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Bamboo salt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bamboo salt
A bamboo salt container from Vietnam.
Korean name
Hangul
죽염
Hanja
竹鹽
Revised Romanizationjugyeom
McCune–Reischauerchugyŏm
IPA[tɕu.ɡjʌm]

Bamboo salt (Jugyeom, Korean: 죽염) is a Korean condiment and traditional remedy. It is prepared by packing sea salt in a thick bamboo stem, and baking it nine times at high temperature using pine firewood. During the baking processes, the impurities[specify] in the salt are claimed to be removed or neutralized while its inorganic contents, such as calcium, potassium, iron, copper, and zinc are increased.[citation needed]

Production

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To make jugyeom, sea salt is packed into bamboo canisters and sealed with yellow clay. The mixture is baked in an iron oven and roasted in a pine fire.[1]

A bamboo stem is filled with bay salt produced from Korea's west coast, sealed with red clay, and baked in a kiln with pine tree firewood. The baked salt lumps harden after baking. It is taken out, crushed, and repacked in the bamboo stem for the next cycle. During baking the salt absorbs the bamboo constituents that bring a distinctive sweetness, which is called Gamrojung flavor. Baking darkens the salt. The ninth baking process uses the highest temperature, over 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Afterwards, the bamboo salt contains blue, yellow, red, white and black crystals.

Well-baked bamboo salt, with a temperature above 1,500 °C (2,730 °F), is called “purple bamboo salt” because of its unique purple color, which indicates the best quality. While the quality of bamboo salt cannot be solely determined by color, its crystal structure and hardiness is definitive.[clarification needed]

Korean folk medicine

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A small glass vial of salt on a store shelf, under a sign reading "Bambussalz".
A capsule of jugyeom, sold in a foreign imports store in Germany

In Korean folk medicine, trace elements in the yellow clay and bamboo are thought to make this form of salt more healthy.[2] Historically, jugyeom has been used as a digestive aid, styptic, disinfectant or dentifrice.

Oriental medicinalist Insan Kim Il-hoon (1909–1992), was (according to his institution)[3] the first to claim that jugyeom could be used to treat cancer.[3] His other claims are that jugyeom can be used to treat intestinal inflammation, peptic ulcer disease, dyspepsia, esophageal tumours and more.[5][non-primary source needed]

References

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  1. ^ Bitterman, Mark (2016). Bitterman's Craft Salt Cooking. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4494-8377-7. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  2. ^ John Shi, Chi-Tang Ho, Fereidoon Shahidi (ed) Asian functional foods, CRC Press, 2005 ISBN 0-8247-5855-2 pages 574-575
  3. ^ a b "Insan Medical Research Institute". Insan Clinic.
  4. ^ "About Dr. Kim Il-hoon; Insan". Insan Clinic.
  5. ^ In-san Kim (1981). 救世神方 [The Universe and New Drugs].[4]