(chopping sound)
(instrumental music)
(rushing water)
- I am in Korea, yahoo!
(laughs)
I am in the county Mungyeong.
Mungyeong county,
and north of Gyeongsang province, in Korea.
I'm surrounded by the beautiful mountain
full of oxygen.
I came all the way to find
my favorite berries.
You know what it is?
Omija, omija.
In English is Schisandra.
Have we ever heard about schisandra?
Shisandra is five-flavored berries.
So in Korean omija.
O- means five.
I'm going to make really delicious,
delicious omija punch today.
Oh, by the way, I have to wear
my sunglasses.
I can't look at you directly now.
Because the sunlight's too strong.
This area is famous for omija.
First I wanna show you what omija looks like.
These days is not harvest time.
Harvest time is fall, in September.
This is frozen one, but I wanna show you
this look like the little bunch of grapes.
Color is red.
Gorgeous, and this omija is dried.
I brought this from New York,
so you guys can go to Korean grocery store,
large Korean grocery store,
these days they sell omija.
So you can check it out later.
Five-flavored berries.
Sweet, and very, very sour,
and a little bit salty.
Weird, eh?
A little salty.
And kind of pungent,
or spicy, and of course it's bitter.
Asian culture, sometimes bitter things are
good for your body.
Medicinal purpose.
So these five: sweet, sour, salty, spicy,
and bitter taste. Strange.
When you chew, this is one
berry, you chew this, and you can feel
this unique 5 distinctive flavors.
We need one ounce, one ounce omija, dried omija.
(berries falling into metal bowl)
See, this is one ounce.
Around a quarter cup.
This an eight cup jar, glass jar.
And put this, and then I will add
six cups cold water.
(water pouring into jar)
Four, six.
So, this is a six cups.
Six cups omija, already pinkish.
Once this fruit is going in
and mix with water,
it's a little pinkish.
Now, we have to wait 24 hours.
24 hours is too long time to wait.
So, what I did, I brought one day ago
I just soaked this, so this is going to be
like this.
I use a small strainer over my jar
and then this is cheese cloth.
I will just cut off a little bit.
And pour.
(water pouring into jar)
It should be really red.
Bright red.
And just one ounce, and six cups water,
I soaked.
Look at this beautiful color.
Oh my.
Amazing.
I will add honey.
Honey one cup.
So this is the simplest way
of enjoying omija.
So this is omija-cha,
omija tea.
You can say that, and this is so refreshing.
I am really, really in the countryside.
Actually this place where omija is grown
is really a high elevation,
and also in early morning and evening time
is a kind of a cool climate.
It makes this Mungyeong
omija very stand out, tasty, five flavor
very distinctive.
And also yesterday I went to Mungyeong Saejae,
the mountain pass.
I just filmed a short film.
You wanna see?
(instrumental music)
Here is the Mungyeong Saejae.
So in Mungyeong, this area, it's the mountain pass.
This is the first gate.
There are three gates.
In the old days, everyone who had to go
to Hangyang, they had to walk through this gate.
(rushing water)
(stirring spoon clinking on jar)
Mm.
Really I'm telling you this,
sweet, and sour, sour taste
is really dominating,
and also a little bit bitter,
and pungent.
Actually they say that the health benefits
are good for everything.
For your body, from top to bottom.
Focused mind, and your mind is going to be clear,
and then you are not going to get
any Alzheimer's (laughs),
and your eyesight is going to be good,
and then your lung and kidney,
and all your intestines, organ will be good.
Anti cancer, anti inflammation.
It's like a panacea.
But I always say: "So what, so what, so what?"
I always say that. You know?
Because all vegetables are good.
Everybody says that!
"Oh, even eggplant is good for your body!" (laughs).
You know what I'm saying?
But something happened to my life.
I just watched a TV show, Korean TV show.
I saw a man, 101 year old man,
and he's from Chungcheong province,
somewhere near here, sensational at that time
in Korea, a few years ago.
He's 101 years old.
He got his driver's license at the age of 99.
(laughs)
And his wife is 98, something.
So what is the secret?
He's just look really, really healthy.
Everybody wants to live long life,
but it doesn't mean that you have long life
with sick in bed for 10 years.
You know what I'm saying? (laughs)
So you gotta be healthy, energetic,
and you should be able to move your body.
That means that real longevity.
He was just exactly that kind of person.
He cultivated omija, omija in his yard.
His way of making is fresh omija
mixed with sugar, lots of sugar,
and then 100 days and he ferment it.
After that he strained,
and took out the extract,
and then he put it in a jar,
every day omija mixed with water.
60 years he has been taking this omija tea,
and then when I saw his face,
and body, way of acting, energy,
and then I thought omija
is what Korean kings used to drink.
But just when I watched him on TV,
I just changed my mind.
"Oh my, I gotta take this omija tea from now!"
and then I went to Korean grocery store.
I found omija package.
This omija package.
That's why, I really want to know about this,
but this Mungyeong area is 50%
of whole products of omija in Korea
is produced in this area.
This area I want to show you this area.
Really pretty.
In order to come here, car was zigzag,
zigzag, zigzag (laughs).
And this is really deep in the mountain,
and this is cooler than usual place here.
So this is like really high, above the sea level.
Anyway, we made this way,
and then you can drink this omija tea.
You can keep in the refrigerator,
and omija tea.
But we gotta make it more delicious,
isn't it?
So, I'm going to make very unique way,
but this is also Korean traditional way.
I will make noodles.
So this is mung bean starch.
Mung bean starch, you know from my previous recipe,
mung bean starch jelly,
and then I make a kind of Korean seasoning
and mix together and enjoy.
And this mung bean starch is also used
to make really nice, nice noddles.
One cup water.
Mung bean starch.
You can buy this at a Korean grocery store.
Two tablespoons, and one teaspoon.
And two plus one teaspoon.
Quarter teaspoons salt.
And then mix.
Cook over medium, and keep stirring.
So sooner or later, it will set,
and you will have some clear jelly,
and then we just make it solidified.
It takes only five minutes.
Yesterday after Mungyeong Saejae,
there is a Korean KBS drama set,
some historical movies, dramas
are filmed here.
There is a place where you try on costumes
from dramas, so I became a one-minute queen.
(instrumental music)
You see, oh my!
Looks delicious.
Around two hours later, it will be set.
And this is mung bean jelly.
I made this three hours ago.
Now this is hard.
I will cut it.
Let me wash my hands.
Really cold water.
Usually like you cut into match sticks,
but I found out that match sticks,
when you scoop this with a spoon,
it's not easy to scoop.
So I will just make really small cubes,
and really nice.
Like small cubes.
And pear.
You know you can slice this,
or I use a vegetable cutter.
Make it more pretty.
Omija punch.
it's ice.
And mung bean jelly.
And pear.
And this is pine nuts, several pine nuts.
I always remove the tip.
That's it.
I'm going to let him taste this,
the owner of this house.
Mr. Park!
- Some gifts for you that we produce here.
- You have a really nice, beautiful place.
- My father born was here,
and he just grew up in this place,
and yeah, so it's a nice place.
- So for you I just made this amount.
- Thank you so much.
- Yeah (laughs).
You should tell my viewers
what it tastes like.
- Can I hold and drink it?
- Yeah.
- It's so delicious.
That's nice.
- How delicious is it?
Which way?
- Can I say in Korean?
(speaks in foreign language)
- I forgot to taste.
I should taste (laughs).
I always taste (speaks in foreign language).
Okay, let me taste.
Mm.
I love it.
I'm a big fan of omija.
How did you enjoy this video?
Today, we made omija punch,
with noodles and pear.
I'm so happy to film this,
in this real Mecca of omija in Korea, here.
Enjoy my recipe.
See you next time!
Bye!
(instrumental music)