Jugyeom


Jugyeom, also known as bamboo salt, is a form of salt. It is prepared by packing bay salt in a thick bamboo stem, and baking it nine times on high temperature using pine firewood. This baking method transforms bay salt into what is considered a health food product. During the baking processes, the impurities in the bay salts are either removed or neutralized while its inorganic contents, such as calcium, potassium, iron, copper, and zinc are increased; allowing the finished product to contribute to ion balance.

Production

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.
A bamboo stem is filled with bay salt produced from the west coast, sealed with red clay, and baked in a kiln with pine tree firewood. The baked salt lumps, hardening 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℃. Afterwards the bamboo salt contains blue, yellow, red, white and black.
Well-baked bamboo salt, with a temperature above 1,500℃, 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.

Medical claims

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

Medical study

Studies have reported in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer effects.
A study published in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine suggests that Purple Bamboo Salt may prevent the growth of oral cancers in mice.

Traditional use in disease treatment

According to The Universe and God's Medicine by Il-hoon Kim in 1981, jugyeom can be used to treat:
In the 2012 film Masquerade, bamboo salt caused a silver spoon in a bowl of soup to turn black, but before this explanation was discovered, the event caused the king to believe people were trying to poison him.