The DPRK has a long history of making and eating jang (soybean paste and sauce).
The names of jang are derived from its making methods and features. In Korean, toenjang (soybean paste) means thick paste and kanjang (soybean sauce) means seasoning sauce.
According to historical data, jang has been called by different names. It was originally called si and later si and jang, and at last its name was fixed as jang. The word meju was used by Korean ancestors to call jang but later became to indicate the basic material of jang. In its nascent period, jang was today’s fermented soybean that was made by wrapping boiled soybean with rice straw, fermenting it on a heated floor and mixing it with salt. Later, they dried and powdered fermented soybean and soused it in salty water before eating. In the long course of their life, Koreans discovered that materials contained in jang have health-promoting effects and medicinal efficacies in the treatment and prevention of cerebral thrombosis.
Nowadays, wheat paste is widely applied in the people’s dietary life to enrich it.