Yeolmu (열무)

Yeolmu is the young summer radish of the peninsula, Raphanus sativus, sown in spring and again in early autumn and pulled while the root is still slender and the leaves tender. It belongs to the farmhouse kitchen, where a fast-growing crop of leaf and thin root filled the gap between the winter kimchi store and the autumn harvest. The Joseon agricultural and household literature treats radish as a staple of the vegetable plot, and yeolmu kimchi remains a fixture of the summer table in every region. It is carried by home cooks above all, who make it in small batches rather than in the large communal kimjang of late autumn.

Yeolmu is a young Korean radish harvested at roughly the length of a hand, with a thin white root, often tapering and slightly pink or green at the shoulder, and a bunch of long, soft, serrated leaves. Root and leaf are used together, cut into pieces of about 5 cm (2 in), which separates it from mu, the large mature radish, and from chonggak, the small tailed radish grown for ponytail kimchi. The leaves are fine and fibrous, the root crisp, with a sharper, greener bite than the mature radish. It is the principal ingredient of yeolmu kimchi and yeolmu-guksu, and appears also as a fresh bibimbap vegetable and in namul.

Yeolmu kimchi is eaten with plain boiled rice, with barley rice, and above all with cold noodles, where its tart, chilled liquid acts as a broth. It also suits bibimbap with gochujang and sesame oil, whose richness the radish cuts with its sharp green bite. Cold barley tea or cold water accompanies it, as the dish is built to refresh in heat. The structural reason is contrast: the acidity and peppery edge of the radish cleanse the palate against starch and fat.