My Korean Market Haul

Last weekend, I explored one of my favorite traditional markets here in Seoul.

Gyeondong Market is one of the largest herbal medicine and ginseng market here in South Korea. It has over 1,000 shops and clinics within it and the market supplies 70% of herbal medicinals across the country. [1]

I wish you could smell this place. The smell of ginseng creeps in as you get off the subway (Jegi-dong is the market stop) and I really love the earthy and distinct smell of the herbs. It will forever remind me of this chunk of my life in Korea and I’m excited to share with you a bit about how I’ve been using them!

You can see the ginseng steaming in the streets and inside the little shops… and yup, there are multiple tea shops or cafes to choose from if you need to escape the noise and rejuvenate over a hot cup of the fresh stuff. Famous, Korean red ginseng anyone?

I’ve been doing an elimination-style diet this month and wanted to take advantage of all the sweet deals you can find on produce and also traditional Korean herbs to help me fight the cold that crept up on me.

In this video, I unpack my grocery bag and tell you a bit about what I got this week and what I’ll use it for.

I have truly loved cooking and using traditional herbal wisdom with treasured Korean herbs.
I share a bit about how I use some of these herbs in my day to day life here in Seoul in this video.

I hope you enjoy!