Q WHAT KIND OF COMPANY IS JEJU BASALT?

We are a Jeju-based company that plans and designs products enhancing the regional characteristics and containing the region’s significance and value using local food.

Q WHY DID YOU FOCUS ON BUCKWHEAT?

Buckwheat from Jeju grows boasting of strong vitality on the stony and rough Jeju terrain. This is akin to the lives of the Jeju residents. Buckwheat from Jeju is rich in content, such as history, fables, and traditional food culture, but it is not popular. I found this regrettable. So, Jeju Basalt took the opportunity to popularize buckwheat from Jeju by making “Jeju Buckwheat Cookies” and naturally explain the Korean food culture to foreigners by shaping them into millstones, a traditional tool.

Q YOU UPCYCLED THE PACKAGING?

The external packaging material can be recycled into hanji (traditional Korean paper) lighting box, and we emphasized Korean taste by drawing traditional window and door patterns, buckwheat flowers, and butterflies. The packaging material that contains the cookies inside has a hinge structure so that it can be opened and closed. It can thus be used as a tea container. We minimized the use of plastic and made it reusable and eco-friendly.

Q WHAT PART DID YOU PAY THE MOST ATTENTION TO WHILE PRODUCING THE PRODUCT?

We wanted everyone to recall a millstone when they see the product, but it was technologically not easy making cookies look in this shape. We had to great lengths to finally arrive at cookies that maintain an uneven surface while being smooth overall.

Q YOU ONCE ALREADY WON AN AWARD IN THE GENERAL CATEGORY OF THE KOREA TOURIST SOUVENIR CONTEST. YOU WON THE KOREAN PRIME MINISTER’S AWARD IN 2018 WITH JEJU STONE CAKES.

Our “Jeju Stone Cake” is bread made with basalt as a motif and contains hijiki, green tea, peanuts, etc., from Jeju. The cakes show the rough surface of basalt. Since the award, more and more customers have visited Jeju Stone Cake, and we have prepared for this contest, remembering the joy and glory of that time. For the Jeju Buckwheat Cookies, we focused only on natural printing and used buckwheat’s regional characteristics and selling points. As a gluten-free product, it is easy to digest and tastes refined and nutty.