Investigation on the History of the Muck (Traditional Starch Jelly) and Its Processing Methods Reviewed in the Ancient and the Modern Culinary Literatures
Muck (Korean traditional starch jelly) is very unique and the one of the oldest starch processing traditional food. The typical ingredients for making muck such as acorns, mungbean and buckwheat have been eaten since the new stone age or even before that era. This study was for investigation on the history of muck and its processing methods in the ancient and the modern culinary literatures from the 1400’s to 1900’s. The summary of the reviews was as follows. In the ages from the 1400’s to 1700’s, using starch powder, Se-myon and Chang-myon were made and their shape were like noodles instead of cubical shape. It was after the 1700’s that muck making methods were revealed in the literature, like 「Gyeong-do-jabji」 (1730) and「Go-sa-sib-e-jib」 (1737). The naming of muck might be from the time after 1800’s, in「Myoung-mul-kiryak 」 (around 1870) the basis of the names of Choeng-po (white mungbean jelly) and Whang-po (yellow mungbean jelly) could be found. One of the most well-known muck dish, Tang-pyeong-chae, was recorded many old literatures, so it was found that Tang-pyeong-chae was very popular and governmental policy of Tang-pyeong-chak influenced the food of the common people. In 「Shi-eui-jeon-seo」 (late 1800’s) there were records of several types of muck and starch powder making methods in detail which were handed down to the modern ages.