Gim

🌱 Vegan

Gim, also romanized as kim, is a group of edible seaweeds of the genera Porphyra and Pyropia that are dried and used in Korean cuisine. Alongside miyeok and dasima, it is one of the most cultivated and eaten seaweeds in Korea, and its roasted, sesame-seasoned form is a staple side dish.

History

The earliest references to edible seaweed in Korea appear in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, compiled in the Goryeo period, which mentions that people of Silla used gim as part of some dowries. It is thought that this gim was gathered from rocks and driftwood rather than cultivated.

In the Joseon dynasty, gim appears often in official records as a representative product of Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, and as a royal offering. A nineteenth-century cookbook describes seasoning it with sesame oil and red pepper. Cultivation spread between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and is considered Korea's oldest form of aquaculture.

The sheet form of production came from Japan, where it was developed in Asakusa, Edo, around 1750, influenced by Japanese papermaking. Rack and, from the twentieth century, floating-raft methods allowed mass production. South Korea is now the largest producer and exporter of dried gim.

Culture

Koreans eat gim in two main ways: roasted, cut into small squares and served as banchan, or as full sheets wrapped around rice in gimbap. Around ten varieties exist, including chamgim and bangsamuni gim, which differ in thickness and flavour. Gim sheets are thinner than Japanese nori.

Cultivation is concentrated on the southern coast, especially in Wando, South Jeolla Province. Most commercial gim is now farmed, since wild seaweed cannot meet demand. It is an everyday food on Korean tables and part of the country's culinary identity.

Legend and fact

Oral traditions describe its origins. One tells of an old woman in Hadong who found a log covered in gim drifting down the Seomjin River and began cultivating it on bamboo poles. Another credits Gim Yeoik, on Taein Island, during the reign of King Injo, with starting cultivation. These are folk stories without documentary confirmation.

Trivia

Royal offering. Joseon records state that gim was sent to the court as an offering, with required sizes that led some people to glue pieces onto frames.

A costly alga. A 1650 record describes gim as very expensive, with a single sheet said to cost as much as twenty pieces of cotton.