KOREASCHOLAR

General views of 1,436 housewives respondents through the country on commercial kochujang (fermented hot pepper-soybean paste) were surveyed by questionnaires. The 65.0% of total respondents had experience of purchasing commercial kochujang on the market, mostly super market (43.0%) of respondents, and the respondents who has job and live in apartment purchased the commercial products more often than the others (80.5%). The reason for purchasing commercial products were convenience (36.1%) and short of time (13.0%). The critera for purchasing commercial product were previous experience (40.1%) and well known trademark (20.6%) and not for purchasing were concerning of noxiousness (29.2%) and inferior taste (25.0%). Respondents prefered glass packing (44.3%) and plastic bottle (20.2%) of 500 g pack for single usage (42.3%). The most important standards for kochujang taste were pungency (59.1%) and savory taste (28.6%). The problems indicated to commercial products were inferior taste (32.2%), especially too sweet (52.6%), and safety (20.6%).

• 신동화 | Shin, Dong-Hwa