Our Story
Our Story
From the site of a closed country school
to honest soybean food
Ssalkong Sanghoe is the food brand of Hansol Agricultural Association Corp., a farming company in Juam-myeon, Suncheon, in the southwest of South Korea. The name carries a simple intention: to make only honest products.
Hansol Agricultural Association Corp. now brings Suncheon's rice and soybeans to you under a new name, 'Ssalkong Sanghoe'. Some products are still sold under the previous name, 'Chamhansol'.
The company was founded on 14 March 1994 by five farm households in Juam-myeon. Its founder is Chairman Cho Young-sik; today his younger brother, Cho Chun-sik, leads the company as CEO. It began at a time when imported produce and factory-style Japanese miso were taking over Korean tables, with one conviction: "We must protect our own table."
Started on a closed school site
Our premises were once a small rural branch school. When the closed school site came up for auction in 1994, Hansol won the bid. The buildings had been badly damaged after the school closed and could not be used as they were, so a large investment in repairs was needed from the start.
The location was chosen for good reasons: the village grew a lot of chili peppers, ideal for making gochujang; it lies midway between Gwangju and Suncheon, convenient for distribution; and it is the home town where all the founding brothers were born.
A farm that is not big, but good
From the beginning our guiding idea has been to build a farm that is not big, but good. It means guarding against growth for its own sake, holding on to strict standards of quality, and keeping to a path where consumers, producers and distributors all do well together.
So we give time to the things that need time — choosing our soybeans and letting our jang mature.
From traditional jang to Korean soybeans
Our first products were the traditional jang — gochujang, doenjang and ganjang. From around 2004 we shifted our focus to Korean soybeans, adding tofu, cheonggukjang, bean sprouts and soy milk, and since 2005 we have processed soybeans grown under contract for Suncheon Nonghyup, the local agricultural cooperative.
We are also a certified Rural Education Farm (first quality-certified in December 2013), where visiting groups grind soybeans for tofu and shape meju by hand.