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Fish and seafood from South Korea: Jeju, the main hairtail ground. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture lists it for both Gyeongsang and Jeolla.

Galchi-sokjeot갈치속젓

Galchi-sokjeot is jeot of hairtail guts: stomach, intestines and roe sac. The scraped, washed guts are mixed 2.5 to 1 with small hairtail, salted at about 25 %, weighted under a stone and ripened about 30 days in the shade in early summer. Guts are rich in enzymes, so it ripens faster and tastes more savoury than jeot of the flesh.

Fully documentedFish and seafood30 daysFamily: Jeotgal (Korean salted fermented seafood)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe folk encyclopedia's household method from Jeju; the 2.5 : 1 is guts to small hairtail, and no batch size is given.
Hairtail guts (stomach, intestines, roe sac)2.5 partsIntestine ends cut off and the contents scraped out[nfm-galchisok]
Small hairtail or tail pieces, cut to size1 part[nfm-galchisok]
SaltAbout 25 %Plus 1–2 cm of salt under and over the jeot in the crock[nfm-galchisok]
Starterspontaneous; the guts' own enzymes, then salt-loving bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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What changes: The hairtail guts are taken out, scraped clean and washed

Step 1 of 6
Take out and clean the guts
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The head and gills are cut off and the guts taken out. The ends of the small and large intestines are cut and the contents scraped out by hand, then the guts are washed in clean water.

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

Galchi-sokjeot is jeot of hairtail guts: stomach, intestines and roe sac. The scraped, washed guts are mixed 2.5 to 1 with small hairtail, salted at about 25 %, weighted under a stone and ripened about 30 days in the shade in early summer. Guts are rich in enzymes, so it ripens faster and tastes more savoury than jeot of the flesh. Made in 6 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen in the shade, takes 30 days (Oh Y.J. (오영주)) and runs at 10 °C (Lim J.-Y 2024). Salt is 25 % (Oh Y.J. (오영주)). Halanaerobium fermentans does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step30 daysReported[nfm-galchisok]Ripen in the shade
Temperature10 °CReported[lim2024]Ripen in the shade
Salt25 %Reported[nfm-galchisok]Mix with small hairtail and salt
AciditypH 5.7–6Measured[lim2024]Ripen in the shade

What makes this one different

Galchi-sokjeot uses only the guts, so it ripens faster and tastes more savoury than galchi-jeot from the whole small fish; with changnanjeot it is one of the few Korean jeot made from fish guts.

Season
Made when hairtail are caught before spawning (summer to autumn), when the guts are full of roe and fat

Related ferments

Safety

Salt at about 25 % and a covered, shaded crock keep it from spoiling; it is eaten within about 8 months. The Korean Food Code jeotgal rules apply: no added water or brine to bulk it up, and sorbic acid only below 8 % salt (up to 1.0 g/kg).

History and sources

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

The Qimin yaoshu (6th century) already salts the guts of croaker, shark and mullet in a sealed jar, ripe in 20 days in summer and 50 in autumn; the folk encyclopedia compares this to galchi-sokjeot.

  1. [nfm-galchisok] Oh Y.J. (오영주), Galchi-sokjeot (갈치속젓), National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture: Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전)book
  2. [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
  3. [encykorea-jeotgal] Seo H.K. (서혜경) 1995 (revised 2022), Jeotgal (젓갈), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  4. [mfds-code] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korean Food Code (식품공전), 5. Standards by food, 20-2 jeotgal (젓갈류)spec