Red Pepper Flakes (Gochugaru)

Chili peppers arrived in Korea from the Americas via Portuguese and Japanese trade routes in the 16th-17th century. Despite being a relatively recent addition to Korean cuisine, gochugaru became so thoroughly integrated that it is now considered essential to Korean identity. The Donguibogam's later editions reference chili's hot nature and spicy flavor. Korean sun-dried gochugaru has a unique character — fruity, mildly sweet, and complexly smoky — that distinguishes it from chili flakes of other cuisines. The traditional practice of families sun-drying their own peppers and grinding them fresh each autumn persists in rural Korea.