▲ CEO Jung Nam-su

Black food such as black beans-themed bread, rice, vinegar and tofu are known to strengthen immunity. Jung Nam-su, CEO of Chamjayeon (True Nature), is the one who experienced a miracle to wake her husband up who were in comma for a long time thanks to black beans. From then on, she became known as a black food enthusiast. 

December 1989, her husband had a car accident and became a mere vegetable. Jung did whatever it was that could possible wake him up. A thought of folk remedy struck her one day and she started research. Because she majored in food and nutrition at Sookmyung Women’s University and graduated with a master’s degree, she was confident at this idea. With the help of university hospital, she injected black bean and vegetable juice to him. A miracle happened in 40 days that he suddenly woke up. Although he cannot walk himself without a support of others, she has taken care of him for the last 29 years with much gratitude. 

She then established Chamjayeon in April 2011. It was hard to manage the business that she often skipped the meal while willingly paid for her staff meal. She also had to promote the business on their own without sales agents. Looking back, she said that the hard work and study were what drove her to grow the business as today. And it was well rewarded that she won the participation prize at the Incubator Investment Contest in 2016. 

Lee Young-ja, a comedian and television presenter, once pointed out ‘black bean water’ to keep her healthy hair. Hwang Jung-eum, an actress and singer, is well known to eat black beans to keep her slim body shape, and singer Jo Kyung-soo also once asserted that black beans contain glycitein, which suppresses the proliferation of cancer cells, 20 times more than yellow beans; he also asserted that he overcame his colorectal cancer with black sesame and black beans. 

The black food at Chamjayeon is made of 100% Korean black beans. The food passed the FDA standards and it is safe to eat. “Adding 3 to 5% of vapor to the black beans increased digestion which was the result of my 12 months of research” says Jung.

The Jung Nam Su black food series has three product stories: the story of black bean as the first, the story of black bean and the seeds as the second and the story of pure black bean as the third. The three products contain no chemical additives but only the natural ingredient. In 2012, she published a book <I Saw a Miracle with Black Beans> by gathering years of her knowledge and experience. 

“I’m currently working on adding healthy grains to black beans to maximize nutritional value and easy digestion. Also, I have a plan to open ‘Bean Activity Hall (tentative)’ in near future to spread miraculous effect of black beans.”