Chwinamul

Blanched mountain aster greens seasoned with doenjang, sesame, and garlic.

Chwinamul is one of the most prized of all Korean mountain vegetable (sannamul) preparations, made from chwi — Aster scaber — a wild plant harvested from Korean mountainsides in spring and early summer that carries an intensely aromatic, earthy bitterness quite unlike any cultivated vegetable. The leaves are blanched to soften and reduce their bitterness, then squeezed dry and seasoned with doenjang (fermented soybean paste), sesame oil, garlic, and sometimes a small amount of ganjang, the doenjang amplifying rather than competing with the chwi's own fermented depth. The result is a banchan of extraordinary savory complexity — simultaneously herbal, earthy, nutty, and savory — that regular eaters of Korean mountain cuisine consider a benchmark of good quality namul cooking. Chwinamul appears prominently in Korean mountain temple cuisine, where the philosophy of eating what grows in the surrounding forests finds its highest culinary expression. Dried chwi is also widely available and requires lengthy soaking and boiling before seasoning, and dried chwinamul is a key component of the classic Jeolla Province memorial table spread.