Dureup (fatsia / aralia shoots)

Dureup is the young shoot of the Japanese angelica tree (Aralia elata), a deciduous shrub of the ginseng family (Araliaceae) that grows on sunny mountain slopes throughout Korea. The trunk and leaf stalks are armed with thorns, the large compound leaves can reach a meter in length, and small white flowers in August give way to black berries in autumn. The bark carries a faint aroma that Korean writers have compared to dokhwal, the related herb Aralia cordata, which is itself sometimes called ttang-dureup ("ground dureup"). The Sino-Korean name is chongmok.

Joseon writers recorded mountain people breaking off the buds at the top of the stems to eat as namul, and the early-twentieth-century Haedong jukji praised the dureup of Yongmunsan in particular. The shoots are picked from late April to early May, while they are still tight, before they unfurl into thorny leaves. An old trick for enjoying them out of season was to stand cut branches in a jar of earth in a heated room in late autumn and water them until fresh buds sprouted.

The classic preparation is dureup-chohoe: the shoots blanched briefly and dipped in vinegared gochujang, a dish especially loved in Buddhist temple kitchens. Dureup is also seasoned with salt, sesame oil and sesame as namul, threaded onto skewers, dusted with flour and egg and pan-fried as jeok, or roasted in hot ashes instead of blanching.

• Spring green: Per the Korean Food Composition Table, dureup buds are relatively high in protein for a vegetable and provide vitamin K, vitamin A (as beta-carotene), folate and potassium.
• Blanch before eating: Korea's food-safety ministry lists dureup among spring greens that contain small amounts of naturally occurring toxic compounds and should be blanched in boiling water before eating rather than eaten raw.
• Traditional beliefs: Dried bark of the tree has been used in folk medicine; such uses are traditional and not established health effects of eating the shoots.
• Vitamin K and warfarin: Dureup is high in vitamin K; people taking warfarin should keep their intake consistent and consult their doctor before changing their diet.