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Fish and seafood from South Korea

Geuujeot게웃젓

Geuujeot is Jeju's jeotgal of abalone viscera (geuu), salted and left to ripen. In the first study of abalone-viscera jeotgal, viscera salted at 13–25 % and kept sealed at 10 °C for 60 days doubled their free amino acids. More salt kept volatile basic nitrogen lower but slowed ripening.

Fully documentedFish and seafood2 monthsFamily: Jeotgal (Korean salted fermented seafood)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe lab trial of Li, Kim and Kang 2014, which tested five salt levels on 1 kg lots of viscera. No source gives a household Jeju recipe.
Abalone viscera, homogenised1 kg[li2014]
Solar salt130–250 g (13–25 % of the viscera weight)[li2014]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: the viscera, taken out of shucked abalone

Step 1 of 4
Shuck the abalone and take out the viscera
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The study shucked abalone bought at a Wando market and gathered the viscera.

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

Geuujeot is Jeju's jeotgal of abalone viscera (geuu), salted and left to ripen. In the first study of abalone-viscera jeotgal, viscera salted at 13–25 % and kept sealed at 10 °C for 60 days doubled their free amino acids. More salt kept volatile basic nitrogen lower but slowed ripening. Made in 4 steps over 2 months. The longest step, seal and ripen cool, takes 2 months (Li J 2014) and runs at 10 °C (Li J 2014). Salt is 13–25 % (Li J 2014). Halanaerobium fermentans does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[li2014]Seal and ripen cool
Temperature10 °CReported[li2014]Seal and ripen cool
Salt13–25 %Reported[li2014]Mix with salt
AciditypH 5.9–6Measured[li2014]Seal and ripen cool

What makes this one different

Most jeotgal is made from whole fish or shellfish meat. Geuujeot uses only the abalone's viscera, a part producers usually throw away.

Related ferments

Safety

In the trial, more salt meant lower volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) at day 60, 37.4 mg/g with 25 % salt against 96.7 mg/g with 13 % salt. The authors treat VBN more as a marker of fermentation than as a freshness index. Japan's health ministry warns that abalone viscera taken from February to May can hold pyropheophorbide a, a toxin that causes painful burns and blisters on sun-exposed skin 1–2 days after eating. Poisonings are very rare. Its advice is not to eat the viscera of spring abalone, and no source we read shows that salting removes the toxin. This is a lab trial, not a tested home recipe.

Hazards the sources name: Pyropheophorbide a, a light-activated toxin in the viscera of abalone taken from February to May (not measured in this jeotgal).

History and sources

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

History
The sources we found do not record its history.
Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [li2014] Li J., Kim B.-S., Kang S.-G. 2014, Preparation and characteristics of Haliotis discus hannai Ino (abalone) viscera jeotgal, a Korean fermented seafood, Korean J. Food Preserv. 21(1):1–8, doi:10.11002/kjfp.2014.21.1.1paper
  2. [encykorea-jeotgal] Seo H.K. 1995 (revised 2022), 젓갈 (Jeotgal), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  3. [lim2024] Lim J.-Y., Choi Y.-J., Choi J.-Y., Yang J.-H., Chung Y.B., Park S.-H., Min S.G., Lee M.-A. 2024, Microbial dynamics and metabolite profiles in different types of salted seafood (jeotgal) during fermentation, ACS Omega 9(33):35798-35808, doi:10.1021/acsomega.4c04410paper
  4. [mhlw-abalone] Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (Japan), Natural toxin risk profile, gastropods, pyropheophorbide a (photosensitivity), detailed versiongov