JeotgalSalted and fermented seafood side dishes. Commonly used ingredients are clams, shrimps, oysters, and pollock roe.
Jeotgal refers to a salted fermented food. It is made by salting fish, shellfish, eggs of fish, fish flesh or fish innards to prevent the activations of saprogenic bacteria. Its fermentation process allows enzyme from seafood and microbes to decompose the fish or its parts, thereby making a distinctive taste and flavor of jeotgal. It originates from India, Vietnam and Thailand that are rich in marine products and relatively warm areas. People in these regions couldn’t store food because of hot weather and didn’t have any other choice but to throw away spoiled foods that were hunted, gathered and fished. They might have found that the wasted food became fermented naturally and turned to be a food with different flavor and taste. It was the origin that humans started to make fermented seafood first. Jang, or basic seasoning made with soybean, was developed in farming regions while fermented seafood was invented in coastal areas with abundant marine products.
It is estimated that Korean jeotgaltraces back to the New Stone Age. In the Silla dynasty, a queen prepared jeotgal for a traditional ceremony to pay respect to the bridegroom’s family, according to an old record, which demonstrates how valuable jeotgal had been for so long time. The types of jeotgal enormously diversified throughout the Goryeo and Joseon dynasty. The number of jeotgal increases depending on harvest time and seasons of seafood, types of seafood, and parts of seafood. There are so many kinds of jeotgal and some of its names are unfamiliar such as eorigul jeot (salted oysters), myeongran jeot (salted Pollack eggs), ggolddugi jeot (salted baby octopus), jogae jeot (salted clam), toha jeot (salted Toha shrimp), myeollchi jeot (salted anchovies), jogi jeot (salted corvine), agami jeot (salted branchiae), baendaengi jeot (salted sardines), changran jeot (salted viscera), sora jeot (salted conch), baeha jeot (salted a kind of shrimp) and jaha jeot (salted very small shrimp).
The method of making jeotgal might sound easy but it is complicated and requires a long experience. Considering that Koreans distinguish all kinds of fish and shellfish and even their parts in making jeotgal, they have quite a delicate palate, indeed. All their efforts to make jeotgaland to seek the place to store at an optimal temperature and moisture level show how much Korean people love jeotgal.
The well-known places for jeotgal storage are Geumgwang cave and Gwangcheon cave. Geumgwnag cave, located in Naju, is 8㎞ long, 200㎞width with 8 stories, which is the biggest one in Korea. There are around 7,000-8,000 jeotgal drum cans in the cave. Not only the salty taste of fermented jeotgal is great, but also the cave filled with various kinds of jeotgal including saeu jeot (salted shrimp), myeollchi jeot (salted anchovies), hwangsaegi jeot (salted corvine), songeo jeot (salted trout) and jap jeot (mixed jeot) is a wonderful scenery to see.
There are many famous places for saeu jeot(salted shrimp) in Korea but Gwangcheon saeu jeot, fermented in the Gwangcheon cave, has been most famous from the Goryeo dynasty. Gwangcheon saeu jeot becomes a brand of saeu jeot that is properly fermented at the cave and shipped out. Its taste is excellent, compared to other regions’ jeotgal because it is placed for the maturity in the cave that maintains 85 percent humidity and constant temperature at 14-15 degrees Celsius.
These caves are now used as jeotgal storages but they were air-raid shelters during the Korean War. They became famous after being used as jeotgal caves by villagers. There are numerous caves at Dokbae village, Ongdam-ri, Gwangcheon which have ideal conditions for fermenting jeotgal.
The quality and taste of jeotgal from Gwangcheon area have no parallel. There are around 40 caves and a cave 2m high and 200m length has storage capacity of about 3,800 drums. Wine cellars are popular tourist spots in other countries. Likewise, isn’t it quite a fantastic idea to use the natural caves as the jeotgal storage?
Spicy Korean Cabbage Salad Kimchi
Jeotgal refers to a salted fermented food. It is made by salting fish, shellfish, eggs of fish, fish flesh or fish innards to prevent the activations of saprogenic bacteria. Its fermentation process allows enzyme from seafood and microbes to decompose the fish or its parts, thereby making a distinctive taste and flavor of jeotgal. It originates from India, Vietnam and Thailand that are rich in marine products and relatively warm areas. People in these regions couldn’t store food because of hot weather and didn’t have any other choice but to throw away spoiled foods that were hunted, gathered and fished. They might have found that the wasted food became fermented naturally and turned to be a food with different flavor and taste. It was the origin that humans started to make fermented seafood first. Jang, or basic seasoning made with soybean, was developed in farming regions while fermented seafood was invented in coastal areas with abundant marine products.
It is estimated that Korean jeotgaltraces back to the New Stone Age. In the Silla dynasty, a queen prepared jeotgal for a traditional ceremony to pay respect to the bridegroom’s family, according to an old record, which demonstrates how valuable jeotgal had been for so long time. The types of jeotgal enormously diversified throughout the Goryeo and Joseon dynasty. The number of jeotgal increases depending on harvest time and seasons of seafood, types of seafood, and parts of seafood. There are so many kinds of jeotgal and some of its names are unfamiliar such as eorigul jeot (salted oysters), myeongran jeot (salted Pollack eggs), ggolddugi jeot (salted baby octopus), jogae jeot (salted clam), toha jeot (salted Toha shrimp), myeollchi jeot (salted anchovies), jogi jeot (salted corvine), agami jeot (salted branchiae), baendaengi jeot (salted sardines), changran jeot (salted viscera), sora jeot (salted conch), baeha jeot (salted a kind of shrimp) and jaha jeot (salted very small shrimp).
The method of making jeotgal might sound easy but it is complicated and requires a long experience. Considering that Koreans distinguish all kinds of fish and shellfish and even their parts in making jeotgal, they have quite a delicate palate, indeed. All their efforts to make jeotgaland to seek the place to store at an optimal temperature and moisture level show how much Korean people love jeotgal.
The well-known places for jeotgal storage are Geumgwang cave and Gwangcheon cave. Geumgwnag cave, located in Naju, is 8㎞ long, 200㎞width with 8 stories, which is the biggest one in Korea. There are around 7,000-8,000 jeotgal drum cans in the cave. Not only the salty taste of fermented jeotgal is great, but also the cave filled with various kinds of jeotgal including saeu jeot (salted shrimp), myeollchi jeot (salted anchovies), hwangsaegi jeot (salted corvine), songeo jeot (salted trout) and jap jeot (mixed jeot) is a wonderful scenery to see.
There are many famous places for saeu jeot(salted shrimp) in Korea but Gwangcheon saeu jeot, fermented in the Gwangcheon cave, has been most famous from the Goryeo dynasty. Gwangcheon saeu jeot becomes a brand of saeu jeot that is properly fermented at the cave and shipped out. Its taste is excellent, compared to other regions’ jeotgal because it is placed for the maturity in the cave that maintains 85 percent humidity and constant temperature at 14-15 degrees Celsius.
These caves are now used as jeotgal storages but they were air-raid shelters during the Korean War. They became famous after being used as jeotgal caves by villagers. There are numerous caves at Dokbae village, Ongdam-ri, Gwangcheon which have ideal conditions for fermenting jeotgal.
The quality and taste of jeotgal from Gwangcheon area have no parallel. There are around 40 caves and a cave 2m high and 200m length has storage capacity of about 3,800 drums. Wine cellars are popular tourist spots in other countries. Likewise, isn’t it quite a fantastic idea to use the natural caves as the jeotgal storage?
Spicy Korean Cabbage Salad Kimchi
A salad made of Korean cabbage leaves that are separated and salted, then tossed in a dressing of red chili pepper powder, green onions, garlic, jeotgal, sesame oil and some sugar.
Articles extracted from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silentnoon/1092301870/
Korean jeotgal is original to the region and not borrowed from Vietnam, India, or Thailand. Perhaps they have their own pickled dishes, but one cannot infer that they necessarily contributed to the creation of Korean jeotgal.
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