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Starters and koji from Korea

Goori (고리, 古里), wheat-based vinegar starter고리

Goori is a starter for vinegar recorded in early Joseon household books. The Suun japbang of about 1540 has one recipe for making goori and another for making goori vinegar (고리초).

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Goori itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Joseon grain and honey vinegars, the closest documented vinegar ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Goori.

Short entryStarters and koji

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
wheat

Total time across the steps of Joseon grain and honey vinegars: 46 days – 48 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Wheat soaks in water for three days and is lifted out

Step 1 of 5 · steps of Joseon grain and honey vinegars
Soak the wheat for three days and drain it
Time
3 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds

Output: soaked wheat.

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

Goori is a starter for vinegar recorded in early Joseon household books. The Suun japbang of about 1540 has one recipe for making goori and another for making goori vinegar (고리초).

What makes this one different

Goori is a starter made for vinegar, listed apart from the wine recipes in the same household book.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Sangayorok goori vinegar (2 methods)Different ingredient amounts; only goori use is shared.
  • Suun japbang 'Ocheon family' goori vinegar (造高里醋法, 烏川家法; 2 methods)The Gwangsan Kim family's own method.

History and sources

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

The Suun japbang was written around 1540 by Kim Yu (1491–1555) and his grandson Kim Ryeong (1577–1641), and records 121 recipes.

  1. [ek-suun] Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (한국민족문화대백과사전), Academy of Korean Studies, article 수운잡방 (Suun japbang), read 2026-10web
  2. [lim2010] Lim E.-J., Cha G.-H. 2010, Study on manufacturing of vinegar through literatures of the Joseon dynasty (고문헌을 통해 본 조선시대 식초제조에 관한 연구), Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture 25(6):680–707 (abstract)paper