Korean Fermentation Culture : The Story Behind the Traditional Jangdokdae

Discover the traditional Korean earthenware jars that preserved the flavors of Korean food and the memories of generations.

A Special Place in Every Korean Home

When I was a child, almost every Korean household had a special place within its yard called a Jangdokdae (장독대).

It was an essential part of traditional Korean homes, where large and small earthenware jars were carefully arranged.
These jars were used to store some of the most important ingredients in Korean cooking : soy sauce (ganjang), red chili paste (gochujang), soybean paste (doenjang), and salt.

In those days, these ingredients were not simply purchased in bottles at a supermarket. Many families prepared and stored them at home, following traditional methods passed down through generations.

I still vividly remember my childhood home.

On one side of the kitchen, there was a small storage room called a Gwang. Inside, there were large Hangari (or Onggi ) filled with dried grains and other food supplies.

But outside the kitchen, in the backyard, there was another special place — our Jangdokdae.

My Childhood Backyard and the Old Earthenware Jars

Our backyard was a wonderful little world to me.
Along the natural hedge , small wildflowers bloomed in different seasons.
It was one of my favorite places to play as a little girl.

Near the back door of the kitchen stood a tall fir tree.
My mother had brought it with her when she married into our family and planted it there. Beside that tree was our Jangdokdae.

There were so many earthenware jars of different sizes. Some were so enormous that even a small child like me could have climbed inside them!

My grandmother would occasionally reminisce about when she had bought some of those jars and how much she had paid for them.
That meant some of them had been in our family for generations, passed down from one generation to another.

To me, The Jangdokdae was like a treasure trove to my mother.

Every day, she would walk out to the backyard, lift the heavy lids of the jars, and take out some gochujang, ganjang, or doenjang.
She would bring them into the kitchen and use them to prepare the family's daily meals.

She would also open the lids of the earthenware jars on sunny days, allowing their contents to bask in the sunlight. Sometimes, she would carefully wipe the outside of each jar with a damp cloth.

I can still picture her moving between the backyard and the kitchen, taking care of all the little things that made our family meals possible.

Why Did Korean Families Need So Many Earthenware Jars?

To understand the importance of the Jangdokdae, we need to understand traditional Korean food culture.

For generations, Korean cooking has relied heavily on fermentation and food preservation.

Before refrigerators became common in Korean homes, families needed ways to keep food for months, sometimes even longer.
Fermentation, salting, and pickling were essential ways of preserving food.

Some of the most important traditional Korean foods were made through these methods :

Ganjang (간장) : Traditional Korean soy sauce, made through the fermentation of soybeans.
Doenjang (된장) : Fermented soybean paste, an essential ingredient in Korean soups and stews.
Gochujang (고추장) : A fermented red chili paste made with red pepper powder, glutinous rice or other grains, fermented soybean ingredients, and salt.
Kimchi (김치) : Vegetables preserved through salting and fermentation, with napa cabbage and radishes being among the most common ingredients.
Jangajji (장아찌) : Vegetables preserved in soy sauce, soybean paste, or other salty seasonings.

These foods were not merely side dishes. They were fundamental ingredients in everyday Korean meals.

That is why families needed so many jars. Each jar had its own purpose, and some were large enough to store food for an entire season.

The Breathing Earthenware : Hangari (항아리) or Onggi (옹기 )

The traditional Korean earthenware jars are called Hangari or Onggi .

They are made from clay and fired at high temperatures.
Their tiny pores allow air to pass through the walls of the pottery, which is one of the characteristics that makes traditional Hangari ( Onggi ) suitable for storing and fermenting food.

A traditional Jangdokdae was usually placed outdoors, where they could receive sunlight and natural ventilation.
Sunlight, airflow, and seasonal temperatures all played a role in the storage and fermentation of food.

Large jars were also used to store coarse sea salt, especially Korean sun-dried sea salt ( 천일염).
Salt was an indispensable ingredient in traditional Korean kitchens.
It was used not only for seasoning but also for preserving vegetables, making kimchi, and preparing fermented sauces.

Looking back, I realize that the Jangdokdae was much more than a collection of pottery jars. It was an important part of how Korean families managed their food and prepared for each season.

Kimjang : Preparing for the Long Korean Winter

Some of the jars in our backyard were empty for much of the year.

They were kept especially for winter, when our family prepared Kimjang (김장), the traditional Korean practice of making large quantities of kimchi for the winter months.

When winter approached, the whole family would become busy preparing kimchi for the long winter months.

After the nappa cabbage and radishes had been salted and seasoned with various ingredients, the finished kimchi was packed into large earthenware jars.

I remember that my family would dig holes in the ground beside the Jangdokdae and bury several jars filled with different kinds of kimchi.
And then we built a small roof over the buried jars to keep snow from piling up on them.

Burying the jars helped maintain a relatively stable, cool temperature during the winter.
It was a traditional way of storing kimchi before modern refrigerators became available.

The sight of those large jars partly buried in the ground was a familiar part of winter in many Korean homes.

Kimjang was not simply about making food. It was a seasonal family activity, often involving relatives and neighbors helping one another.

In 2013, the tradition of Kimjang was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A Backyard I Can Never Forget

Even now, after so many years, I can clearly picture that backyard.

The tall fir tree my mother had planted when she married into our family.

The rows of earthenware jars standing quietly beside it.

The little blue dayflowers growing along the natural hedge and the bright yellow forsythia blossoms announcing the arrival of spring.

And, of course, my mother, opening the heavy lids of the jars and bringing out the ingredients she needed for our meals.

Those are some of the most precious pictures stored in my memory.

I miss the old house.
I miss that backyard, the familiar jars, and above all, my mother's presence.

Today, many Koreans live in modern apartments and high-rise residential buildings, where there is little room for a traditional Jangdokdae.
Some families living in detached houses still maintain one, and traditional earthenware jars can also be found in restaurants and homes that continue to make fermented foods.

But the old-fashioned Jangdokdae is becoming less common in everyday Korean life.

Whenever I think about it, I feel that I am remembering not only an old Korean food tradition but also a way of life that connected generations.

The jars may be gone, and the old backyard may exist only in my memories, but the flavors and traditions my mother preserved in those jars are still part of Korean food culture today.

And somewhere in my heart, that little backyard is still there, with its tall fir tree, blue flowers, yellow blossoms, and my mother's treasured earthenware jars.

Written from my childhood memories of growing up in Korea.

*Have you ever seen a traditional Korean Jangdokdae? If you have, I would love to hear what you remember about it.

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K - Granny Sophia