The Changgwangsan foodstuff production station under the Changgwangsan Trading Corporation developed fermented products with black raspberry as the main raw material.

Black raspberry is a bush belonging to Rubus of Rosaceae. The plant is about 2.5m high and bears clusters of fruits on one stem. A berry weighs around 5.7g and one cluster about 0.5-1kg. Similar to strawberry in shape, it is black in colour and soft and juicy.

“For the nutritive elements of the fruit, different countries are now showing a growing interest in the cultivation of black raspberry,” said Kim Mi Gyong, chief of the station.

According to data available, the fruit is rich in anthocyan, polyphenol, vitamins B, C, E and K, selenium, calcium, minerals and other elements essential to the human body. In particular, its antioxidant content is three times higher than that of common blueberries.

Black raspberry has remarkable antioxidant, ageing-retarding, anti-cancer, immunity-boosting, metabolism-promoting, blood pressure-lowering and stress-relieving functions and is highly effective in treating obesity, diabetes and arteriosclerosis and improving heart functions.

Therefore, it is called a third-generation fruit species and “black life-giving fruit”.

The fruit is also cultivated in the DPRK.

The Changgwangsan foodstuff production station turns out fermented black raspberry goods by combining the traditional fermenting method of the Korean nation and modern processing technique.

The products have distinctive flavours and aromas for the high standard of the fermentation process and the full aging in oak barrels.

Packaging of new modality is so refined and conspicuous that it attracts customers.

As the products satisfy the demands of the present-day people, who seek new, wholesome, beautiful and convenient things, they won popularity as soon as they were unveiled and demand for them has been on the rise with the passage of time.

“I began to have this black raspberry drink in December last year,” said Kim Chol, researcher at Kim Chaek University of Technology. “For occupational peculiarity, I often suffer from stress. But soon after I have the drink, I feel refreshed and better. And though I easily caught cold when my colleagues contracted the illness, I could spend last winter free from it. And as the drink is so nutritious I don’t feel hunger after drinking it. The colour is also pleasing. I love this as it is made domestically.”

The fermented black raspberry products were highly appreciated at the light industrial goods exhibition “Development of Light Industry-2023” held last year.

According to developers, they are going to develop various other black raspberry products.