- Type
- Roots & Stems
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Season
- Spring·Fall
- Sowing
- From seed
Gyerogi (Korean lady bell)
Adenophora remotiflora
Saponins and mucilage, in a mountain-vegetable root that looks like bellflower
Gyerogi is an old Korean name for Adenophora remotiflora, a bellflower-family perennial. The Donguibogam files it under the vegetable section and describes it as resembling ginseng but with slightly different leaves, and having a root like doraji (balloon flower) except that it has no fibrous core. It also records how people used it: the shoots boiled and eaten, the root dried into a kind of jerky, which the text calls very good indeed. It even gives the digging months, the second and eighth of the lunar calendar. Today it turns up in spring markets under the name mosidae, and if you can find seed it will grow in a partly shaded pot. One caution for the hills: the toxic roots of pokeweed (Phytolacca acinosa) and of naturalised American pokeweed (P. americana) are easily mixed in when digging, so if you are not certain, leave it in the ground.
Year-Round Calendar
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Where It Grows
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Wild population
It grows wild along woodland edges in mountain areas nationwide, and in the uplands of Gangwon and North Gyeongsang it is gathered as a spring green. It is also planted in fields to take the roots. Harvest May, June, September, October
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- Wild population It grows wild in the mountains of Northeast China and North China, where the root is used under the name jini (jeni in Korean).
- Wild population Known as sobana, it grows wild in the mountains from Honshu to Kyushu, and the young shoots are eaten as a mountain vegetable.
Its range is the temperate mountain forest of East Asia, spanning Korea, northeastern China, Japan and Russia's Primorsky Krai. There is almost no commercial cultivation — it is a wild green gathered in the mountains — so no national production statistics exist at all, and the three countries above are listed on the basis of natural range rather than output. The genus Adenophora holds several look-alike plants, so the names are often mixed up in the market.
- Optimum
- 15~22℃
- Range
- 5~28℃
- Hardiness
- Hardy
A perennial that grows in the partial shade at the edges of mountain woodland. It likes cool ground with a thick layer of leaf mould, and in midsummer a full day of direct sun will scorch the leaves. In winter the leaves die back and the plant sees out the cold as roots.
Harvested 2–3 years after planting. Young shoots are picked from the spring of the year after planting, while the roots need two or three years' growth to thicken. The year the seed goes in is not the year the root comes out.
In Korea Nationwide
It grows wild in partial shade in mountain areas across the country. In the uplands of Gangwon and North Gyeongsang the young shoots are gathered in spring.
How to grow
- Light
- Partial shade. This is a plant of mountain understorey, and full midsummer sun all day scorches the leaves. A spot with morning light and afternoon shade suits it.
- Soil and depth
- Leafy, humus-rich soil that drains well. In a pot, mix potting soil, leaf mould and coarse grit at roughly 5 to 3 to 2, and give it at least 30 cm of depth if you want usable roots.
- Spacing
- 20 to 25 cm between plants. One plant per 25 cm pot.
- Watering
- Water when the surface dries. Drying out in summer while the root is thickening splits it; standing water rots it. Do not let water sit in the saucer.
- Feeding
- A handful of well-rotted compost as the shoots emerge in spring, and once more in June. Keep nitrogen low, since the root is what you are after.
- Harvest
- Snap young shoots by hand from April to June. Lift roots in September or October of the second or third year, as the foliage dies back. The original text gives the second and eighth lunar months for digging. A single season's root is too thin to bother with.
What makes the difference. The seed is very fine, so scatter it on the surface and press it in rather than covering it. Cold-stratifying it for three to four weeks at 4°C in a damp paper towel gives much more even germination. It is perennial, so when the leaves die back completely in winter, leave the pot in shade rather than emptying it and it will come up again in spring.
Common problems
- Aphids You will see Curled shoot tips and sticky leaves What to do Wash them off with a jet of water; if they persist, use a registered product or a soy-lecithin oil spray on the leaf undersides.
- Spider mites You will see Leaves stippled white with fine webbing on the undersides What to do They build up in dry air, so mist the undersides of the leaves to raise humidity.
- Slugs You will see Ragged holes in young shoots with silvery slime trails What to do Pick them off after dark and ring the pot with coarse sand or diatomaceous earth.
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
What the Donguibogam recorded. Gyerogi appears in the Donguibogam's vegetable section as jeni. The root is the part it lists, and it describes the plant as resembling ginseng, with a root like doraji except that it has no core. This is a record from an old medical text and is not a judgment that holds today.
Research on the Adenophora genus. Antioxidant activity assays on saponins and polysaccharides from Adenophora species have been reported. Most of this work is at the laboratory level, with no established human evidence.
Nutrition
- Triterpenoid saponins (A root constituent) — The sharp aftertaste left on chewing
- Inulin (The storage polysaccharide of the root) — A fibre fermented in the gut
- Mucilage polysaccharides (The stickiness that appears when the root is cut) — Gives the soft texture
Like balloon flower, minus the core The root looks much like doraji but lacks the tough central core, so it chews softer. That is precisely the distinction the Donguibogam drew when it wrote that the root resembles balloon flower except for having no heart. It is also why you do not need to pound and knead it the way you would prepare doraji.
What to rule out when digging That the root resembles doraji and deodeok holds the other way round as well. Pokeweed root (Phytolacca acinosa) is the one that most often gets mixed in, and American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), naturalised across waste ground and roadsides, turns up in the same places. Both are toxic: eating them brings vomiting, diarrhoea and a hard time of it. Tell the pokeweeds apart by their large alternate leaves and by the fruits ranged along the flower stalk, ripening blackish-purple in autumn. When picking spring shoots, check also for marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) and monkshood (Aconitum spp.). Marsh marigold has round heart-shaped leaves, thick and glossy, grows by water and bears yellow flowers; monkshood has leaves cut deep into palmate lobes and a tuberous root. If you are not certain, do not dig it.
Saponins Roots in the Adenophora genus contain triterpenoid saponins. These cause the slightly acrid catch at the back of the throat, and soaking in water draws some of them out. It is the same family of compounds behind the acrid edge in balloon flower and deodeok root.
Inulin and mucilage Cut the root and a sticky sap runs, which is polysaccharide mucilage. Inulin is stored alongside it, a fibre that passes the small intestine unabsorbed and ferments in the colon instead. Eat a large amount when you are not used to it and you may end up bloated.
What is in the spring shoots The young shoots that come up between April and June hold their water-soluble nutrients in the leaf. Blanching leaches them out, so keep it under 30 seconds and rinse straight away. Using the blanching water as a soup base recovers some of what left the leaf.
Pairings
○ Perilla or sesame oil — Dressing blanched shoots in perilla oil helps the fat-soluble compounds across and softens the acrid note. It is the standard approach for a mountain-vegetable side dish.
○ Doenjang and gochujang — Buried in gochujang as a pickle, or dropped into doenjang soup, fermented saltiness covers the acrid edge of the root. The original text's note about drying the root into jerky points at the same idea: making a wild root keep and taste good over time. Chili Pepper (Gochu)
○ Rice and other wild greens — The flavour is mild enough that it never fights with other greens. Stir blanched shoots through rice for extra fibre, or mix them with chwinamul or chamnamul so the aromas fill each other out.
△ Anything foraged on leaves alone — This is a bellflower-family plant, and at the young shoot stage it overlaps in appearance with other species. Misidentification while foraging causes real poisonings. If you are not certain, do not eat it; cultivated plants or verified market produce are the safe route.
△ A large serving at once — Inulin and mucilage ferment in the colon, and some people get bloating and gas from it. Start with a normal side-dish portion and see how you do before increasing.
△ Raw root — The saponins make raw root harsh in the throat. The original text has the shoots boiled and the root dried, so traditional use always involved cooking or drying. Soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes to draw out the acridity, then cook.
Varieties
- Mosidae (Seed) — The standard name. Broad leaves and bell-shaped purple flowers that face downward.
- Doraji-mosidae (Seed) — Narrower leaves and larger flowers. Found on high mountains.
- Jandae (Transplant) — Same genus, and its root is used the same way. The two are often sold together at market.
Source: Donguibogam, Vegetable Section (薺苨) · Korean Plant Names Index · Rural Development Administration (nongsaro.go.kr)