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Bamboo salt
A bamboo salt container from Vietnam.
Korean name
Hangul	죽염
Hanja	竹鹽
Revised Romanization	jugyeom
McCune–Reischauer	chugyŏm
IPA	[tɕu.ɡjʌm]

Bamboo salt (Jugyeom, Korean: 죽염) is a Korean condiment and traditional remedy. It is prepared by packing sea salt in a thick bamboo stem, and baking it nine times at high temperature using pine firewood.

Production

To make jugyeom, sea salt is packed into bamboo canisters and sealed with yellow clay. The mixture is baked in an iron oven and roasted in a pine fire.

A bamboo stem is filled with bay salt produced from Korea's west coast, sealed with red clay, and baked in a kiln with pine tree firewood. The baked salt lumps harden after baking. It is taken out, crushed, and repacked in the bamboo stem for the next cycle. During baking the salt absorbs the bamboo constituents that bring a distinctive sweetness, which is called Gamrojung flavor. Baking darkens the salt. The ninth baking process uses the highest temperature, over 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Afterwards, the bamboo salt contains blue, yellow, red, white and black crystals.

Well-baked bamboo salt, with a temperature above 1,500 °C (2,730 °F), is called “purple bamboo salt” because of its unique purple color, which indicates the best quality. While the quality of bamboo salt cannot be solely determined by color, its crystal structure and hardiness is definitive.

Korean folk medicine

In Korean folk medicine, trace elements in the yellow clay and bamboo are thought to make this form of salt more healthy. Historically, jugyeom has been used as a digestive aid, styptic, disinfectant or dentifrice.

Oriental medicinalist Insan Kim Il-hoon (1909–1992), was (according to his institution) the first to claim that jugyeom could be used to treat cancer. His other claims are that jugyeom can be used to treat intestinal inflammation, peptic ulcer disease, dyspepsia, esophageal tumours and more.

References

1. Bitterman, Mark (2016). Bitterman's Craft Salt Cooking. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4494-8377-7. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
2. John Shi, Chi-Tang Ho, Fereidoon Shahidi (ed) Asian functional foods, CRC Press, 2005 ISBN 0-8247-5855-2 pages 574-575
3. ^ "Insan Medical Research Institute". Insan Clinic.
4. "About Dr. Kim Il-hoon; Insan". Insan Clinic.
5. In-san Kim (1981). 救世神方 [The Universe and New Drugs].

v t e Salt
History	History In the American Civil War International Salt Co. v. United States In Middlewich Old Salt Route In Chinese history Salt March Salt road
Types	Abraum Alaea Alberger Asín tibuok Bittern Black lava Butter Calcium chloride Celery Curing Cyclic Dairy Flake Fleur de sel Garlic Himalayan Iodised Jugyeom Kala namak Korean brining Kosher Monosodium glutamate Moshio salt Pickling Potassium chloride Potassium nitrate River reed salt Sodium nitrate Onion Rock Salammoniac Salt substitute Sea salt Seasoned Sel gris Smoked Sodium chloride Truffle Túltul
Food usage	Brining Salting Brined cheese Salt-cured meat Salted fish Health effects Salt and cardiovascular disease
Commerce and industry	Salt Industry Commission Evaporation pond Salt mining Salt well Sink works Open-pan salt making List of countries by salt production Salt tectonics
By region	In Cheshire In Ghana San Francisco Bay In Pakistan
Culture	Grain of salt Salt in the Bible Salting the earth
Miscellaneous	Mineral lick Road salt Smelling salts Water softening Ximenes Redoubt Tax
Category

• Traditional Korean medicine
• Salts