The history and science of Chongkukjang, a Korean fermented soybean product

Abstract

With several thousands of years of tradition, Chongkukjang is one of Korea’s most well-known fermented soybean foods. Chongkukjang has existed in Korea since the first century BC and throughout the Koryo dynasty and kingdom of Silla, while si (豉, Chongkukjang) in Chaeksong was highly regarded according to the customs of Balhae. The fact that Koreans are good at creating fermented foods (善藏釀) is recorded in Samkukjiwijidongijeon (Records of the Three Kingdoms, 三國志魏志東夷傳), and Chongkukjang has been in Korea even longer than its 2000-year history in China. Chinese documents dating back to before 40 BC contain records of Chongkukjang or a similar fermented bean. Si does not originally come from China and was introduced to the country by an individual called Kang Baik (康伯) who is thought to have hailed from Korea, and there were many names for Chongkukjang in pure Korean such as jyeonkuk, cheongkuk, chyeonkuk, and chyeongkuk. In short, Chongkukjang has existed as a fermented soybean food in Korea for more than 2000 years. However, some scholars have been distorting the truth and spreading false information about Chongkukjang. Some of these claims include “Chongkukjang was first created during wartime, as it could be prepared quickly,” “Chongkukjang was introduced to Korea via the Qing dynasty,” and “The first documented record of Chongkukjang in Korea is in Junbosallimkyongje(增補山林經濟), written by Yu Jung-im (柳重臨) in 1760.” If these claims were true, the Chongkukjang would be less than 400 years old. However, these theories are mostly put forward by scholars who are familiar with Chinese characters but know nothing about natural science or food science. By examining Korean history purely through the analysis of Chinese characters, which is indicative of the toadyish attitude of such scholars, they have committed the error of misrepresenting Korean food culture and history. Instead of looking at the history of Chongkukjang through the character si (豉), they claim that the only references to Chongkukjang in ancient texts are words written in Chinese characters (煎豉醬, 戰國醬, 靑局醬, 靑麴醬, or 淸國醬). How did this happen? Analysis of these documents can be used to demonstrate how these scholars came up with the baseless claim that Chinese characters, 煎豉醬, 戰國醬, 靑局醬, 靑麴醬, or 淸國醬, refer to Chongkukjang, instead of the names that were actually used (jyeonkuk, cheongkuk, chyeonkuk, and chyeongkuk), and how they inadvertently relegated Chongkukjang to the position of a food that has only existed in Korea for less than 400 years. Before Korean script (Hankeul, 한글) was developed, Chongkukjang was pronounced jyeonkuk, cheongkuk, chyeonkuk, or chyeongkuk and was referred to as si (豉) in official records which were written in Chinese characters. After the advent of Korean script, Chongkukjang was recognized as a kind of jang alongside doenjang (soybean paste), kanjang (soy sauce), and kochujang (red pepper paste), which is why the character jang (醬) was added as a suffix. Scholars then created the words 煎豉醬, 戰國醬, 靑局醬, 靑麴醬, and 淸國醬 by selecting Chinese characters that represent the pronunciation of jyeonkuk, cheongkuk, chyeonkuk, and chyeongkuk and adding the character jang to the end of each. This kind of mistake is understandable. However, these scholars have taken it further to the point that their interpretation, based on a false understanding of the way in which Chinese characters were used to spell out Korean words phonetically, has distorted the history and origins of Chongkukjang.