Gomso Salt Farm
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LocationGomsohang-gil Jinseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryTour
- Korean곰소 염전
- Chinese-鹽田
- FieldGeography / Human Geography
- Contents TypePlace Name / Facility
- Current LocationGomsohang-gil Jinseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- Definition
- A sun-dried salt farm located in Gomso-ri, Jinseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
- Background of Construction
- During the Joseon period, the Buan region of Jeollabuk-do produced salt by boiling seawater according to a method known as jayeom in Korean. At that time, the main areas of salt production were situated in Eondok-ri, Haseo-myeon, and Daebeol-ri, Gyehwamyeon in the northern part of Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do. Eondok-ri and Daebeol-ri were originally areas of sea, but they were transformed into land during the land reclamation project of Gyehwado Island. The Gomso Salt Farm, which produces sun-dried salt, was established in 1938 and began producing salt for commercial consumption in 1946. As Julpo Port, located in Gomso Bay, had been reclaimed with soil, and ships could not easily enter or depart from the port, Gomso Port was built between 1936 and 1938 off Woongyeondo Island centrally on Beomseom Island and Woongyeondo Island (located in front of Yeondong Village in Jinseo-ri, Jinseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do), by connecting the area encompassing the village of Gujin, Beomseom Island, Woongyeondo Island, and Jakdo-ri. Then, the Gomso Salt Farm was built on the inner side of Yeondong-ri. At that time, salt was a proprietary commodity managed by the government, but it was later re-categorized as a food (previously a mineral).
- Development
- Construction of the Gomso Salt Farm began in 1938 and was completed in 1946 when the Namseon Salt Manufacturer was established. The salt field has a total surface area of 892,562m2 and produces 9,000 tons of salt per year. Along with the salt field, a large salted seafood production complex was built to produce diverse types of salted seafood products using fresh fish and seafood caught in nearby waters. However, as the price of salt was expected to drop sharply once the government joined the OECD and signed the FTA in 1996, exactly half (446,281㎡) of the salt farm was converted into a fish farm, while the other half continues to produce salt.
- Composition
- The Gomso Salt Farm comprises a reservoir, an evaporating pond, and a crystallizing pond. First, the seawater is kept in the reservoir during high tide before being channeled into the evaporating pond. At this time, the salinity of the seawater is about 5%. After the water in the evaporating pond has evaporated over a period of seven to eight days, the seawater is sent to the crystallizing pond, which is a salt farm attached with jar tiles. At this time, the salinity of seawater is about 25%. After drying the seawater in wind and sun for two to three days, it finally becomes salt. Then, after storing it in a warehouse for a year to get rid of the brine, it becomes sun-dried salt with a salinity of 84% to 86%.
The Gomso salt production process, which takes fifteen days, consists in keeping the seawater in a reservoir (19,834. 71m2), pumping it into the evaporation pond (12 stages), and then channeling it to the final salt crystallizing pond (two stages). During this process, the salinity of seawater increases from 3% to 25%. When the salt has crystallized, the salinity is maintained at around 25% to 28% by collecting the salt and draining the water.
After increasing the salinity in the first evaporation pond, the water is moved to the second evaporation pond to further increase its salinity, and is then sent to the final stage, the crystallization pond. When it rains or is very windy, all the salt water in the field is kept in a salt water warehouse called a haeju; and when the weather is better, water is supplied again to the field via a canal. If the temperature remains constant at above 15 ℃ and the weather is good, it takes about fifteen days to produce salt. The salt collected from the crystallization pond is kept in a warehouse and, once the brine has been removed, is packed and sent to the market.
Gomso sun-dried salt is usually produced from late March to October, although salt with the best quality and taste is produced in the greatest quantity in the period between May and June, when pine flower powder is blown away. In summer, it takes about 15 days to produce the salt, which forms into large crystals that can be collected on a daily basis. In spring and autumn, salt can be collected every three to five days, but the crystals are more solid and slightly smaller than in summer.
- Current Status
- The Gomso salt produced at the Gomso Salt Farm is made by keeping seawater in the tidal flats in the Byeonsan Peninsula and Gomso Bay for a long time, draining the water slowly, and evaporating and drying the seawater with solar heat. It is a high-quality sun-dried salt product that contains abundant natural minerals. As it contains almost no magnesium and has a low brine content, Gomso salt is widely praised as a top-quality product.
Gomso sun-dried salt does not have a bitter taste, unlike other salt products from different regions. The Gomso Salt Farm has the ideal conditions for producing salt as it is located deep in Gomso Bay near the Sea of Chilsan, which is well known for producing Yeonggwang Yellow Corvina. The area is also famous for salted seafood products made with freshly-caught fish from Gomso Port and local sun-dried salt. The tasty salt of the Gomso Salt Farm and various kinds of fresh fish and seafood, the most important ingredients, have made the local salted seafood products delicious and famous. Produced since 1960, Gomso salted seafood was originally made to keep large quantities of fish and seafood for a long time, in the days when ice was a rarity, by preserving them with salt, with salting ultimately leading to the production of salted seafood. Gomso salted seafood is mainly made by preserving various kinds of fish and seafood caught in the nearby waters of the Byeonsan Peninsula with salt from the Gomso Salt Farm for over one year. They produce around twenty kinds of salted seafood, such as fermented anchovy sauce, salted shrimps, salted clams, salted yellow croakers, salted beltfish guts, salted yellow corvina, salted anchovies, and salted large-eyed herrings.
Salted fish is a fermented food that is made by adding salt to various kinds of fish, shellfish, and fish intestines to prevent the propagation of putrefying bacteria, during which fish meat is decomposed by enzymes of fish and outside microorganisms, creating a unique taste and flavor. Salted fish is divided into two types: seafood fermented with salt, such as salted shrimps and salted clams; and seafood fermented with salt, chili pepper powder, garlic, ginger, and other ingredients, such as salted pollack roes, spicy salted pollack intestines, and salted squid.
In Korean cuisine, salt is one of the most important elements in the fermentation of food. As such, Gomso salt became an important element in the development of Gomso salted fish in Jinseo-myeon, and Sangseo soybean paste and Gaeam bamboo salt in Sangseo-myeon, Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do. Bamboo salt, which was mainly consumed by monks at temples to control internal disease, was made by putting Gomso salt in a bamboo trunk and heating and re-heating it at 15000C nine times, and then converting the condensed salt solution into powder. Kaeam Food and Sambo Food, the two major producers of bamboo salt in the Buan region, Jeollabuk-do, inherited the monk’s way of producing bamboo salt. Bamboo salt is sold as it is, and is also used in the production of laver and various sauces.