Gaeam Bamboo Salt
-
LocationBuan-gun, Jeollabuk-do
- CategoryFolk Food ∙ Local Specialties
- Korean개암 죽염
- Chinese開巖竹鹽
- FieldPolitics, Economy and Society / Economy & Industry
- Contents TypeSpeciality
- Definition
- Bamboo salt made with sun-dried salt produced in the Gomso area of Buan-gun, Jeollabuk-do.
- Summary
- Bamboo salt’s efficacy is attributable to the combination of bamboo’s medicinal properties and sun-dried salt’s abundant mineral content. However, its efficacy can vary depending on the use of quality ingredients (salt) and the technique of baking bamboo salt. Buan-gun in Jeollabuk-do is an ideal location for producing bamboo salt as the area is adjacent to the sea and has much red clay in which many bamboo trees grow.
- Origins and Development
- Gaeam Bamboo Salt has been produced for the last 1,300 years, ever since the Buddhist monk Jinpyo manufactured bamboo salt at Busauibang on Ulgeum Rock, a well-known destination in Byeonsan, Jeollabuk-do, and transmitted his method of production to the monks at Gaeamsa Temple. The industrial production of Gaeam Bamboo Salt started in the mid-1980s as public awareness of bamboo salt’s benefits increased. In 1988, Kaeam Food built a bamboo salt factory after inheriting the production method from a chief monk of Gaeamsa Temple in Buan, Jeollabuk-do, leading to an increase in the supply of Gaeam Bamboo Salt. After that, the company equipped the factory with modern production facilities and started to commercialize and publicize its product, and it recently acquired a technical patent for the production of bamboo salt and produced the relevant research results.
- Production Method and Characteristics
- Gaeam Bamboo Salt is made with mineral-rich sun-dried salt harvested from the Gomso saltern in a pure, unspoiled area of Byeonsanbando National Park and bamboo trees aged at least three years. To produce Gaeam Bamboo Salt, sun-dried salt is first poured into a hollow bamboo trunk of which one side is blocked while the other side is covered with balls of red clay; after which the trunk is placed in a kiln and baked by a fire made with pine wood. The bamboo extract is then melted and mixed with salt to form lumps of salt, which are then ground and put back into the bamboo trunk, and baked eight times in the same way. Then, during the ninth and final bake, pine resin is added to the mixture, which is baked at a high temperature of over 1,200 degrees celsius, during which the salt melts inside and turns purple. Finally, it is left to cool before being ground or shaped into granules the size of a rice grain for commercialization.
- Current Status including Relevant Industry
- Kaeam Food, the country’s representative producer of Gaeam Bamboo Salt, has modernized the traditional production method and now focuses solely on manufacturing and popularizing bamboo salt in order to contribute to public health. As a member of the Korea Bamboo Salt Industry Cooperative (current chairman Jeong Rak-hyeon), the company’s bamboo salt has been introduced and publicized some thirty times on Korean TV (KBS and SBS), sixty times in Korean newspapers, and ten times in foreign TV reports, newspapers, and magazines, thereby boosting the profile and credibility of bamboo salt. In addition, Gaeam Bamboo Salt is well received in not only Korea but also in numerous foreign countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, the U.S.A., Hong Kong, and Canada, and has become one of Korea’s major traditional export products.