Korean Red Peppers

By Jay Lee

Most Korean food is made with red pepper powder. Korean people enjoy its taste, which is somewhat hot.

The historical root of Korean red pepper is not clear; some say it is from India or China or Japan. Korean red peppers are harvested as a vegetable in summer. During winter and spring, it is sprouted in greenhouses before being planted in fields in summer.

Unripe red peppers are green, and as time goes by, they turn red. It is not easy to gather red peppers in summer because, as the taste is very spicy, its smell is also very spicy, and it makes farmers’ hands feel very hot, too. Even if they wear work gloves, they have to struggle with fevers.

Red peppers are dried by a big drying machine; otherwise, green ones are eaten at home. Dried peppers, which turn deep red, are sent to a mill to be turned into powder. The flour can be eaten for a long time because it hardly ever spoils.