Bamboo salt (Jugyeom)

Jugyeom, also known as bamboo salt, is a unique form of salt traditional to Korea, made by packing sea salt into bamboo canisters, sealing them with yellow clay, and then roasting the canisters in a pine fire multiple times. This process is repeated up to nine times, with the final roasting reaching temperatures above 1,000°C.

The repeated baking is said to purify the salt and enhance it with minerals from the bamboo and clay, giving it a distinctive flavor known as Gamrojung. Well-baked bamboo salt that reaches a temperature above 1,500°C develops a unique purple color and is known as purple bamboo salt, which is considered to be of the highest quality.

In Korean folk medicine, jugyeom is valued for its health benefits and has been used as a digestive aid, styptic, disinfectant, and dentifrice​.