Hello Radio-free Korea and the world. I hope you are all doing well and thank you so much for listening in. Folks, this is my 95th episode of my Korean Food Story. I am really shocked because I never knew I could do this many shows on Korean food. Luckily, there are a lot of Korean foods out there and I know that you are all hungry for more.

Now that spring is right around the corner, I thought I would talk to you all about bom namul or Korean Spring Greens. These are greens are very seasonal and only last for a few weeks out of the year. You know how some times you just crave something fresh like a vegetable or fruit and you just eat a whole plate of them? I think that’s how many Koreans feel when winter is finishing. There is just something necessary in the spring greens that their body is telling them they just need to eat. In spring, when my Korean mother and I go for a mountain hike, for her it is a shopping excursion. She always has a basket to take with her because she’ll pick certain leaves and vegetables and then she’ll make a spring greens bibimbap. The vegetables that she picks are fresh shoots and leaves for if they are old, they taste bitter. My mother told me that the spring greens have a lot of panax, you know the same stuff in ginseng, so by eating it, I will be healthy.

On our walks she’ll usually pick chui-namul which is a a fuzzy leaf that is a light green. She also finds some cham-namul which looks like cilantro. She’ll blanch these and make vegetable side dishes with them.

There are lots of other bom namul. For example, one of my favorites is bomdong which looks like a green chrysanthemum flower except its like large cabbage that is about 15 centimeters across. You can use this fresh tasting cabbage to make geotjeori or a fresh kimchi salad. The crunchy and green flavor is a delicious in a garlic and chili dressing.

Also at spring, I love naengi or shepherd’s purse. It’s got a herbaceous and sharp green, almost turnip-like flavor. It’s wonderful in a soy bean paste stew because the strong flavor accentuates the bean paste broth.

Another favorite is dol-namul which looks like rosemary herb but with a crisp, juicy bite. The flavor is like green sunshine and you just drizzle some vinegared red chili sauce on it. This particular vegetable is amazing as a side with raw sashimi.

One of the more unusual ones is saebal-namul which is a spring green that looks like a stick person. The name, saebal, means bird’s feet and it is a sturdy little green that has a subdued crunch. This spring green is great in saebal pajeon, or spring greens pancake. It tastes great with a cup of makgeolli, a cold rice beer.