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Fermentation Atlas

Sauces and condiments from Korea

Gochujang (fermented chili paste)고추장

Gochujang is a thick, sweet, hot and savoury chilli paste. Glutinous rice is sweetened with barley malt, then mixed with chilli powder, powdered meju and salt and left in earthenware crocks for months, where Bacillus and salt-tolerant yeasts slowly build its umami. Made in 4 steps over 6.1 months – 2 years. The longest step, ferment in crocks in the sun, takes 6 months – 2 years (Jung S-J 2024). Salt is 8 % (Jung S-J 2024). Bacillus and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6 months – 2 yearsReported[jung2024][ramalingam2022]Ferment in crocks in the sun
Temperature55–60 °CReported[jung2024]Sweeten the rice with malt
Salt8 %Reported[jung2024]Mix in chilli powder, meju powder and salt
AciditypH 3.6–5Measured[ramalingam2022]Ferment in crocks in the sun
Fully documentedSauces and condiments6.1 months – 2 yearsMore sauces and condimentsMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourcePercentages of the whole mix in the traditional formula given by Jung and Shin 2024. Korea's Food Code requires at least 6 % chilli powder in anything sold as gochujang.
25 %Red chilli powder (gochugaru)[jung2024]
22.2 %Glutinous rice · Soaked 24 h and ground[jung2024]
5.5 %Gochujang meju powder[jung2024]
8 %Salt[jung2024]
The restBarley malt (yeotgireum) and water · Malt soaked in water equal to about 5 % of the batch volume[jung2024]
Startermeju powder (its Bacillus, moulds and enzymes) plus barley malt (amylase)

Total time across the recorded steps: 6.1 months – 2 years

Start
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shapes, not to countBacillusAspergillus

What changes: Bacteria and moulds grow over the steamed bean and rice doughnuts

Step 1 of 4
Make the gochujang meju
Time
3–4 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Bacillus
Aspergillus
Bacillus dominant
B. subtilis
Zygosaccharomyces rouxii

Soybeans soaked about 3 h and rice about 6 h are ground, mixed and steamed for over 1.5 h before shaping. Output: gochujang meju powder.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
dry, then ground to powder
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Bacillus and Aspergillus grow on the steamed mash

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

What makes this one different

Doenjang is soybean paste, but gochujang is mostly starch, sugar and chilli, with meju only as starter and seasoning. Its sweetness comes from malt before fermentation starts. Factory gochujang uses pure-culture koji and tank fermentation instead of meju and crocks.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Chapssal (glutinous rice), mepssal (rice), bori (barley) and milgaru (wheat) gochujangthe starch used for sweetening
  • Sunchang gochujangthe best-known regional gochujang, from Sunchang in Jeollabuk-do
  • Factory gochujangpure-culture koji of wheat, barley or rice instead of meju; tank fermentation

Safety

Korea's Food Code limits Bacillus cereus in jang to 10,000 CFU per g. In a survey of 35 cottage-industry gochujang, 8 were above that limit, likely from raw materials or cross-contamination. The same products ranged pH 3.57–4.98, and 40 % were above pH 4.6, the line used for low-acid foods.

Hazards the sources name: Bacillus cereus (above 4 log CFU/g in 8 of 35 cottage-industry products).

History and sources

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

When chilli reached Korea is debated. The usual view is the late 16th century, but some Korean scholars argue that a native pepper was grown much earlier. Codex adopted a worldwide gochujang standard at its 43rd session, building on a 2009 Asian regional standard.

  1. [jung2024] Jung S-J., Shin D-H. 2024, Gochujang, a Korean traditional fermented soybean product — history, preparation and functionality, Journal of Ethnic Foods 11:43, doi:10.1186/s42779-024-00258-ypaper
  2. [ramalingam2022] Ramalingam S., Bahuguna A., Lim S., Joe A.R., Lee J.S., Kim S.Y., Kim M. 2022, Physicochemical, microbial and volatile compound characteristics of gochujang produced by traditional cottage industries, Foods 11(3):375, doi:10.3390/foods11030375paper
  3. [ryu2020] Ryu J.A., Kim E., Kim M.J., Lee S., Yoon S.R., Ryu J.G., Kim H.Y. 2020, Physicochemical characteristics and microbial communities in gochujang, a traditional Korean fermented hot pepper paste, Frontiers in Microbiology 11:620478, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.620478paper
  4. [mfds-jang] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Korea), Korean Food Code, chapter 5.12 Jang (definition of gochujang)spec
  5. [mfds-general] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Korea), Korean Food Code, chapter 3, general standards (Bacillus cereus limits)spec
  6. [kwon2014] Kwon D.Y., Jang D-J., Yang H.J., Chung K.R. 2014, History of Korean gochu, gochujang, and kimchi, Journal of Ethnic Foods 1(1):3–7, doi:10.1016/j.jef.2014.11.003paper
  7. [kim2016] Kim S-H., Chung K.R., Yang H-J., Kwon D.Y. 2016, Sunchang gochujang (Korean red chili paste) — the unfolding of authenticity, Journal of Ethnic Foods 3(3):201–208, doi:10.1016/j.jef.2016.09.002paper
  8. [mafra2020] Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Korea) 2020, Spiciness of Korean food, in global standards (Codex adoption of the gochujang standard)gov