[Food]

[Food] Jwipo (Dried Filefish Fillet, 쥐포)

File Fish / Leather Fish

Jwipo (Dried filefish fillet, 쥐포) is a typical Korean dried seafood which is usually eaten as a light snack alongside liquor or alone. Jwipo is made of jwichi fillet, which is called file fish or leather fish in western culture.

Today the snack jwipo is as cheap or as expensive as file fish is valued among fishermen in Korea. The population of leather fish was very high in the olden days, but fishermen caught them to make them into jwipo to export them to Japan (which is considered the origins of jwipo) in 1960. Before 1960, file fish was treated as fish of 'no value' so fishermen usually extracted oil out of it for lamps in fishing ships.

Leather Fish / File Fish

Raw fillet of Leather Fish

Since 1960, Koreans started to recognize jwipo's tastiness as a snack, then it became a typical and popular seafood snack in Korea. At the beginning of its production in Korea, fishermen used 100% leather fish fillet, but it became so expensive because of the decline of the leather fish population in the Korean peninsula. So these days, jwipo is not made of 100% jwipo fillet but it's still tasty.

Packed jwipo

Jwipo and dried squid.

Jwipo is usually roasted or grilled on an iron net to be served, but can be eaten without heating. Grilled jwipo is very soft, crispy, chewy, savory and sweet and this is why Koreans love grilled jwipo. It can be cooked as a side dish after undergoing sweet and spicy Korean-style seasonings such as soy sauce, chili powder, sugar or sesame oil.

Jwipo and other snacks

Piles of jwipo and other dried seafood

If you are looking for an exotic, marine snack for your drink tonight, how about jwipo? It will sweeten up your time as much as it will your palate :)

Bon Appétit!