the library

Gochujang

Savory & ferment· ferment vinegar

What it is

Gochujang is a Korean fermented condiment made from red chile powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt.

What it tastes like

On the nose: hot, sweet, acid. Among its measured molecules: D-gluconic acid, dihydrocapsiate, ligustrazine, ethanol.

Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• γ-aminobutyric acidtasteacidMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang, with relative content 'also high in the RwG group' — the white-rice gochujang. A non-volatile fermentation product — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang by cereal grain)
• citric acidtasteacidreads as sour, tartMeasured in 7 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and distinctively higher in the wheat gochujang (WG) group than in the other samples; the paper notes 'Citric acid is widely used as an additive in the food industry and contributes to a sour taste along with other organic acids'. A taste-active non-volatile — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang by cereal grain)
• DL-malic acidtasteacidreads as sour, tartMeasured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang: 'the levels of organic acids such as fumaric acid (14), malic acid (15), citric acid (16), and gluconic acid (17) were also high in WG'. A taste-active non-volatile carrying sourness — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of organic acids by cereal grain)
• ethanolaromaalcoholreads as burning (PubChem)Measured in 19 of 341 ingredients.cite

  quantified against standards by GC-MS across 35 traditional cottage-industry gochujang products: 'The mean ethanol content of the gochujang products was 1.53 ± 1.23%', ranging from 0 to 4.9%, and 'ethanol represented the single major contributor to the total alcohol content of gochujang products'. Six products exceeded 3% — Ramalingam et al. 2022, Foods (Section 3 (Results and Discussion), Alcohol Content, and Figure 1)
• L-aspartic acidtasteacidreads as sourMeasured in 9 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang; grouped by the paper with glutamic acid and phenylalanine as 'related to the umami flavor [20]', and noted with glutamic acid as an acidic amino acid that 'likely contributed to the high acidity of WG'. A taste-active non-volatile — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, discussion of amino-acid taste and acidity)
• sucrosetastesugarreads as sweetMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and 'present at significantly higher levels in the RbG group than in the other gochujang samples' — the brown-rice gochujang, which the paper explains by the grain: 'Ninety percent of the free sugar in rice grain is sucrose, and more than 60% of this sugar is present in the outer layer of the rice grain. Thus, the sucrose content of brown rice is generally higher than that of milled (white) rice'. A taste-active non-volatile carrying sweetness — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang by cereal grain)
• D-gluconic acidaromaacidreads as acid taste (PubChem)Measured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and named among the organic acids high in the wheat gochujang group — a fermentation acid rather than a pepper acid. A taste-active non-volatile — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of organic acids by cereal grain)
• ligustrazinearomapyrazineMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  the single largest volatile peak found anywhere in the 35-product survey: 'The predominant compound was identified as 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl pyrazine with a peak area of 54.31% and retention time of 40.054 min in Go-19' — the roasted/nutty note of a long-fermented paste, and a Bacillus fermentation product rather than a pepper compound — Ramalingam et al. 2022, Foods (Section 3, Volatile Compounds)
• L-glutamic acidtasteacidreads as umami, sourMeasured in 7 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified by GC-TOF-MS in commercial gochujang and among the amino acids 'distinctively higher in the WG group than in the other samples' — the wheat gochujang carries the most — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang by cereal grain)
• dihydrocapsaicintastenitrogen compoundreads as hot, pungentMeasured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified as a differential capsaicinoid, significantly higher in RbG-CAY than RbG-CA and higher in RwG-CF than RwG-CA; separately reported as one of the metabolites at high relative content in the white-rice gochujang group (RwG) — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang made with different red pepper cultivars)
• L-prolinetasteacidreads as sweetMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and among the amino acids distinctively higher in the wheat gochujang (WG) group; the paper attributes its taste with its own citation — 'proline (4) and threonine (7) contribute to the sweet flavor'. A taste-active non-volatile — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang by cereal grain and discussion of amino-acid taste)
• nordihydrocapsaicintastephenolreads as hot, pungentMeasured in 3 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified as a differential capsaicinoid in commercial gochujang, significantly higher in RbG-CAY than RbG-CA and higher in RwG-CF than RwG-CA — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of gochujang made with different red pepper cultivars)
• fumaric acidtasteacidreads as sour, fruityMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and named among the organic acids high in the wheat gochujang group. A taste-active non-volatile — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparison of organic acids by cereal grain)
• capsaicintastenitrogen compoundreads as hot, burningMeasured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified as a differential metabolite in commercial gochujang: 'the relative levels of capsaicinoids and capsinoids, including nordihydrocapsaicin (50), capsaicin (51), dihydrocapsaicin (52), and dihydrocapsiate (49), were significantly higher in RbG-CAY than in RbG-CA', and again higher in RwG-CF than in RwG-CA — so capsaicin content in gochujang tracks the pepper cultivar, not the cereal grain — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2 (Results and Discussion), comparison of gochujang made with different red pepper cultivars)
• dihydrocapsiatearomaphenolMeasured in 1 of 341 ingredients.cite

  identified in commercial gochujang and distinctively higher in the wheat gochujang (WG) group than in the other samples, and higher in RbG-CAY than RbG-CA — Lee et al. 2016, Molecules (Section 2, comparisons by cereal grain and by pepper cultivar)