Cheongsong Apples Get a Tasty Makeover, Head to Festival Tables

Four Local Restaurants Develop Seven New Apple-Based Dishes
Expected to Expand Consumption Beyond the Festival

Cheongsong County, North Gyeongsang Province, is developing new foods featuring Cheongsong apples, a local specialty, to diversify festival offerings and revitalize the local restaurant industry.

Cheongsong County Governor Yoon Kyunghee speaks at a tasting evaluation of festival foods, where Cheongsong apples are being presented as a meal option, not just a dessert. The initiative is expected to boost agricultural consumption and revitalize the local food-service industry, and will debut at the 20th Cheongsong Apple Festival. [Photo by Kwon Byeonggeon]

On October 15, Cheongsong County said it had developed seven meal and snack items featuring apples ahead of the 20th Cheongsong Apple Festival and held a tasting and evaluation event for the new menu items on October 14 to assess their flavor and quality.

“Cheongsong Apple Table” is a food development project designed to expand the use of Cheongsong apples as an ingredient in a variety of dishes, beyond their traditional consumption as fresh fruit and desserts.

During the festival, the county will sell the newly developed dishes at reasonable prices in a dedicated area inside the Apple Promotion Center.

The county also plans to support local restaurants in continuing to commercialize the items after the festival.

To that end, it invited local restaurants to participate in July and selected four businesses—Muin Cafe In, Munhyang, Cafe Olle, and farmhouse restaurant Mukku—for consulting.

A total of seven menu items were developed.

Muin Cafe In will offer apple cup rice and apple hot dogs, while Munhyang will serve apple sandwiches and apple tteokbokki.

Cafe Olle developed apple pork cutlets, and farmhouse restaurant Mukku created apple Chungmu gimbap and apple suyuk.

A key feature is the use of Cheongsong apples in everyday foods, giving festival visitors the chance to experience the local specialty in a variety of ways.

The county expects the project to boost the competitiveness of festival food offerings while creating new markets for local agricultural products and helping small restaurants develop products and expand their sales channels.

Cheongsong County Governor Yoon Kyunghee said, “We will expand our cooperation with local restaurants so that Cheongsong apples can be consumed in a variety of dishes, beyond being sold as fresh fruit. We will work to provide festival visitors with distinctive food and give participating businesses an opportunity to develop new sales channels.”

Cheongsong County unveils new menu items for "Cheongsong Apple Table," from Cheongsong apple sandwiches to pork cutlets. [Photo by Cheongsong County]

The project is significant as an effort to turn local specialties into enduring restaurant products rather than one-off offerings at a festival. Whether the new dishes become available year-round and how consumers respond to them are expected to be key measures of the project’s long-term viability.

Cheongsong apples’ competitiveness must now be built not only on their high quality but also on their ability to create new markets. “Cheongsong Apple Table” is significant as an effort to add value to a signature local agricultural product by linking it with the restaurant industry.

What matters is not the temporary attention the dishes receive during the festival, but whether they take root in the local business community and lead to sustained consumption. Cheongsong apples’ true brand competitiveness can grow further when their reputation for production quality translates into a wider variety of ways to enjoy them and tangible results for the local economy.

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