Gurye-gun Promotes Urban Regeneration with Local Specialty through Domestic Wheat Baking Education

Eating Bread Made with Golden Almi Confirms the Competitiveness of Korean Wheat

[Gurye=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yuk Miseok] Jeollanam-do Gurye-gun (Governor Kim Sunho) held an education and preliminary discussion session on the 21st at the Gurye Brewery Art Warehouse with over 30 participants including bakers to ensure the successful hosting of the Korean Wheat Bread Festival.

This education program consists of six weekly sessions starting from September 21, including practical training on Hwanggeumal wheat and a festival promotion workshop.

The training is part of the Gurye Urban Regeneration Harmony Festival aimed at revitalizing the Gurye Alley Bread Street and serves as a preparatory process for the Korean Wheat Bread Festival.

Dr. Kang Cheonsik from the National Institute of Crop Science was invited as an education expert to provide training and discussions on wheat cultivation processes, characteristics, precautions during baking, and related issues, with plans to use high-quality bread at the festival.

Dr. Kang Cheonsik stated, “Hwanggeumal wheat contains 14% protein and 10.3% gluten, making it suitable for baking and expected to replace imported wheat.” He expressed hope that Hwanggeumal wheat would be established as a baking variety in Korea, improving farmers’ income and bringing bread made from Korean wheat to dining tables.

To promote the education, the Gurye-eup Urban Regeneration Support Center received 150 kg of flour made from the Hwanggeumal wheat variety from the National Institute of Crop Science and distributed it to local bakery businesses for promotion. Bakers who made bread from the flour responded positively, noting the bread’s excellent quality.

To share this, officials from the National Institute of Crop Science visited local bakeries such as Gurye Station Bakery and Gurye Dang to taste bread made from Hwanggeumal wheat, gaining confidence that Korean wheat is competitive with imported wheat.

Lee Eunha, representative of Gurye Station Bakery, said, “I was surprised and delighted by how good the bread made from Hwanggeumal wheat turned out. I deeply thank Dr. Kang Cheonsik, the breeder, and plan to create unique Gurye breads combined with Sansuyu and other local ingredients to develop them as tourist products.”

Gurye-gun plans to successfully complete this education and hold the Korean Wheat Bread Festival on November 4 as part of the Gurye Urban Regeneration Harmony Festival to revitalize alley bakeries.

Additionally, 15 bakery businesses in Gurye are expected to participate in the festival using bread made from flour produced from Hwanggeumal wheat bred by the Rural Development Administration’s Crop Science Institute.

Governor Kim Sunho said, “To foster the Korean wheat bakery industry, a pledge of the 8th elected administration, we will do our best to be selected for the urban regeneration contest project and support the success of the Korean Wheat Bread Festival on November 4 to become a stepping stone for the Korean wheat industry.”

Meanwhile, to create an urban brand with Korean wheat content, a regional urban regeneration specialization project titled “Bongnam Plus+ Korean Wheat Connected with the Phoenix” is being promoted centered around the Bongnam-ri area.

Gurye=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yuk Miseok hss79@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.