Happy Bear Eats: Carrots in Jeongeup: A Taste of Korean Terroir

Terroir... the unique characteristics that the environment gives to the food it produces. This term is most commonly used when discussing wines and how the region that the grapes are grown in affects the final flavor of the wine. But in this case, I'm talking about carrots.

After 3/5 of Team Happy Bear and our TV crew left the bibimbap restaurant in Jeonju, we headed off for an organic farm in Jeongeup. Immediately upon arrival at White Crane Farm, we changed into our working gear. Our first stop was the cabbage patch but we were given the chance to say hello to the farm's docile deers which are raised for the medicinal use of their antlers which regrow anually. Up past this deer pen, overlooking the land, we stood next to several humble cabbage rows and got to know the man who would be our host farmer for the next few hours. We discussed his motives for starting organic farming and the work and rewards that it entails. This farmer and his wife are particularly dedicated to the health and wellbeing of their family which was illustrated not only through their farming philosophies, but also through quality food coming out of their restaurant in town. But before we could make our way to town for that incredible dinner, we had to garner some ingredients to make our own kimchi first. And so we wandered to another beautiful spot on the farm, a field of soil ready to be planted with garlic bulbs and two more modest rows of carrots.

Organic carrots are something I get particularly excited about. All root vegetables live in soil and, thus, they become sponges for the toxins within it. But because organic soil must be richer and healthier in order to help the produce protect itself against disease and infestations, the flavor often reflects the complexity of the soil. Thus carrots that come out of organic soil are a real treat. Unlike conventional supermarket carrots whose bright orange color betrays its vapid flavor, organic carrots have a flavor as bright and joyful as their appearance. Organic carrots, especially organic carrots just-pulled from the ground are ultra crunchy, juicy, and will have a unique combination of fresh, distinctly sweet and pleasantly bitter tastes. The carrots of this White Crane Farm, tasted of the land it was grown from. Much of the soil I observe in Korea is fairly rocky and red and void of massive amounts of organic humus. A friend once told me rocks were multiminerals for the soil. These carrots were subtly sweet and carried the slight mineral qualities of Korea's rocky soil.

I savored that communal experience-- our finally-intact team, our Hansik production crew, and our farmer host all crunching our dirty carrots in the field together. Only half-way through our first day I couldn't yet have known that it would be simple moments like those that would form some of my favorite memories from my food tour experience.