Korean Table (Thursday 7:40 p.m. KBS1) “Digging for Sweet Memories, Sweet Potatoes” (Aired on October 25, 2012) The first thing that comes to mind when the cold wind blows is our country’s representative snack, sweet potatoes! The first memory that comes to mind is when I ate sweet potatoes roasted by my mother as a child, blowing on them and eating them until my hands and mouth turned black, but sweet potatoes were not just a simple snack on the Korean table. Sweet potatoes were the first relief crop introduced to solve the famine of the Joseon Dynasty, and they were a valuable food that filled the poor’s tables! Recently, they have been ranked first among the world’s top 10 health foods and are gaining attention as a superfood. Let’s rediscover the true nature of sweet potatoes by following the bitter memories contained within their sweetness. ■ Sweet potatoes were potatoes? The fields of Haenam, where autumn harvesting is in full swing. From dawn to dusk, hands are busy harvesting sweet potatoes. Because sweet potatoes must be dug up before the first frost. Although they grow well even in harsh environments, the warm climate, sea breeze, and especially the nutrients of the yellow soil make Haenam and the southern coast a major producer of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes were a wonderful crop that kept both body and mind strong throughout the winter. Sweet potatoes were the first famine relief crop introduced to Korea in the 18th century, before potatoes. Joseon Confucian scholars worked hard to spread sweet potato cultivation methods to help the starving people. The name given at the time was gamjeo (甘藷). That is why sweet potatoes are still called potatoes in Jeju and Haenam. So how did they come to be called goguma? Also, it is said that during the Japanese colonial period, sweet potatoes were used as fuel for airplanes, and sweet potatoes that had been cultivated in some areas of the southern coast began to spread nationwide. We will look into the story of sweet potatoes, which have protected our tables for 350 years, while embracing the bitter memories of poverty and exploitation. ■ Sweet potatoes, filling up poor tables with abundance Even in Haenam, which has a large land area, rice was always a precious food for the poor. So, sweet potatoes were the only food that helped us get through the barley season from winter to spring. Sweet potato rice made with one sweet potato in a bowl of millet (seosuk) and sweet potato kimchi made with the seed sweet potatoes that were left over after the sprouts had fully grown were the only foods that filled the stomachs of families. However, in the fall when sweet potatoes were common, they would make sweet potato jelly, sweet potato rice cakes, sweet potato yukwa, and various other foods that enriched the tables of the poor. Sweet potatoes that filled hungry hearts. We will meet grandmother Jeong Sun-nam and her family, who keep those old memories alive, and the grandmothers of Muhak Village. ■ How would we live without sweet potatoes? - Tongyeong Yokjido Ppaettegi One hour by boat from Tongyeong, Gyeongnam. We arrive at Yokjido, the southernmost inhabited island in Tongyeong. Mr. Lee Pan-go and his wife, who live in Jeam Village, Donghang-ri, are natives of Yokjido who have grown and eaten sweet potatoes since they were young. They plow with an ox to dig up sweet potatoes growing in a narrow, steep field near the coast, and their 90-year-old mother helps with the work. In Yokjido, where sweet potatoes were the only food, there is a local food called 'ppaetegi'. It refers to raw sweet potatoes that are sliced ​​and dried, and they are stored throughout the winter and made into porridge. For the islanders who had to make do with sweet potatoes, their only food, ppaetegi porridge brings back memories they don't want to remember, but it has become a representative local food of Yokjido that they eat as a taste and a memory. ■ The transformation of sweet potatoes, discovering new value. Jeollanam-do Muan-gun Hyeongyeong-myeon. Kim Yong-ju and Lee Jeong-ok are veteran farmers who have been growing sweet potatoes here for over 30 years. They grow pumpkin sweet potatoes as well as purple and orange sweet potatoes, and their names are special. The pumpkin sweet potatoes are nicknamed ‘Dalsu,’ the pumpkin sweet potatoes ‘Dalho,’ the purple sweet potatoes ‘Hani,’ and the orange sweet potatoes ‘Kkotnim.’ Just like sweet potatoes that grow strong by intertwining with each other and enduring the wind and rain, the couple believes that the land and people can only gain strength when they overcome hardships. The wisdom that the land has taught them fills the fields this fall. #KoreansTable #SweetPotato #PumpkinSweetPotato ※ [KoreansTable] Popular Videos Rewatch [Highlight] 10th Anniversary Special Part 2 - You've Worked Hard, You • [KoreansTable★10th Anniversary★] Actress Kim Hye-soo, wife Kim Min-ja prepare the best... [Full Version] Precious gifts from Beolgyo Tidal Flats, flatfish and goby • [KoreansTable★Full Version] From flatfish grilled to goby sashimi seasoned with minced meat! The smell of the sea... 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