Do you know that it's been exactly 50 years since Amorepacific (Sulwhasoo) began the research of ginseng? Yes, this year marks the 50th anniversary of ABC Ginseng Cream (in 1966), the origin of Sulwhasoo. Today, we'd like to reminisce about ABC Ginseng Cream through this column and travel through the past, present and future of ginseng research; Sulwhasoo's passion and earnest efforts into the study of ginseng.

The history of ginseng began in Kaesong, Korea. Kaesong merchants came upon the stage of history in the late 15th century and they gained total control over the distribution and trade of ginseng, the biggest export during the Joseon Dynasty. They then seized power over trade among three countries; Joseon, Qing Dynasty and Japan and amassed riches in the 18th century. As shown in the picture below, there were rows of tile-roofed houses along streets in Kaesong and at that time, a house roofed with tiles was a representation of wealth.

In the 19th century, Kaesong merchants first became interested in cultivating ginseng. Before that, ginseng was generally considered to grow wild in the mountains. But after excessive amounts of ginseng were collected for trade during the boom years, it became difficult to find ginseng in nature and as a result, merchants took interest in growing ginseng themselves.

Kaesong merchants exclusively focused on cultivating raw ginseng used to make red ginseng. At that time, the average size of ginseng plantations in Kaesong was about 700–1,000 pyeong (2,314–3,306 m2) whereas ginseng plantations in Geumsan, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea averaged to only 10–100 pyeong (33–330 m2). In fact, the ginseng cultivation industry grew big enough to produce up to 40,000 geun (24,000 kg) of red ginseng every year toward the middle of the 19th century but soon after Japanese colonial rule began, a government-sponsored red ginseng monopoly took place and Kaesong merchants found themselves banned from processing and exporting red ginseng. Although it dealt a serious blow to their business, they did not give up; they changed their way of thinking and produced white ginseng (dried ginseng), which revived the ginseng market once again.

Kaesong merchants, ginseng and our founder Suh Sungwhan (pen name Jangwon), who spent his childhood in Kaesong; everything seems fated to come together and inspire Amorepacific's ginseng research.

Amorepacific's ginseng research began with the founder's insight that ginseng would be good for the skin as much as it's good for the body and in the 1960s, things began to happen.

In the 1980s, Amorepacific shifted its focus to finding more effective ways of obtaining high-purity ginseng saponins through separation and refinement. And while doing so, the study of parts of ginseng (leaves, blossoms), other than the root, began as well.

In 1981, SAMMIJIN was released based on the results of ginseng research and in 1985, the scope of research was extended to Korean traditional medicinal herbs, which led to the beginning of Sulwha, the origin of the brand Sulwhasoo.

In the 1990s, a question arose as to whether or not saponins in ginseng could be absorbed into the body as they are when a person consumes ginseng and from the study, it was found that ginseng saponins are hydrolyzed through the process of digestion and fermentation by intestinal microorganisms.

In other words, ginseng saponins are not digested in their original form, but converted into rare saponins called Compound K and Ginsenoside F1 and then absorbed into the body, and these components are the ones that actually work to boost biological activity. And this raised another question about how to produce Compound K and Ginsenoside F1. To solve this problem, Amorepacific analyzed the metabolic process of ginseng saponins and began studying enzymes, essential in creating Compound K and Ginsenoside F1.

In the 2000s, after a series of failures, Amorepacific discovered enzymes capable of creating rare active saponins and succeeded in converting ginseng saponins into Compound K and Ginsenoside F1. It was also found that Compound K was effective in preventing the aging of skin while Ginsenoside F1 was helpful for brightening up the skin. The technology used to convert ginseng saponins into two active saponins, Compound K and Ginsenoside F1, was bioconversion. Amorepacific used this bioconversion technology to deliver remarkable skin benefits of ginseng to customers through its renowned medicinal herb-based cosmetics, such as Sulwhasoo products using rare active saponins with exceptional anti-aging and brightening effects.

In recognition of such an amazing achievement, Amorepacific received a number of awards including the Jang Yeongsil Award in 2008, the Prime Minister's Award at the Korean Technology Awards in 2009 and our bioconversion technology was also listed among Korea's 10 Best New Technologies.

Researchers faced yet another challenge after developing the bioconversion technology. They thought other parts of ginseng such as the leaves, stem, ginseng berries, blossoms and seeds would work as well as the roots. Indeed, they explored different parts of ginseng and discovered that each has its own skin benefits.

For instance, Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Essential Oil uses oil extracted from ginseng seeds to strengthen the skin's self-protective power, whereas Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Eye Cream uses saponins extracted from ginseng leaves and stem through the special cultivation method known as 'aquaculturing' and Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Cream EX possesses a high concentration of key ingredients extracted from ginseng roots and blossoms.

Amorepacific named the comprehensive research of different parts of ginseng and their skin benefits as Ginsenomics (Ginseng + Omics). And this research continues today.

To give an example of the Ginsenomics research, Sulwhasoo used ginseng blossoms as the key ingredient of its Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Cream EX, which will be released in September 2016. Due to the nature of ginseng, ginseng blossoms can be collected in a short period of time (early–mid May) from over four-year-old ginseng. It means that we have to wait another year to collect ginseng blossoms if we miss this short harvest period.

Researchers went around eco-friendly ginseng farms across Korea, even on weekends, in order to collect as many ginseng blossoms as possible. They also studied extraction technologies to obtain a high concentration of effective components (Ginsenoside Re) from ginseng blossoms and eventually developed Pulse Pressure Extraction™ using the technology of regularly giving/reducing pressure that's 800 times higher than air pressure. And it completed the development of Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Cream EX with ginseng blossom extract.

Amorepacific will continue to study and evolve the aforementioned technologies while diving deep into the research of Ginsenoside to identify not only skin benefits of rare active saponins, but also the combination of ginseng extracts for greater synergy effect and new carriers for stable and effective delivery of skin benefits of ginseng.

Then again, the research of new future technology should be conducted as well to deal with the latest issues such as climate change and product safety. One of the most important research topics is the cultivation technology to obtain each part of ginseng in its best and standard conditions regardless of environmental changes (region, weather and season).

It covers the hydroponic ginseng technology for growing ginseng leaves/stem, ginseng berry cultivation using Smart Farm technology, explantation technology to extract high concentration of key ingredients from ginseng and ginseng metabolomics research to discover the singularity of ginseng used by Sulwhasoo. And all researchers including ourselves are dedicated to the study of ginseng for better future of Amorepacific.

How was the story of Amorepacific's ginseng research? It was great to introduce the 50-year history of ginseng research, albeit briefly. We'd like to ask for your support and interest in the following Asian Beauty Lab columns. And please, feel free to contact Asian Beauty Lab if you have any questions about ginseng!