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Vegetables from Seoul

Kkakdugi variants of the 1930s cookbooks (cucumber, clam, julienne, whole-cabbage)오이깍두기

Early 20th-century Korean cookbooks give kkakdugi made from much more than cubed radish, including cucumber, clams with cabbage hearts, julienned radish and whole stuffed cabbage. The pieces are briefly salted and tossed with chilli and shrimp jeot, and the court-style cucumber kind is packed in a crock under cabbage leaves and a stone. This is a text-only reconstruction from the cookbooks; they give no times or amounts.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Kkakdugi variants of the 1930s cookbooks itself.

Short entryVegetables

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedText-only reconstruction; the cookbooks as summarised give no amounts.
Radish, cucumber or cabbage heartsCut thick in early 20th-century recipes, much larger than today's cubes[ll1990][nfm-kkakdugi]
SaltA brief salting[ll1990]
Chilli (crushed fresh chilli in the 1934 book, not chilli powder)[ll1990]
Shrimp jeot[ll1990][nfm-kkakdugi]
Clam meat (jogae-kkakdugi)[ll1990]
Start
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What changes: Cut vegetables are salted briefly and tossed with chilli and shrimp jeot

Step 1 of 3
Cut, salt briefly, toss with chilli and shrimp jeot
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

Early 20th-century Korean cookbooks give kkakdugi made from much more than cubed radish, including cucumber, clams with cabbage hearts, julienned radish and whole stuffed cabbage. The pieces are briefly salted and tossed with chilli and shrimp jeot, and the court-style cucumber kind is packed in a crock under cabbage leaves and a stone. This is a text-only reconstruction from the cookbooks; they give no times or amounts.

What makes this one different

Today kkakdugi means cubed radish. Until the early 20th century the name covered many cut kimchi with shrimp jeot, often mixed with cabbage, and julienned radish (chae-kkakdugi) or whole stuffed cabbage were still called kkakdugi.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Oi-kkakdugi (오이깍두기, 외깍두기)Short pieces of cucumber briefly salted; some books add yeolmu, radish or minari; 5 cookbooks (Joseon musang sinsik yori jebeop 1924, Joseon yoribeop 1938, Joseon yori jebeop, Ijo gungjeong yori tonggo 1957, folk survey 1984).
  • Jogae-kkakdugi (조개깍두기)Flat-cut salted cabbage hearts and radish with cleaned clam meat (mumyeong-jogae); no extra brine, its own juice with a little sugar; "good with drinks in autumn" (Joseon yoribeop 1938).
  • Chae-kkakdugi (채깍두기)Julienned radish made like kkakdugi; only the name is given (1924). Hamgyeong cooks cut their hard radish in strips and called it chae-kkakdugi.
  • Baechu-tong-kkakdugi (배추통깍두기)Salted whole cabbage stuffed between leaves with julienned radish, minari, mustard leaf, cheonggak, shrimp jeot and croaker jeot (Joseon yoribeop 1938).

History and sources

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

The National Folk Museum's encyclopedia traces salted radish with shrimp jeot to the 18th-century Somun saseol, and finds the word kkakdugi in an 18th-century pansori text. As a cookbook name it is first recorded in Ganpyeon Joseon yori jebeop (1934), which also gives any-time, winter and aged kkakdugi, the aged kind cut thicker, and uses crushed fresh chilli instead of chilli powder.

  1. [ll1990] Lee Hyo-ji and Lee Hye-kyung 1990, 김치문화의 변천에 관한 문헌적 고찰 (a literature review of changes in kimchi culture, 61 cookbooks from 752 to 1984), Korean Journal of Heritage, History and Science 23, 107–133, section II.2 and Table 2paper
  2. [nfm-kkakdugi] National Folk Museum of Korea, Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture, Korean Food, Clothing and Housing (한국의식주생활사전), 깍두기; KOGL type 2, facts only; read 2026-10book