Dotorimuk (also spelled tot'orimuk) or acorn jelly is a Korean food which is a jelly made from acorn starch. Although "muk" means "jelly", when used without qualifiers, it usually refers to dotorimuk. The practice of making dotorimuk originated in mountainous areas of ancient Korea, when such regions were abundant with oak trees such that the amount of acorns produced each autumn were plentiful enough to become a source of food. Like other Korean jellies, dotorimuk is most commonly eaten in the form of dotorimuk muchim, a side dish in which small chunks of dotorimuk are seasoned and mixed with other ingredients. Hangul also refers to a word processing application widely used in Korea. ... It has been suggested that Sino-Korean be merged into this article or section. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean (Korean: 국어의 로마자 표기법; 國語의 로마字 表記法) is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... Acorns of Sessile Oak The acorn is the fruit of oaks (genera Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis, in the family Fagaceae). ... Starch is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water, it is used by plants as a way to store excess glucose. ... Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus. ...

Dotorimuk was widely eaten in Korea during the Korean War, when millions of people were displaced and starving. It consequently became associated with poverty, and most people who could afford them ate memilmuk or other jellies instead. However, in recent years it has been rediscovered as a health food. Combatants Western Allied/UN combatants: South Korea, United States, United Kingdom Communist combatants: North Korea, Peoples Republic of China, Soviet Union Commanders Douglas MacArthur Kim Il-sung, (Peng Dehuai de facto) Strength Note: All figures may vary according to source. ... Healthful eating is the act of following a balanced nutritional diet. ...

Production

Despite being a rich source of starch and proteins, acorns contain large amounts of tannins and other polyphenols, which prevents the human body from proper digestion. As such, the harvested acorns must be properly leached of the tannins prior to consumption. Acorns are either collected directly from the ground or knocked off the branches of trees. The harvested acorns are then opened and their nuts inside ground into a fine orange-brown paste. The paste is then stirred into vats of water such that the fibre in the acorn can be separated from the starch through sieving and settling. Starch is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water, it is used by plants as a way to store excess glucose. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... Tannins are astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind and precipitate proteins. ... Polyphenols are a group of plant chemical substances, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol group per molecule. ... For the meaning of fiber in nutrition, see dietary fiber. ...

The starch suspending liquid is collected from the fibre and allowed to sit so that the tannins in the starch will diffuse out of the acorn paste. The soaking time depends on the amount of tannins in the paste, but the process usually requires several changes of water to properly purge it of all noxious substances. This article is about the physical mechanism of diffusion. ...

The now tannin free acorn starch paste should have an off-white colour. This paste is allowed to completely settle to the bottom of the vat. The water is drained away, and the paste is then collected in trays to dry. The dried starch cake is then pulverized and packaged for sale. Dotorimuk is also commercially available in powdered form, which must be mixed with water.

Similar foods

• Nokdumuk - made from mung beans
• Hwangpomuk - a yellow-colored jelly made from mung beans
• Memilmuk - made from buckwheat

Nokdumuk (also spelled noktumuk; lit. ... Binomial name Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek Synonyms Phaeolus aureus Roxb. ... Hwangpomuk is a Korean food which is a yellow jelly made from mung beans. ... Binomial name Fagopyrum esculentum Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. ...

See also

• Korean cuisine