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Fish and seafood from Korea

Jari-jeot자리젓

Jari-jeot is Jeju's salted, fermented damselfish. Whole Chromis notatus are packed with salt, around 20 % like other jeotgal, and left to ripen. In two ripe Jeju samples the salt-loving lactic bacteria Tetragenococcus dominated, the salt level was 26 % to 33 % and the pH was close to neutral.

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

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceNo published household recipe was found. The salt level is the 20 % NaCl reference batch in Ko et al. 1991.
Damselfish (Chromis notatus), wholeJeju calls the fish jari or jadom[ency-jaridom]
SaltAround 20 %The salt level of the reference jari-jeot in a 1991 trial[ko1991]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: whole damselfish from the Jeju coast

Step 1 of 4
Take whole damselfish
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
T. halophilus

The fish lives in shoals over shallow reefs 2–30 m deep and is caught mostly off Jeju. It spawns in June and July. Output: whole fresh damselfish.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

none

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

Jari-jeot is Jeju's salted, fermented damselfish. Whole Chromis notatus are packed with salt, around 20 % like other jeotgal, and left to ripen. In two ripe Jeju samples the salt-loving lactic bacteria Tetragenococcus dominated, the salt level was 26 % to 33 % and the pH was close to neutral. Made in 4 steps over 2 months. The longest step, ferment, takes 2 months (Ko Y.H 1991). Salt is 20 % (Ko Y.H 1991). Tetragenococcus halophilus and T. muriaticus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2 monthsReported[ko1991]Ferment
Salt20 %Reported[ko1991]Salt the whole fish
AciditypH 6.1–6.7Measured[kim2014]Keep and eat

What makes this one different

Jari-jeot is made from one small reef fish caught mostly around Jeju, salted whole. Its flora is led by Tetragenococcus, which set the two Jeju jeotgal apart from seven other kinds of jeotgal compared in the same study.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Low-salt lactic jari-jeot (trial)10 % NaCl, 5 % KCl and 2 % glucose with Pediococcus halophilus; the bacteria held at 10^5 cells/ml for 60 days and the pH fell to 4.2, with flavour scores close to the 20 % salt reference.
  • Bamboo-salt jari-jeot (trial)Made with bamboo salt instead of ordinary salt, which held microbe numbers lower during storage.

Safety

A 1990 study found no N-nitrosamines in commercial salt-fermented damselfish; nitrosodimethylamine formed only when nitrite was added in acid conditions, and the fermenting fish stayed outside the pH 3.0–3.4 that favours it. Korea's Food Code allows sorbic acid only in jeotgal with 8 % salt or less and sets an E. coli limit (n=5, c=1, m=0, M=10). The 10 % salt batches on this page are laboratory trials, not a method to copy. The fish is salted whole and its pH stays at 5.5–7.0 while it ferments, so salt is the main barrier to botulism, which can kill. For shelf-stable salted fish the FDA's controls are 20 % water-phase salt or more, or pH 4.6 or below, so do not cut the salt.

History and sources

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

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture lists jari-jeot among the jeotgal of Jeju's local foods.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [kim2014] Kim M.S., Park E.J. 2014, Bacterial communities of traditional salted and fermented seafoods from Jeju Island of Korea using 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis, J. Food Sci. 79(5):M927–M934, doi:10.1111/1750-3841.12431 (abstract)paper
  2. [ko1991] Ko Y.H., Kim C.Y., Kang D.S., Ha J.H., Kim S.H., Kang Y.J., Song D.J. 1991, Enrichment of lactic acid bacteria in salted fish, Chromis notatus, Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters 19(2):200–207 (abstract)paper
  3. [nitro1990] Kim S.H., Kang S.B., Lee E.H. 1990, Studies on the formation of N-nitrosamine in the salt-fermented damsel fish Chromis notatus, Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 19(1) (abstract)paper
  4. [park2012] Park S.S. 2012, The quality characteristics and taste compounds of fermented fish, jari-jeot with bamboo salt, J. Korean Soc. Food Sci. Nutr. 41(5):666–673, doi:10.3746/jkfn.2012.41.5.666 (abstract)paper
  5. [ency-jaridom] Song H.B. 1995 (revised 2024), Jaridom (자리돔), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  6. [ency-jeotgal] Suh H.K. 1995 (revised 2022), Jeotgal (젓갈), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  7. [mfds-code] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korean Food Code (식품공전), 5. Standards by food, 20. processed fishery products, 20-2 jeotgal (젓갈류)spec
  8. [fda-ch13] US FDA, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, Chapter 13: Clostridium botulinum Toxin Formationgov