Dallae Muchim (Seasoned Wild Chive)

Dallae (Allium monanthum) is a small wild allium with thin, hollow leaves and a round white bulb, often called Korean wild chive or wild garlic in English. It grows on hillsides and field margins across the country, appears with naengi in the first weeks of spring, and dies back by summer. Older texts record it under Chinese names such as yasan and sosan ("little garlic"), names that were sometimes confused with other wild alliums. The National Folk Museum's encyclopedia notes that the word dallae is thought to describe the little bulbs dangling from the roots.

Dallae has long been part of the spring table. The farming song Nongga wollyeongga names "dallae kimchi" among the second-month foods that wake the appetite, and twentieth-century cookbooks such as Joseon yori jebeop and Joseon mussang sinsik yori jebeop describe a dallae soy sauce — the chives steeped in seasoned soy sauce — under the name dallae-jangajji. Because it is pungent, dallae was counted among the five pungent vegetables (osinchae) that Buddhist practice avoids, alongside green onion, garlic and chives.

Unlike most spring greens, dallae is usually eaten raw. Today it is grown under cover and sold year-round, but the wild plants of early spring are still prized for their stronger bite. The main growing areas include Seosan, Dangjin and Taean in South Chungcheong.

• Vitamin C, eaten raw: dallae is relatively high in vitamin C for a green, and because this dish is not cooked, more of it reaches the plate than in blanched namul.
• Allium compounds: like garlic and green onion, dallae's sharpness comes from sulfur compounds formed when the plant is cut or crushed — the same family of compounds studied in other alliums. Research on their effects is ongoing.
• Small portion, big flavor: a modest amount seasons a whole meal, so the dish adds aroma and freshness for few calories.

• Soy-and-vinegar dressing: the everyday version — raw dallae dressed with soy sauce, gochugaru, a little vinegar and sugar, and sesame. Many cooks leave out garlic and green onion so they do not mask dallae's own sharpness.
• Dallae-ganjang: chopped dallae stirred into soy sauce with sesame and chili, spooned over rice, tofu or jeon. Older cookbooks called a version of this dallae-jangajji.
• In soup and stew: a handful added at the last moment to doenjang-jjigae or doenjang-guk gives a fresh spring aroma.
• Eun-dallae: a cultivated type grown for an extra year, paler and more aromatic, sold as a premium product.