장 숙성 Listen

Aging jang and salt

Onggi, sun, and time — why last year’s doenjang tastes like a different ingredient.

Time is a spice

Earthen 옹기 breathes. Meju blocks of soybean ferment, then brine becomes 간장 and the solids 된장. Families used to keep a jangdokdae platform on the roof. Factory jang is consistent; home-aged jang is uneven and deeper. When a recipe says “use good doenjang,” it means taste the paste — salt and funk vary more than Western miso shoppers expect.