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Fish and seafood from Korea

Saeu-jeot새우젓

Saeu-jeot is a salted shrimp jeotgal that had the highest production in South Korea in 2020 (Lee 2024). Tiny Acetes shrimp are packed with salt, about 75 parts shrimp to 25 parts salt, and fermented cool for weeks to months while salt-loving bacteria take over and amino acids build up. It is used mainly to season kimchi and kkakdugi and to season stews (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture).

Fully documentedFish and seafood3.3 months – 6.5 monthsFamily: Jeotgal (Korean salted fermented seafood)

Recipe

Saeu-jeot, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: 한산도 수산, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe 75:25 shrimp-to-salt ratio of a Gwangcheon producer whose tunnel-fermented saeu-jeot was studied by Lee et al. 2024.
Raw shrimp (Acetes japonicus)75 parts by weightGraded by quality before salting[lee2024]
Sea salt25 parts by weight[lee2024]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.3 months – 6.5 months

Start
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Close-up: salt moving into a fishSalt 20–32 %

What changes: Solar salt is packed with the fresh shrimp

Step 1 of 4
Salt the fresh shrimp
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
20–32 %
Reported
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Halomonas
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

Saeu-jeot is a salted shrimp jeotgal that had the highest production in South Korea in 2020 (Lee 2024). Tiny Acetes shrimp are packed with salt, about 75 parts shrimp to 25 parts salt, and fermented cool for weeks to months while salt-loving bacteria take over and amino acids build up. It is used mainly to season kimchi and kkakdugi and to season stews (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture). Made in 4 steps over 3.3 months – 6.5 months. The longest step, main fermentation, takes 2.3–3.5 months (Lee H 2024). Salt is 20–32 % (Lee H 2024). Salinivibrio, then Staphylococcus and Staphylococcus and Halomonas do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2.3–3.5 monthsMeasured[lee2024][lee2014]Main fermentation
Temperature13–17 °CReported[lee2014][lee2024]Early phase
Salt20–32 %Reported[lee2024][lee2014]Salt the fresh shrimp
AciditypH 6.7Measured[lee2014]Main fermentation

What makes this one different

Saeu-jeot is a whole-shrimp jeotgal eaten while the shrimp still hold their shape, not a liquefied sauce like aekjeot. The salt level steers which bacteria take over, and one lab study suggests 24–28 % for a safe, tasty result.

Related ferments

Variants

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

Safety

One lab study at 15 °C, which tracked the bacteria by DNA sequencing, suggests 24–28 % salt may suit safe, tasty saeu-jeot, and its authors call for more study of food safety. At 32 % salt the starting genera stayed dominant to the end; they include Vibrio and may include potentially pathogenic strains. At 20–24 % Halanaerobium made off-flavours after 30–80 days. Korea limits histamine in salt-fermented fish to 200 mg/kg or less. In one producer's tunnel-fermented saeu-jeot no histamine was found and Vibrio and S. aureus stayed below the detection limit, though cadaverine, another biogenic amine, appeared from week 4 or 5 and reached 83 mg/kg in the special grade (43 mg/kg in the general grade).

Hazards the sources name: Vibrio (a dominant genus at the start and still dominant at 32 % salt, by DNA sequencing; by culture, below the detection limit in one producer's tunnel-fermented saeu-jeot).

History and sources

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

In the Joseon period so many shrimp were caught that jeot was made from them and eaten nationwide. The Nanho eomokji records fishing boats carrying jars and salt so that shrimp were salted on board as they were caught, and the Sejong Sillok records baekha-jeot and jaha-jeot sent as tribute to Ming China. A 1987 survey of 142 Korean districts recorded 145 kinds of jeotgal, with sea shrimp among the crustaceans used along the western coast.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [lee2014] Lee S.H., Jung J.Y., Jeon C.O. 2014, Microbial successions and metabolite changes during fermentation of salted shrimp (saeu-jeot) with different salt concentrations, PLoS ONE 9(2):e90115paper
  2. [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
  3. [suh1987] Suh H.K. and Yoon S.S. 1987, A study on the regional characteristics of Korean chotkal (1): kinds and materials, J. Korean Soc. Food Culture 2(1):45-54paper
  4. [encykorea-saeujeot] Seo H.K. 1995 (revised 2024), 새우젓 (Saeujeot), Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Academy of Korean Studiesbook