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Fish and seafood from South Korea

Gwangcheon togul saeujeot (cave-aged salted shrimp)광천 토굴새우젓

Gwangcheon togul saeujeot is salted shrimp aged in underground tunnels (togul) at Gwangcheon. A producer studied in 2024 mixed tiny Acetes shrimp with sea salt 75:25 and aged them for 10 weeks at about 15 °C while amino nitrogen roughly doubled. Saeujeot in general is named by the month the shrimp are salted, and Hongseong County applied in 2023 to have the trade listed as a National Important Fishery Heritage.

Fully documentedFish and seafood2.3 monthsFamily: Jeotgal (Korean salted fermented seafood)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe 75:25 shrimp-to-salt ratio used by the Gwangcheon tunnel producer whose saeu-jeot was studied by Lee et al. 2024.
Raw shrimp (Acetes japonicus)75 parts by weightSorted into general and special grade before salting[lee2024]
Sea salt25 parts by weight[lee2024]

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.3 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: tiny shrimp, named by the month they are salted

Step 1 of 4
Salt the tiny shrimp by season
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Halomonas

Shrimp salted in May give ojeot, in June yukjeot, in autumn chujeot and in winter dongbaekha-jeot; yukjeot is held best for kimjang (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, on saeujeot in general).

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

Gwangcheon togul saeujeot is salted shrimp aged in underground tunnels (togul) at Gwangcheon. A producer studied in 2024 mixed tiny Acetes shrimp with sea salt 75:25 and aged them for 10 weeks at about 15 °C while amino nitrogen roughly doubled. Saeujeot in general is named by the month the shrimp are salted, and Hongseong County applied in 2023 to have the trade listed as a National Important Fishery Heritage. Made in 4 steps over 2.3 months. The longest step, age in the underground tunnel, takes 2.3 months (Lee H 2024) and runs at 13–17 °C (Lee H 2024). Salt is 25 % (Lee H 2024). Halophilic bacteria Halomonas, Psychrobacter and Salinicoccus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2.3 monthsReported[lee2024]Age in the underground tunnel
Temperature13–17 °CMeasured[lee2024]Age in the underground tunnel
Salt25 %Reported[lee2024]Mix the shrimp with sea salt
AciditypH 6.4 → 6.73Measured[lee2024]Age in the underground tunnel

What makes this one different

What sets Gwangcheon apart is where it ages, in underground tunnels that held about 15 °C in the 2024 study.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Yukjeot (육젓)Salted in June; held best for kimjang.
  • Ojeot (오젓)Salted in May; good as a side dish.
  • Chujeot (추젓)Salted in autumn; good as a side dish.
  • Dongbaekha-jeot (동백하젓)Salted in winter.

Safety

In the 2024 tunnel study no histamine was found; Korea limits histamine in salt-fermented fish to 200 mg/kg or less. Cadaverine, another biogenic amine with no Korean limit, appeared from week 4 or 5 and reached 83 mg/kg in the special grade (43 mg/kg in the general grade). Coliforms, E. coli, S. aureus and Vibrio were all below the detection limit. Volatile basic nitrogen rose steadily, to 69.23 mg/100 g (special grade) and 71.33 mg/100 g (general grade) by week 10.

Hazards the sources name: Vibrio spp. and Staphylococcus aureus (tested; below the detection limit in every sample).

History and sources

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

Hongseong County applied to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in November 2023 to list the Gwangcheon togul saeujeot trade as a National Important Fishery Heritage. It passed the first, document stage in January 2024 and a field evaluation in August 2024.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [lee2024] Lee H., Cho H., Lim Y., Park S., Lee J. 2024, Safety, quality, and microbial community analysis of salt-fermented shrimp (saeu-jeot) in South Korea, Heliyon 10(4):e26006paper
  2. [lee1997] Lee E.H., Lee E.M., Chang K.S., Jang H.D. 1997, Aging of fermented shrimp in underground cave (토굴을 이용한 새우젓의 숙성), Korean Journal of Agricultural Science 24(2):132–137 (abstract)paper
  3. [encykorea-saeujeot] Seo H.K. 1995 (revised 2024), 새우젓 (Saeujeot), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook
  4. [hongseong2024] Hongseong County 2024, 광천 토굴 해양문화 유산 등재 (Gwangcheon tunnel marine heritage listing), pledge progress sheet 3-4gov