Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Sauces and condiments from Korea — Gyeongsangbuk-do

Sigeumjang (barley-bran jang, Gyeongsang)시금장

Sigeumjang is a Gyeongsang jang made from barley bran instead of soybeans. The bran is shaped into doughnut-like rings, smoked and left to ferment for two to three months into barley meju, which is then made into the jang. It is one of the old regional special jang (byeolmi-jang) that faded as jang-making moved from homes to factories.

Fully documentedSauces and condiments2 months – 3 months

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe studies describe the barley-bran meju only; no source found gives amounts or the recipe for turning the meju into sigeumjang.
Barley branShaped into doughnut-like meju and smoked[chung1999]
Barley-bran mejuThe fermented rings are the base of the jang[choi2000b]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months – 3 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Barley bran is shaped into doughnut-like rings and smoked

Step 1 of 4
Shape barley bran into rings and smoke them
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: doughnut-shaped barley-bran meju.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Sigeumjang is a Gyeongsang jang made from barley bran instead of soybeans. The bran is shaped into doughnut-like rings, smoked and left to ferment for two to three months into barley meju, which is then made into the jang. It is one of the old regional special jang (byeolmi-jang) that faded as jang-making moved from homes to factories. Made in 4 steps over 2 months – 3 months. The longest step, ferment the barley meju, takes 2–3 months (Chung Y.-G 1999). Aerobic bacteria does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–3 monthsReported[chung1999]Ferment the barley meju
AciditypH 6Measured[chung1999]Finished meju

What makes this one different

Most Korean jang start from soybean meju. Sigeumjang starts from barley bran shaped into smoked rings, so it is a grain jang with 8.3 % protein in the finished meju.

Related ferments

Safety

No source gives its salt level. The meju itself sits near pH 6.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Rural Development Administration names sigeumjang among its special jang (byeolmi-jang), says records show more than 130 kinds, and says such regional jang are disappearing as jang-making moves from homes to factories (2011).

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [chung1999] Chung Y.-G., Son D.-H., Ji W.-D., Choi U.-K., Kim Y.-J. 1999, Characteristics of commercial sigumjang meju, Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology 31(1):231–237 (abstract)paper
  2. [choi2000a] Choi U.-K., Son D.-H., Kwon O.-J., Lee E.-J., Kwak D.-J., Gwon O.-J., Chung Y.-G. 2000, Flavor components of barley meju manufactured with barley bran, Applied Biological Chemistry (journal name as listed by KoreaScience) 43(3):196–201 (abstract)paper
  3. [choi2000b] Choi U.-K., Kwak D.-J., Son D.-H., Comparison of the flavor components of barley bran, barley meju and sigumjang, Food Science and Preservation 7(3):303–307 (abstract)paper
  4. [rda-byeolmi] Rural Development Administration, 농가에서 만드는 웰~빙 발효식품 (well-being fermented foods made on the farm), list of special jang that includes sigeumjanggov