Is it possible to concoct a better vinegar? She thinks so.

The humble vinegar on most kitchen counters (or perhaps underneath them) can do so much more than add a tangy bite to salads and clean out tough stains or odors. Ask anyone who takes a shot of apple cider vinegar in the mornings, and they’ll extol its health properties, too.  Indeed, vinegar can trace its history back thousands of years, to Babylon, when it was used not just for cooking, but as a medicine and a drink to boost wellness.

It’s precisely those properties that Hannah Kim, a student in Northeastern University’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences, seeks out in the vinegar she sells through her company, Bok Bok.

The company was born during the uncertain days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kim and her mother—a longtime advocate for the health properties of vinegar—sought more holistic approaches to health. While some people wiped down their groceries, Kim and her mother dug deeply into vinegar research, seeking out information about its antibacterial and cough-suppressant qualities.

“The whole idea was not just to develop a product and sell it—it’s more about how I can help in terms of other people’s health,” Kim says.

Vinegar is a combination of acetic acid and water, and is made by a two-step fermentation process.

First, yeast feeds on the sugar or starch of any liquid from a plant food—such as fruits, whole grains, potatoes, or rice. This liquid ferments into alcohol. The alcohol is then exposed to oxygen and specific acetic acid bacteria. It ferments again over weeks or months, and becomes the vinegar we recognize on grocery store shelves.

Bok Bok uses a proprietary base liquid and double fermentation process, Kim says, that allows for some flexibility toward the back end of the process to add new flavors and health-boosting ingredients. A popular flavor comes from bokbunja fruit, a raspberry-type berry native to Korea (and the root of Kim’s company name).

The berry, Kim says, contains especially high levels of antioxidants compared to other berries. It’s why Kim picked it to pair with her vinegar.

Bok Bok vinegar comes in four forms. Beyond the typical bottled liquid, there’s also dehydrated versions in powder and solid block form, and Kim is working on perfecting a semisolid “pearl” form, as well. Kim sees the dehydrated block (which is actually pyramid-shaped) and powder versions as boons for athletes who are looking for any performance edge, and who are also likely accustomed to taking supplements. They’re also accessible inroads for regular folks looking to reinforce their daily health practices.

She’s developing the pearls, meanwhile, specifically for use in the dishes at high-end restaurants, where she envisions them dotting delicious plates and adding a healthful layer of edible complexity. It would seem her instincts are right: At a recent pop-up event in New York, restaurateurs showed keen interest in them, she says.

Bok Bok is gaining attention elsewhere, too. Kim was recognized among this year’s Northeastern University Women Who Empower Innovator Awards. The annual awards honor entrepreneurs for their innovative, boundary-pushing work. This year’s recipients—students and alumni from the Northeastern community—were selected by a panel of judges and will receive a total of $500,000 in funding. Kim took second place among graduate student award winners.

“Bok Bok is filling a critical gap in the health and wellness market by addressing the over-reliance on artificial supplements,” says Jizelle Dorego, co-president of the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship (WISE) at Northeastern, and one of Kim’s mentors. “Through its naturally fermented K-balsamic vinegar, the company offers a more organic, accessible way to support immunity and homeostasis. By innovating vinegar into a daily consumable form, they provide consumers with a natural, easy-to-incorporate alternative for enhancing their well-being, appealing to the growing demand for holistic and natural health solutions. This product taps into the market need for sustainable, functional foods that promote long-term health without synthetic ingredients, which is needed in a society that focuses on health.”

For Kim, developing Bok Bok has been a learning process, especially in branding and marketing the products.

“Originally I thought that if I had a good product that uses good ingredients and that I know will definitely help, in terms of its health benefits, then by just marketing that, I’d probably sell it out. But actually, that wasn’t the case,” she says, with a laugh. “I realized that the image of the brand—what kind of jar that we’re putting the liquid in, what kind of case we’re using, and what colors we’re using, what font was on the labels—those kinds of things all play a role into selling it or at least getting it recognized by people.”

Kim’s original concept—earth tones, emphasizing the health benefits on an inconspicuous label—got a complete overhaul. She pivoted toward bold, bright colors, and a blocky font, plus a triangle-shaped mascot.

“Suddenly we were getting people’s attention, and then they were really learning about the company,” Kim says.

Now, through WISE and other entrepreneurship-centered organizations at Northeastern, Kim is learning as much as she can about the business side, in preparation for opening up a round of funding at some point in the near future.

Whatever happens, though, Kim says she’s learned lifelong lessons throughout this journey. Entrepreneurship, she says, “requires, definitely, a lot of courage and self-encouragement. And it can be difficult.”

But she’s found a community that makes it all worth it.

“Especially with the Women Who Empower award, it’s not just about the financial support; it’s more about getting invited to this wonderful community that I can have for the rest of my life, which has been really crucial. And once you take that first step, it’s a really wonderful opening to a whole new world.”