Gim (food) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Gim

Alternative names	Laver, Nori
Type	Edible seaweed
Place of origin	Korea
Associated national cuisine	Korean cuisine
Main ingredients	Red algae
Similar dishes	Nori

Gim (Hangul: 김), also called kim, is a type of edible seaweed from Korea. It is dried into thin sheets. People use it in many Korean dishes.

Gim comes from different kinds of red seaweeds. These include Pyropia and Porphyra species. Along with miyeok (wakame) and dasima (kelp), gim is one of the most popular seaweeds in Korea.

People often roll dried gim sheets with rice to eat. A popular dish is Gimbap, where gim wraps rice, meat, fish, or vegetables. You can also roast gim with sesame oil or fry it. This makes tasty side dishes called banchan.

Discovering Gim: A Look at History

The first time anyone wrote about edible seaweed in Korea was in a book called Samguk yusa. This book was written in the 1280s. It tells stories from the Three Kingdoms Period (57 BCE to 668 CE).

The book says that the Silla dynasty used gim as part of their wedding gifts. People think that back then, gim was gathered from rocks and wood. It was not grown on farms yet.

Gim was also mentioned many times in the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty. In these old records, gim was called 海衣. This means "sea cloth" or "sea sheet."

During the time of King Sejong the Great, a survey described gim. It was a special product from Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, and Jeolla provinces. The records show that kings cared about how gim was collected.

For example, King Seonjo was asked to help people on the eastern coast. They had to give gim as a royal offering. King Hyojong even stopped this offering for a while. This was because one piece of gim cost a lot of cotton.

People had to make gim offerings a specific size. This led some to glue pieces of gim together. King Jeongjo warned against this practice. He said it was not hygienic.

Gim was also written about in other books. A writer named Lee Kyung-suk (1595-1671) wrote a poem. He received gim as a gift and said it was as thin as paper.

An encyclopedia from the 18th century, 'Seonghosaseol [ko], also described gim. It said gim was a reddish algae that grew on sea rocks. It was then made into sheets.

In the 19th century, a cookbook called Siuijeonseo shared a recipe. It explained how to season seaweed with sesame oil. You would add red pepper powder and sesame seeds. Then, you would sprinkle more sesame or pine nut powder. Finally, you would dry and roast it.

Growing Gim: Early Farming Methods

Books from the 15th and 16th centuries mention gim production. These books include Revised and Augmented Survey of the Geography of Korea (1530). They say gim was a local specialty in Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces.

Growing gim is the oldest type of aquaculture (sea farming) in Korea. There are many old stories about how it started. One story tells of an old lady in Hadong. She found a log covered in gim floating down the Seomjin River. This gave her the idea to grow gim on bamboo poles.

Another story says gim was named after Gim Yeoik (1606–1660). He was the first person to grow gim after seeing it on an oak branch. This happened on Taein Island in the mouth of the Seomjin River. Gim farming then grew across the southern coast of Korea.

Early farmers used bamboo or oak sticks. Later, in the 19th century, people started using nets. A fish harvester got the idea from gim growing on fish fences. By the 1920s, floating rafts were used to grow a lot more gim.

How Gim is Made Today

The modern way of making dried seaweed sheets came from Japan. This method was invented in Japan around 1750. It was inspired by how Japanese paper (washi) was made. This method is now used in Korea and other countries.

About 19,500 tonnes of dried gim are made each year in South Korea. Most gim for sale is farmed. This is because there isn't enough naturally grown gim. Pyropia is a very common type of gim that is farmed.

Some Porphyra species still grow naturally on rocks. People collect these by hand. You can find them along the coasts of the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the South Sea.

Farming Gim: Modern Cultivation

P. yezoensis is the most farmed type of gim. P. tenera is also commonly grown. Wando in South Jeolla Province is a main area for farmed gim.

Gim farming is traditional in the southern parts of Korea. This includes the Honam, Yeongnam regions, and Jeju Island. This is because the algae grow best in the warmer southern oceans. But now, with warmer sea temperatures, gim can be grown further north.

Gim grown in winter in river mouths is said to be the most delicious. Farmers start planting seeds in autumn, usually in September or October. They can harvest the gim many times throughout the winter. Gim grows well when the water temperature is between 5-8 degrees Celsius. Gim that has grown for 50 days is considered the best. It has the best color and flavor then.

Two main ways are used to farm gim today. The traditional "racks" method makes high-quality gim. This gim is similar to naturally grown laver. The "floating rafts" method is used for making a lot of gim.

Racks type gim is grown in places like Wando and Sinan. But fewer than 100 farms use this method now. It costs more to produce. Also, yields are lower, and water temperatures are rising.

Racks Method

The racks method starts by putting bamboo sticks into the seabed. Nets are tied to these bamboo posts. The gim seeds stick to these nets. Seeds are planted in September. Farmers often use multiple layers of nets to help the seeds attach. Once the seeds are attached, the nets are moved to a farming area.

In this method, the nets are under water during high tide. They are exposed to the sun during low tide. This limited sun exposure helps the gim keep its natural flavor. Farming gim with racks is also an eco-friendly way to grow it.

Floating Rafts Method

Growing gim with floating rafts is good for making a lot of gim. It needs less work than the racks method. With floating rafts, the gim stays under the water all the time. This happens during both high and low tides.

What's in Gim? Nutrition Facts

Gim is a very healthy food. It has a lot of protein. It also has important vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, A, B6, and B12.

Gim is also rich in mineral salts. It has a lot of iodine and iron. It also contains important amino acids that your body needs.

How to Eat Gim: Culinary Uses

When gim is eaten as a side dish (banchan), it is usually toasted. People use sesame oil or perilla oil for toasting. Then, they sprinkle fine salt on it and cut it into squares.

Gim can also be deep-fried to make crispy fritters called bugak. For making gimbap, the gim sheets are not toasted. They are used in their original dried form.

Similar Foods Around the World

Other countries also eat similar red algae. In Japanese cuisine, it is called nori. In Chinese cuisine, it is known as haitai or zicai. In Wales and Ireland, it is used to make laverbread.

See also

In Spanish: Gim para niños