The Cheonggukjang used in this study was made with four soybean cultivars grown and harvested at the National Agrobiodiversity Center of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences: C1 (KLS87248), C2 (Nongrim 51), C3 (GNU- 2007-14613), and C4 (Daewon). The soybeans were inoculated with Bacillus subtilis AFY-2 and fermented for 0, 12, 21, 36, 45, and 60 h in a culture room at 35°C. ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities were significantly increased upon fermentation for 12 hours in all samples and maintained or decreased after 21 hour The inhibition of NO production was significantly increased compared to the LPS-treated group, and the C2 sample showed inhibition of NO production at 12 hours of fermentation, and the C3 sample showed inhibition at 21 hours of fermentation. PCA analysis revealed that the ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activity and NO production inhibitory activity reached peak levels around 12 h fermentation time for all samples. Our results indicate that the optimal fermentation time of the Cheonggukjang sample is 12 hours, confirming the high correlation of all experiments.

In this study, soybean pods of 45 soybean landraces (or varieties) were classified as yellow (19 samples), black (23 samples), or black in green (3 samples) based on soybean seed coat color. Total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were measured, and antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and estrogen-like activities were assessed. Total polyphenol and flavonoid content ranges were 24.13-108.03 mg GAE/g and 3.31-72.02 mg CE/g, respectively, and were highest in the black group followed by the yellow group and were least in the black in green group, while ABTS and DPPH activities followed the order black in green > black > yellow. Estrogen-like and estrogen receptor-α activity ranges were 29.06-35.58 pg/mL and 7.05-10.13 pg/mL and were followed the order yellow > black > black in green and black in green > yellow > black, respectively. Nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory and UCP-1 activities followed the same order as estrogen receptor-α activities. Our findings suggest that soybean pods are excellent sources of antioxidants and high-quality functional materials.

The purpose of this study was to select 30 representative Korean dishes by a systematic review of preferences and recognition of Korean foods. The papers for the review were located using the keywords ‘hansik’, ‘hanguk eumsik’ from DBpia, KISS, NDSL and RISS, and 18 relevant papers were finally short-listed. To analyze the preferences of Koreans and foreigners for Korean dishes, respondents were chosen from various regions such as Asia, Europe, South Pacific, Africa, and North/South America. A total of 4,053 respondents participated in the selected papers and Korean dishes were classified according to the content analysis based on books published by the Rural Development Administration (RDA). Among the main dishes, two kinds of cooked rice were selected, bibimbap and kimbap. Also, noodles, dumplings, and sliced rice cake soup varieties mul-naengmyeon, guksujangguk, mandu, and tteokguk were selected as main dishes. The side dishes selected included 6 kinds of soup, miyeokguk, yukgaejang, samgyetang, gomtang, seolleongtang, and galbi-tang. Other side dishes selected were six types of stews namely doenjang-jjigae, kimchi-jjigae, sundubu-jjigae, haemultang, maeuntang, and dakbokkeum- tang. Three kinds of grilled side dishes selected were bulgogi, galbi-gui, and samgyeopsal-gui. Galbi-jjim was selected in the category of braised or steamed foods. Tteokbokki and japchae were the stir-fried food selected. Pan-fried foods and fried foods selected included a kind of haemul-pajeon and dak-gangjeong respectively. Seasoned vegetables selected were samsaek-namul including gosari-namul, sigeumchi-namul and doraji-namul. Two kinds of baechukimchi and kkakdugi were selected as kimchies, and sikhye was selected in the category of beverages and teas. These results could be used as selection criteria in developing recipes for representative Korean menus.