A few days ago I bought it… why is it black and thick? is it safe to use?
WiteXDan
Is it also black inside, or just the top layer?
medicinal_bulgogi
That’s very strange
agast_at_everyone
You said the back label was removed – if the sell by date is gone, don’t eat it. It does tend to darken as it gets older, but should be a tan to light brown color, not black.
angeli_vitae
You can purchase two different kinds, the darker is for jjigaes and such. The one I currently have is black as well, it’s just further fermented.
Makes great ssamjang
joonjoon
Fun story, the reason jajangmyeon sauce (chun jang) is dyed black is because the darker the paste, the more fermented and higher quality it was considered to be. Vendors started dying their chun jang darker to make it seem more fermented, until we got to the jet black we have today.
Give it a taste, if you think it tastes ok, go ahead and use it!
Far-Mountain-3412
It’s called “browning”/갈변 (ironic because in the case of doenjang it’s going from brown to black), and like some others have said, it has just been fermented a lot. It was probably stored at room temperature for longer than average. If there was no mold on it, try tasting a bit of it, and if tastes fine, it’s probably fine (medical disclaimer: I’m no microbiologist or doenjang grandmaster).
That said, if your store gets rid of labels and dates, I wouldn’t buy from there next time. People that sell food need to have at least a minimum level of “safety first” thinking, and a store that removes labels on old food is not a place I’d trust.
It’s also not chunjang. This particular product is a very popular and common doenjang.
7 Comments
A few days ago I bought it… why is it black and thick? is it safe to use?
Is it also black inside, or just the top layer?
That’s very strange
You said the back label was removed – if the sell by date is gone, don’t eat it. It does tend to darken as it gets older, but should be a tan to light brown color, not black.
You can purchase two different kinds, the darker is for jjigaes and such. The one I currently have is black as well, it’s just further fermented.
Makes great ssamjang
Fun story, the reason jajangmyeon sauce (chun jang) is dyed black is because the darker the paste, the more fermented and higher quality it was considered to be. Vendors started dying their chun jang darker to make it seem more fermented, until we got to the jet black we have today.
Give it a taste, if you think it tastes ok, go ahead and use it!
It’s called “browning”/갈변 (ironic because in the case of doenjang it’s going from brown to black), and like some others have said, it has just been fermented a lot. It was probably stored at room temperature for longer than average. If there was no mold on it, try tasting a bit of it, and if tastes fine, it’s probably fine (medical disclaimer: I’m no microbiologist or doenjang grandmaster).
That said, if your store gets rid of labels and dates, I wouldn’t buy from there next time. People that sell food need to have at least a minimum level of “safety first” thinking, and a store that removes labels on old food is not a place I’d trust.
It’s also not chunjang. This particular product is a very popular and common doenjang.