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Fish and seafood from Korea, south coast

Dipori jeot디포리젓

Dipori is the south-coast name for baendaengi, a small herring-family fish, and dipori-jeot is its jeot. The whole fish are mixed with sun-dried salt at 200–300 g per kilogram, capped with salt and ripened in a sealed crock in the dark for six months.

Fully documentedFish and seafood6 monthsFamily: Jeotgal (Korean salted fermented seafood)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe folk encyclopedia's baendaengi-jeot recipe: 200–300 g of salt to 1 kg of fish.
Baendaengi (dipori), whole1 kgSpring fish, March to April, are fleshiest[nfm-baendaengi-jeot]
Sun-dried sea salt200–300 gPlus about 1 cm on top[nfm-baendaengi-jeot]

Total time across the recorded steps: 6 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: thin, silvery baendaengi, kept whole

Step 1 of 4
Take the spring fish whole
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Fleshiest in March and April; the body is thin, so it goes in whole.

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

Dipori is the south-coast name for baendaengi, a small herring-family fish, and dipori-jeot is its jeot. The whole fish are mixed with sun-dried salt at 200–300 g per kilogram, capped with salt and ripened in a sealed crock in the dark for six months. Made in 4 steps over 6 months. The longest step, seal and ripen in the dark, takes at least 6 months (Choi Y.H). Salt is 20–30 % (Choi Y.H).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 6 monthsReported[nfm-baendaengi-jeot]Seal and ripen in the dark
Salt20–30 %Reported[nfm-baendaengi-jeot]Mix with salt

What makes this one different

Dipori is the true baendaengi, a herring-family fish. On Ganghwa the name baendaengi goes to banji, an anchovy-family fish (see banji-jeot), so "baendaengi-jeot" can mean either. On the south coast the fish is mostly boiled and dried for stock; only some is made into jeot.

Related ferments

Safety

The WHO says botulinum toxin has been found in fermented, salted and smoked fish, and that homemade fermented foods need extra caution. The recipe's 20–30 % salt and sealed crock are not shown to be a safety control; no source we read tested them. Under the Korean Food Code, jeotgal must not be bulked up with added water or brine, and sorbic acid (up to 1.0 g/kg) is allowed only in jeotgal with 8 % salt or less.

History and sources

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

Baendaengi jeot appears in records from the early Joseon period, such as the Sejong sillok, as tribute or local produce.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [mfds-code] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korean Food Code (식품공전), 5. Standards by food, 20-2 jeotgal (젓갈류)spec
  2. [nfm-baendaengi] Kim C.I., Baendaengi (밴댕이), National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture: Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전)book
  3. [nfm-baendaengi-jeot] Choi Y.H., Baendaengi-jeot (밴댕이젓), National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture: Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전)book
  4. [who-botulism] World Health Organization, Botulism (fact sheet)gov