Saeu-jeot

Saeu-jeot (새우젓) is a type of jeotgal—salted, fermented seafood—made from tiny shrimp in Korean cooking. Alongside myeolchi-jeot (salted anchovy jeot), it is the most widely eaten jeotgal in South Korea. The word combines saeu (shrimp) and jeot. Though used across Korean cuisine, it appears most often in kimchi and dipping sauces.

The shrimp themselves, called jeot-saeu (젓새우), are smaller and have thinner shells than regular shrimp. Quality hinges on freshness; in warm weather, fishermen often add salt right away to start preserving them. The variety of saeu-jeot depends on the shrimp species and harvest time.

In spring

In spring, putjeot (풋젓) comes from shrimp caught between the end of the first month and the fourth month of the Korean lunisolar calendar. On South Korea’s west coast, it is also called deddeugi jeot or dotddegi jeot. Ojeot (오젓) uses shrimp harvested in May. Summer brings yukjeot (육젓), made from June-caught shrimp and considered the highest quality—preferred for kimchi due to its richer flavor and larger size, with red heads and tails.

In fall

Chajeot (차젓) is made from July shrimp. In fall, gonjaeng-ijeot (곤쟁이젓) or jahajeot (자하젓) uses very small opossum shrimp (Neomysis awatschensis), called gonjaeng-i or jaha, the smallest of all saeu-jeot shrimp. Harvested in small amounts from the Yellow Sea’s brackish depths in August and September, it turns from transparent to light violet or brown as it ferments, becoming soft. In Jeolla Province, it is called gogaemijeot, and it is a local specialty of Seosan-gun, Chungcheong Province.

Other saeu-jeot

Chujeot (추젓) uses smaller, cleaner autumn shrimp. Winter yields dongjeot (동젓) from November shrimp, and dongbaekha (동백하젓) from February shrimp, which have white, clean bodies. Other types include tohajeot (토하젓), made from toha—tiny shrimp caught only in clean valley freshwater—a specialty of South Jeolla Province, also called saengijeot.

Jajeot (자젓), commonly called japjeot (잡젓, “mixed jeot”), uses various small shrimp without special selection. Daetdaegijeot (댓대기젓) comes from shrimp with thick, stiff, yellowish shells and is considered the lowest quality. Saeualjeot (새우알젓) is made from the eggs of medium-sized red shrimp harvested in April. It was presented to the royal court as a local product during the late period of the Joseon dynasty and currently is only produced in Okgu-gun, North Jeolla Province.