Soups & stews Banchan Tteok Gochujang[a] or red chili paste[3] is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking.

[4] Traditionally, it would be naturally fermented over years in jangdok (earthenware) on an elevated stone platform called jangdokdae in the backyard.

Shiyi xinjian (食醫心鑑), a mid-9th century Chinese document, recorded the Korean pepper paste as 苦椒醬 (lit.

The history of Sunchang gochujang's becoming a regional specialty dates back to the 14th century at the start of the Joseon Dynasty era (1392–1910) when the founder Yi Seong-gye made gochujang from the Sunchang region a part of Korean palace cuisine.When Yi Seong-gye, who went on to become the founder and first king of Joseon as King Taejo, was on a trip to Manilsa Temple to pray to the mountain god, he is said to have eaten a bowl of barley bibimbab (spicy mixed rice with vegetables) with gochujang that he found unforgettably delicious.

[13]In the 18th-century books, Somun saseol (소문사설; 謏聞事說) and Revised and Augmented Farm Management, gochujang is written as gochojang, using hanja characters 苦椒醬 and 古椒醬.

Korean chili peppers, of the species Capsicum annuum, are spicy yet sweet, making them ideal for gochujang production.

Similarly, ssamjang is a mixture of mainly gochujang and doenjang, with chopped onions and other spicy seasonings, and it is popular with sangchussam (상추쌈).