produces black platycodon tea, black platycodon concentrated juice and black platycodon for children.
The black platycodon processing technique was granted a national patent some time ago.
Technical Assistant Jin Myong Hun says:
"Generally, platycodon should be used a lot to cure respiratory diseases and tastes bitter. So it's quite uncomfortable for children to use. The black platycodon we developed, however, has sweet taste and the use of only one or two roots improves metabolism and immunity, producing big curative effects."
The production station is still striving to develop a larger number of functional foods conducive to improving the people's health.
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