Bang Young-gil of Yeongyang Red Farm 방영길 - 영양레드팜

고추마이스터 The gochu meister

We curated Yeongyang Red Farm for their aspirational, inspirational passion.

Experience gochugaru as it should be, Korean grown, with care, hand picked, and dried to perfection. 

Bang Young-gil is 1 of only 3 in Korea to title of 고추 마이스터 Gochu Meister.
Designated by The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and endowed to the growers who set the standard for the country's chilli farming.
It took 6 months of written examination, in-depth interview, and rigorous on-site inspection.

None of it, he says, would have been possible without his wife, Kim Young-soon, who has worked the land beside him every step of the way.

He farms in Muchang-ri, a village in Yeongyang county known as the "chilli village", where many households among its hundred or so residents grow the crop that has made the region's name.

But he wasn't born to it.

Bang Young-gil spent his working life in Seoul, rising to executive director at a manufacturing company, before retiring in 2007.
He set out with his wife and children to find a place to live simply in clean air.

"Muchang-ri felt like being held in a mother's embrace."

He applied the discipline and riguour of his corporate life to the mountainside, tracking how his chillies grew, and the conditions.

Even at his tender age, he attended Gyeongbuk National University's farmer's academy, at Andong National University's meister programme.

He partnered with the regional chilli research station to trial ten different varieties before finding the ones suited to his land.

Taste the results in his gochugaru.

And now, we warmly share the heritage and experience with you.

Making process

Across 16 greenhouses and open fields spanning nearly 3 hectares, he grows without a trace of chemical pesticide, fertiliser, antibiotic, or antimicrobial, organically.

He relies instead on compost fermented with amino acids and traditional remedies, and on microorganisms he cultivates himself to keep disease and pests at bay.

It is slower, and harder.

Yet his yield, runs close to 3x the national average.

Every chilli is hand-picked without its stem, taking nothing bu the fruit.

Most gochugaru is sun-dried, prized for looking traditional.
But the deep red of a good chilli is fragile - vulnerable to the very sun that's meant to dry it.

Instead, Bang Young-gil dries his harvest slowly, over 5 days at a low, finely controlled temperature, in 3 careful stages, preserving the colour and a clean, lingering aroma that sun-drying can strip away.

Every batch is hand-sorted before milling, to remove anything not meeting his high standards.

Ingredients

Made with 100% Korean ingredients.

No added sugar, artificial preservatives or additives. 
Made purely as was traditionally.

Legacy

His farm has become something of a pilgrimage site for other growers.
Farmers travel from across the country to learn his methods.

He now teaches and consults on cultivation and organic technique for those hoping to follow a similar path.

His learning does not stop, and is currently working towards a doctorate in agricultural science at Korea National Open University.

His ambition: to improve Korea's agricultural precision, and to make sure the knowledge doesn't disappear with his generation.