Spring Gold and Fall Rubies

I didn't know what I was missing till I saw the latest Touring Korea videoclip produced by KBS World Radio - the footage of ajummas posing among low trees decked out in yellow, removing their socks to soak in spring waters laced with dogwood berries, enjoying tteok embellished with the dried fruits of Cornus officinalis, otherwise known as Sansuyu in Korea,  Japanese Cornelian Cherry or Shanzhuyu (Sour Mountain Date translated from the Chinese) was enough to make me regret giving this place a miss when I visited Korea in the spring of 2007.

I'd dismissed the flowers of this tree as dull in comparison to the magnolia, plum and cherry blossom but I   didn't realise until yesterday that the dried red berries that mum uses in her herbal soups and  steamed chicken dishes came from this specie. The photos of the Sansuyu Festival usually feature trees sprouting pale gold  blooms and after covering forsythia in one posting, I wasn't going to bother with another yellow flower. The red berries are only evident in fall or autumn, hence my failure to make the connection till yesterday.

Those of you in Korea who happen to be in Gurye county may want to go hunting for a tombstone in Sandong village. It's called ‘sansuyu simok’ and aside from the 28,000 sansuyu trees here, it is the sole evidence of the young Chinese girl from Shandong province who brought with her seeds of her hometown trees when she married a Korean here. Now the village produces about  60 percent of all the sansuyu fruit in Korea.

The fruit's not only useful as traditional herbal medicine but also has been mixed with other fruits and herbs for a local health drink and has even found its way into facial masks.

Emperor Qian Long of the Manchu Dynasty thought the sansuyu could increase longevity while many modern-day Koreans and Chinese still consume the dried fruit in various forms. If I get the chance to visit Korea in autumn again, I'll make it a point to visit Sandong Village and offer my services in helping to harvest these ruby-like berries in the hope of taking some freshly-picked sansuyu fruits for mum.


Sources:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/cornus_officinalis.html
http://www.mdidea.com/products/proper/proper01304.html
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/cornus_officinalis
http://rki.kbs.co.kr/english/culturenlife/culturenlife_touringkorea_detail.htm?no=467
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/10/203_20685.html
http://world.kbs.co.kr/archive/tour/archive/archive_e/e_t030326.htm
http://csjfood.com/english/page2_2_06.html
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/fruit_face_mask.html
http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/tomah/the_garden/blooming_calendar/Cornus_officinalis