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History of Doenjang

It has been said since ancient times that a dish eaten together with one or more ingredients
harmonizing with it tastes twice as good and becomes twice as effective.
Doenjang and leak, among other dishes, are particularly famous for their remarkable ‘perfect harmony’.
Doenjang and leak enhance each other’s merits and negate each other’s demerits.Soybeans, the main raw
materials for doenjang, are such high-protein, high-fat nutritious food that they are called meat produced
from the field.
Soybeans contain a substance that disturbs digestion and a substance
that may be burdensome for the human body.
Doenjang, however, is known to digest well, compared with other
dishes, because it is made by boiling soybeans and then using microor-
ganisms to ferment them. Through heating and fermentation of soy-
beans, fish smell specific to soybeans disappears, the substances
harmful to the human body are removed, and proteins, while being
decomposed into amino acids, serve as nutrients for the human body.
Doenjang, made from fermented soybeans, is a foodstuff born by the
cooperative action of yeast fungi, which are invisible to the naked eye.
As a long established practice, Koreans drink doenjang soup before
starting to eat the main meal. This is just like the case where western people eat a plate of soup before
eating the main course. This is because when doenjang enters the mouth, protein digestive enzymes are
secreted, thus increasing nutritional efficiency. Although doenjang soup promotes appetite and supplies
beneficial proteins, there are also problems in eating only doenjang soup. Due to its high salt content,
excessive sodium may be ingested, and a deficiency of vitamins A and/or C may occur.

Leak can overcome these problems
If you eat too much salty food, you may face health problems, such as increased blood pressure from the
increased sodium. Eating bland food results in better health but if doenjang soup is too bland, it will fail to
stimulate the appetite. By making doenjang soup by boiling doenjang and leak together, the harmful
effects of too much sodium are eliminated. Since soybeans contain neither vitamin A nor vitamin C, add leek
to doenjang to make a healthier soup.

Makdoenjang

Makdoenjang is just the byproduct left after ganjang (soy sauce) has been removed.

Tojang

Tojang is made by a process of fermentation of a mixture of makdoenjang, meju and brine, or by a
process of long-time fermentation of doenjang made from only meju at normal temperature.

Makjang

Makjang is made by grinding crude meju and then kneading and getting it to mature in brine, or by
mixing soybean meju powder with a little fermented barley and rice and then allowing it to mature in
brine. The process of making Makjang is like that of making Tojang, but Makjang is given a little more
moisture and then placed in the sun or in a warm place to accelerate aging. This is a quick-made
doenjang. Barley and/or wheat are fermented. Makjang tastes sweeter than soybeans.It is made
and eaten mainly in the southern region of Korea.

Dambukjang

This can be considered a product from processing Cheonggukjang. It is made by fermenting roasted
soybeans into meju, then adding red pepper powder, garlic, and salt. It is then allowed to mature. To
add condiments to Cheonggukjang and get it to age is accomplished by making meju first, then shap-
ing it into a 5-6cm diameter lump, leaving it to ferment and dry for 5 or 6 days, then pouring brine on
it, and then leaving it to ferment in a warm place for 7 to 10 days. It tastes lighter than doenjang.

Jeupjang

The process of making Jeupjang is similar to that of making Makjang, but Jeupjang, which is very
moist, is made by fermenting wheat and soybeans into meju, then adding vegetables produced in
early fall such as radish, red pepper, and/or cabbage leaves, and then leaving it to age. It tastes a
little sour. It is made mainly in Gyeongsang-do and Chuncheong-do provinces where it is fermented in
compost heaps.

Saenghwaljang

Mix soybeans with leaven and get the mixture to ferment during the dog days of August.
Saenghwaljang is made by making the best use of fermentation and leaven.

Cheongtaejang

Boil and steam new fresh soybeans in a rice steamer to be shaped like a rice cake and then cover
them with bean leaves in the first stage of making Cheongtaejang. Then leave Cheongdaekong meju
to ferment in a hot place. Then mix it with new red pepper to season it properly. The reason for
covering with bean leaves is to facilitate its decomposition through fungi.

Patjang

Patjang is made by boiling adzuki beans, lumping and getting them to ferment, and then mixing them
with soybeans

Cheonggukjang

Cheonggukjang is made by boiling and getting new fresh soybeans to ferment, then adding ginger
and garlic, then pounding them. Red pepper powder and salt are then added and the mixture is
cooked. Boil soybeans, then cover with rice straw or fallen leaves and allow to ferment in a 40℃
place for 2 or 3 days. Season the soybeans with red pepper powder, garlic, ginger, and salt and then
pound them in a mortar.

Jipjang

Jipjang is eaten in summer. It is made in July when compost is made in farm villages. It is kept in a
compost heap and then taken out to be eaten.

Tofujang

Tofujang is one of the dishes used for Buddhist temples. Crush and season dehydrated tofu and
place in an earthenware pot. Remove and season with sesame, sesame oil, and red pepper powder,
then put it in a hemp cloth sack, and rebury. After one month, it will have a yellow color and taste
very good. Tofujang from Daehong Temple is famous.

Jiryejang

Also called ‘jireumjang’ or “Jjieomjang’, this kind of doenjang tastes really good when made by grinding
meju, then adding kimchi juice and letting it mature. Steamed well, this Jiryejang is used as a side dish
for rice. It is called Jiryejang because it means “soybean paste eaten in advance”.

Saengchijang

It is a kind of soybean paste cooked using pheasants. Wash and clean 3 or 4 pheasant hens.
Remove the skin and bones and take only the flesh. Crush and pound the flesh well to make it like
clay. If you pass it through a sieve, it will become soft and tender. Then season it with chopi
powder, ginger juice, and soybean juice, and then roast it finally. Make sure it is neither dry nor watery.

Bijijang

Bijijang is made using the soybean residue left after oil extraction from the soybeans. Roast the soy-
bean residue roughly, put it in a cotton cloth rice sack, then leave it to ferment for about one and a
half days, and then season it with salt for fermentation. Put well-fermented bijijang in an earthen
bowl together with cabbage kimchi and pan-fry it for a remarkably delicious dish. Bijijang, however,
has an disadvantage: It can’t be made on hot days.
Some other special provincial soybean pastes include Mujang from Seoul, Yesanjipjang and Bijijang
from Chungcheong-do, Jinyangjipjang, Miryangjipjang and Georeumjang from Gyeongsang-do,
Najujipjang from Jeolla-do, and Jopijang from Jeju-do.
Mujang

When preparing doenjang meju in October, make meju lumps a little smaller, allow them to ferment,
and then put them in an earthenware pot and add water. Then 2 or 3 days later, water draws and
the meju lumps float. Season the meju with salt, cover again, and allow the meju to mature for 3 or 4
days. Cut pickled radish, pear, beef brisket, and boiled beef into small pieces and put them into the
pot. Eat and enjoy!

Yesanjipjang

Mix barley with soybeans to make and ferment meju. After fermenting for one month, grind it into
powder like boiled glutinous rice, and then season and mix with soy sauce. Put it and salted cucumbers,
red peppers, egg plants, boiled beef brisket, and dried shrimp in layers into an earthenware pot.
Cover tightly and place in horse manure or compost heap for fermentation.

Bijijang

Roast soybean dregs roughly, then place in a cotton cloth sack and ferment for about one and a half
days. Season with salt for fermentation. Pan fry cabbage kimchi and well-fermented bijijang and
place in an earthen bowl for a delicious dish.

Jinyang Doenjang

Steep and boil soybeans in water, add ground wheat, then boil to make fist-sized lumps of meju.
Then ferment and dry for 2 or 3 days. Grind the meju into powder, and mix with fermented glutinous
rice paste and malt. Put the mixture into a pot and add some egg plant, cucumber, radish, calabash,
burdock, etc. Cover tightly and bury inside rice straw or ashes of burned chaff. Burn the straw to cook it.

Miryang Doenjang

Boil and mix soybeans with rice and wheat powder until well cooked, then make fist-sized lumps that
are allowed to ferment and dry. Grind the lumps into powder and store. When needed, cook and eat
the powder by adding not-ripe hot peppers, egg plant, radish, sea tangle, abalone, etc. together
with red pepper powder and garlic as condiments.

Georeumjang

Boil and mix soybeans with barley, then cook the mixture to make meju. Cover with mulberry leaves.
Allow to dry, then grind into powder and mix with cucumber, eggplant, etc. Put the mixture in a pot
and place in a compost heap for fermentation. The name, Georeumjang, is derived from the process
of burying doenjang in a compost (manure) heap for fermentation.

Najujipjang

Ferment malt and grind it into powder, then mix it with cooked glutinous rice and store overnight. Mix
with egg plant, cucumber, pepper leaves, etc. and place in a pot. Bury in a compost heap or burned
chaff for fermentation.

Jeonjujipjang

Boil glutinous rice until it is wet and soft, then mix with meju powder and malt powder. Add hot
pepper, eggplant, radish, and pepper leaves and put the mixture into a pot. Place the pot in the
warmer part of an ondol-heated room for fermentation.

Jopijang

Cut Japanese pepper leaves into very small pieces and mix with doenjang. Press the mixture firmly
into a glazed earthenware pot and age for two days. Eat and enjoy!