Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism / Korean Culture and Information Service

Sun-dried salt called cheonilyeom crystallizing in Gomso salt field in Buan-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province

Stretching out over 5.4 square kilometers, the Gomso salt field in Jeollanam-do Province, offers much more than just a pristine landscape against the backdrop of the ocean. It also carries on the legacy of cheonilyeom, sun-dried salt made through traditional methods. 

Namseon Salt Industry, Co., founded in 1946, is an active salt farm located in Buan-gun County, about 240 kilometers south of Seoul. Ownership of the salt farm has been passed down for generations over 70 years, and it is now run by the founder’s grandson, Shin Jong-man.  

This mineral-filled salt is still produced using natural processes that utilize the sun and wind to evaporate seawater.  

Last September, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries named the salt farm and its traditional production method the 10th Korea Important Fisheries Heritage System (KIFHS). The ministry has been designating tangible and intangible fisheries resources across the country to acknowledge their importance and value as national heritage and to help preserve their legacy – similar to the way the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization honors stunning landscapes and productive rural agricultural processes on a global scale. Female divers on Jeju Island, traditional laver (gim) farming in Wando and Muan-Sinan barehand mudflat octopus fishing are among the 11 KIFHS-designated practices at present. 

A journalist sweeps salt crystals in a saltern field run by Namseon Salt Industry, Co. in Gomso, Jeollanam-do, during a recent government-sponsored tour for members of the media.

The saltern near Gomso Port stores seawater in a reservoir as the first step in the salt-making process. For around 15 days, the seawater is moved between three different evaporating ponds, increasing the salinity with each step through exposure to natural sunlight and wind.  

Once the salinity of the seawater reaches 25 percent, the concentrate is spread over a field of black tiles. Crystallization takes another three to five days.  

Workers sweep the field with wide shovels to collect salt crystals. The extracted salt is then drained and dried before packaging with about 1,500 tons of sun-dried salt produced annually.  

Shin, the owner, emphasized the freshness of the seawater used to make the salt.

“We don’t reuse the water after extracting salt, instead we return it to the sea. Then, we bring in a fresh supply of water,” Shin said, during a recent tour of the site, organized by the fisheries ministry, the Korea Fisheries Infrastructure Public Agency and the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS).  

Because the same seawater is not reused during production, the finished product offers salt with a full-bodied flavor without any bitterness, Shin added.

Sea salt from Gomso, Jeollanam-do, produced through a traditional method recognized as a Korea Important Fisheries Heritage System

As the company’s saltern is near Byeonsanbando National Park and surrounded by a forest of pine trees, Shin said that it receives pollen from the trees each spring, which adds more minerals and organic substances to the extracted salt.  

The richness of Gomso’s sun-dried salt led the county to also become famous for its jeotgal, salted and fermented seafood.

Gomso Port is home to the Gomso Jeotgal and Fermented Food Center, a market that sells various types of seafood – squid, octopus, cod roe and more – all prepared with local salt.  

KOCIS is a state-run agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that provides foreign journalists with such press events as media tours, policy forums, briefings and Korean cultural experience programs. 

**If you have any questions about this article, feel free to contact us at kocis@korea.kr.**