- Japanese apricot grows on Japanese apricot trees that are originally from Japan.  Japanese apricot tree was introduced to Korea about 1,500 years ago and its fruit has been used as food or medicine for hundreds of years.
Japanese apricot only grows in Northeast Asia: Korea, China, and Japan.  It is a kind of fruit that grows in a limited temperate zone.  In Korea, it grows in the southern part.  The ones that grow in the northern region bloom flowers but bear no fruit.  Japan has studied various ways to process and utilize Japanese apricot and proved its mysterious efficacies and contribution to human health.
Korea has made Japanese apricot wine for several decades and began to produce Japanese apricot beverages just recently.  Traditional Japanese apricot condiments were first sold by Cheongmaesil Farm of Gwangyang in 1994.

¡Û Efficacies of Japanese Apricot

- According to Donguibogam, Japanese apricot is sour and free of toxicity, and also relieves fever.  It treats heartburn, tranquilizes the heart, stops thirst and diarrhea, and revitalizes the muscles and the pulse.  Bonchogangmok writes that Japanese apricot heals the liver and gall bladder, strengthens the muscles to relieve fatigue and prevent aging, eliminate bad breath, and treats paralysis and epilepsy.

¡Û Substances of Japanese Apricot

- Japanese apricot contains many nutrients that are beneficial for the human body.  It contains four times more calcium and six times more iron than apple.  Japanese apricot contains a lot of magnesium and zinc, which are nutrients that our body can easily lack.

¡Û Japanese Apricot Food

 - Japanese apricot extract is made by cleaning the fruit and boiling the juice in low heat.  Japanese apricot in hot pepper sauce is chopped Japanese apricot mixed with hot pepper paste.

- Maehwa Village (Seomjin Village) at Dosa-ri Daap-myeon, Gwangyang lights up with Japanese apricot blossoms early spring every year.  From early March to early April, about a million roots of Japanese apricot trees across the fields and mountains bloom blossoms and greet the spring visitors to Maehwa Festival.  The view of Seomjin River through the blooms is beautifully harmonious.

- Maehwa Festival starts in early March near Seomjingyo Bridge at Seomjin Village (Maehwa Village) of Daap-myeon, Gwangyang.  The festival includes many events, such as the memorial ritual, tourist promotion, Maehwa concert, KBS National Singing Contest, farm experience, spring news, national Japanese apricot photography contest, Japanese apricot drawing contest, and live photo service, to attract many families.