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Sauces and condiments from Korea

Korean hansik ganjang by age (haet-, jung-, jin-ganjang)햇간장

Hansik ganjang is the liquid drawn off meju bricks steeped in brine, and it is aged in earthenware crocks for years. It is named by its age, from new haet-ganjang to jin-ganjang aged five years or more. With age it loses water, gains protein and acid, and turns darker and thicker.

Fully documentedSauces and condiments8 months – 15 yearsFamily: Hansik doenjang and hansik ganjang — made together from meju in brine

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne 45 L clay jar in a 2026 study that followed the traditional method; the sources give no amounts for the ageing that follows.
Meju10 kgTraditional hansik meju[lee2026]
Brine, 20 % (w/v)30 L[lee2026]
Charcoal90 g[lee2026]
Dried red peppers10 g[lee2026]
Starterspontaneous; traditional ganjang needs no starter culture (the meju is made first)

Total time across the recorded steps: 8 months – 15 years

Start
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Salt 20 %

What changes: Meju, charcoal and dried red peppers go into a clay jar and 20 % brine is poured over them

Step 1 of 4
Load the crock with meju and brine
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
20 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

The study added 90 g of charcoal and 10 g of dried red peppers per jar, as in the standard procedure for traditional doenjang, to prevent undesirable contamination. Output: meju bricks covered by brine, with charcoal and dried red peppers.

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

Hansik ganjang is the liquid drawn off meju bricks steeped in brine, and it is aged in earthenware crocks for years. It is named by its age, from new haet-ganjang to jin-ganjang aged five years or more. With age it loses water, gains protein and acid, and turns darker and thicker. Made in 4 steps over 8 months – 15 years. The longest step, age in the crock, year on year, takes 6 months – 15 years (Chin Y.W 2024). Salt is 20 % (Lee Y.J 2026). Tetragenococcus and Yeasts Zygosaccharomyces rouxii (the most abundant fungus), Candida versatilis and Debaryomyces hansenii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step6 months – 15 yearsReported[chin2024][byeon2024]Age in the crock, year on year
Salt20 %Reported[lee2026]Load the crock with meju and brine
AciditypH 4.5–6.4Measured[byeon2024]Age in the crock, year on year

What makes this one different

The process is the same as the parent's hansik ganjang; what differs is time. Aged samples had more solids, protein, acidity and free amino acids than young ones, and consumers liked them more. The name jin-ganjang is also used for gaeryang-ganjang, the modernised soy sauce not made from meju, so the two senses differ.

Haet-ganjang (new soy sauce)
Newly made soy sauce; Wikipedia gives about one year and also calls it cheongjang
Cheong-ganjang
Aged 1–2 years
Jung-ganjang (middle soy sauce)
Aged 3–4 years
Jin-ganjang (dark soy sauce)
Aged 5 years or more

Related ferments

Variants

  • Ssi-ganjang (seed soy sauce)Very old family ganjang, kept 100 to 600 years in head-family houses. A spoonful is added to new batches to carry its flavour over, and the jar is topped up with aged jin-ganjang.
  • Factory "jin-ganjang"A common name of gaeryang-ganjang, the modernised soy sauce not made from meju, named for its dark colour. Its kinds include a blend of hansik or brewed soy sauce with acid- or enzyme-hydrolysed soy sauce.

Safety

Eight aged samples measured 17.1–23.0 % salinity and pH 4.52–6.37. Korea's Food Code sets a total nitrogen minimum for hansik ganjang but no age classes.

History and sources

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

A 2022 Seoul Economic Daily feature says Koreans have made ganjang since the Three Kingdoms period, and that the government was seeking UNESCO listing for jang making, with a decision expected around 2024.

  1. [byeon2024] Byeon Y.S., Oh J., Ku K.H., Kim M.J., Kim S.S. 2024, Physicochemical attributes related to sensory characteristics of long-term aged Korean traditional soy sauce (ganjang), Foods 13(20):3326, doi:10.3390/foods13203326paper
  2. [chin2024] Chin Y.W., Hong S.P., Lim S.D., Yi S.H. 2024, Investigation of microbial community of Korean soy sauce (ganjang) using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and its relationship with sensory characteristics, Microorganisms 12(12):2559, doi:10.3390/microorganisms12122559paper
  3. [lee2026] Lee Y.J., Bang W.S., Kim M.K. 2026, Effect of fermentation region on the volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of soy sauce mash, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 106(4):2190–2199, doi:10.1002/jsfa.70321paper
  4. [mfds-jang] Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Korea), Korean Food Code, chapter 5.12 Jang (definitions and standards)spec
  5. [sedaily2022] Shin M.J. 2022, 100년 발효의 味學..씨간장에도 '족보'가 있다 (Seed soy sauce has a family tree too), Seoul Economic Daily, 23 August 2022web
  6. [wp-soy] Wikipedia, Soy sauce (Korean section; age names only)wiki