(Yonhap Feature) Young Korean 'jang' maker hopes to bring back grandmother's taste in Korean traditional soybean sauce

By Kim Hyun-soo

CHEONGYANG, South Korea, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- Cleanly wiped traditional earthenware pots, also called "jangdok," were neatly lined up across the wide-open backyard of Kim Min-sol's home and workspace container.

"There are about 300 large clay pots containing 'gochujang,' 'doenjang' and 'ganjang' here," said Kim, the head of Ananong, a brand that sells traditional "jang" and other fermented food products.

"Jang" is a traditional Korean fermented soybean-based condiment foundational to many Korean dishes. It includes several varieties, such as "doenjang" (soybean paste), "ganjang" (soy sauce), and "gochujang" (red pepper paste).

A fresh spotlight is being shed on the soybean-based fermented sauces after UNSECO's deliberative body recommended the "knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to jang-making in the Republic of Korea" to be listed as an intangible cultural heritage on Tuesday.

Koreans have enjoyed making and consuming jang longer than anyone can remember, with its history dating back to the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668).

During the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), jang was so highly valued that royal storerooms were established specifically to store it, with court ladies in charge of its management.

"They say jang is added to every dish," Kim said. It adds a "gamchil mat" to the plate, a Korean term for savory taste, even in times when there were no other flavor enhancers.

Jang also helps preserve food longer, acting as a preservative, enriching our dietary life, and offering proteins, she added.

The 31-year-old who graduated with a degree in science education from Ewha Womans University to become a teacher, changed course and joined her mother in the jang-making business in 2016 after moving to Cheongyang County in South Chungcheong Province, 123 kilometers south of Seoul.

Like the young generation she represents today, Kim didn't get to witness her grandmother making jang first-hand while growing up, but she was drawn to its "magic" of deriving various rich flavors from a sole ingredient, bean.

"I was astonished at how the taste of beans changed and enriched as time passed, and how our ancestors drew out multifarious flavors using fungi and other microorganisms," Kim said. "What makes the process interesting are the various components, including the climate and the number of fungi, that all factor in to affect the flavor of the particular batch of jang."

The young entrepreneur not only sells "jang" made from scratch, but she also offers DIY kits to help people make different fermented sauces for themselves, even hosting experimental classes at schools to teach students how jang is made and taste the raw ingredient.

On hearing the news that Korea's jang-making may soon be added to UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list, Kim said she felt "relieved" to know that a culture that is "gradually disappearing" could now be passed on to be remembered for the next generation.

"Our traditional culture of making jang is a collective activity involving manual work," Kim said. "We used to gather regularly to make jang to eat for the year, sharing our neighbors' when ours turned out bad."

The jang-making culture, if inscribed, would be South Korea's 23rd entry on the UNESCO list. A final decision is expected between Dec. 2-7, when the respective committee meets in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Reminiscing about the early stages of her business, Kim said that at first, she tried to add special ingredients to her jang to make it stand out from off-the-shelf products.
But now, her goal is to try to replicate the taste of our parents, and our grandparents.

"I realized what people really wanted was the taste of their parents' jang," Kim said, noting how taste can bring back memories. "I now know it's my role to preserve the method of making jang, just the way our mothers used to make them."

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