East Asian clade peppers: Korean gochu and Sichuan erjintiao
Due to the huge gap in geographical distance, at first, I was a little thrown off that these peppers were clustered into one East Asian clade:
◦ (Northeast) Korea: Cheongsong gochu and Milyang gochu
◦ (Southwest, inland) China: erjingtiao 二荆条 — a local variety of chile (also given as erjintiao 二金条, “two golden strips”)
Traditionally, just Sichuan and Hunan regions incorporated chili pepper into cuisines, while coastal Chinese avoided anything spicy with great trepidation. If Portuguese are ascribed as the agents for spreading chili pepper by sailing around Asia, then it is peculiar the coastal Chinese never acquired the taste first having potentially had the most direct contact with the “southern barbarians.”
Since gochu and erinjtiao DNA are traced to having a common ancestor in the distant past, is there a geographical origin for this direct ancestor? Is it possible that gochu came somehow from the south hence its close genetic relationship with erjintiao? Vice versa, did erjintiao come from the north? Yet another alternative, the ancestor was widespread across Northeast Asia to near Southeast Asia first and then were cultivated selectively for differing cultural tastes?
Figure 5. Principle component analysis & phylogram derived from SPP markers.
Going up the branch to the node, the immediate ancestor or both northeast gochu and southern erijintiao lineages were once descended from a unique parent ancient pepper in East Asia. The possibilities must be examined.
In certain areas of Korea, there are many regional varieties of gochu, localized landraces long cultivated in the same hometown. If we lump them all as Korean gochu instead of Milyang and Cheongsong (the two of many picked for the study), it is apparent erjintiao and gochu DNA shared one parent ancestor according to the 2013 Capsicum annuum DNA study. The gochu lineage split into later subspecies Milyang, Cheongsong, etc. landraces. But there was an early gochu lineage that branched alongside the erjintiao branch.
But it could be the other way around. Gochu did not come out of the ancestor of erjintiao from the south. Rather erjintiao side branched from the ancestor from the north of gochu when brought to Sichuan region, perhaps.
Alternatively, before splitting into erjintiao and gochu, ancestral gochu/erjintiao was perhaps spread in pockets by migrating birds across East Asia before undergoing further cultivation reflecting the taste preferences and usage by the human cultivators. Cultural preferences shape artificial selection for how the peppers are cultivated. Spread across north and south, the ancestral gochu was eventually cultivated differently for different culinary use by different cultures.
The ancestral East Asian pepper (represented by the node) that was the line from which gochu and erjintiao descended could have come from the north if birds succeeded to spread peppers all the way from Central America.
Wild bird peppers grow upright and bear small fruits to encourage birds to feed on the seeds. Human cultivation acts to select for longer, fleshier pepper shapes that wind up hanging pendulously downwards, a sure sign of intense selective human cultivation.
Craniometrics Reveal “Two Layers” of
Prehistoric Human Dispersal in Eastern Eurasia
Nature
Published: 05 February 2019
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-35426-z
— Fig. 3 Two layer model of anatomically modern human (AMH) population movements across eastern Eurasia.
In the Two Layer Model of early human migration into Asia as a whole, Northeast Asia is the region where farming practices started and eventually spread cultivated grains and vegetables and domesticated animals southward to the Shandong region at 9000 years ago, then finally into ancient China at 4000 years ago.
About 5000 years ago was when the first nation of the Korean people Gojoseon started in 2333 B.C. which spanned from the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, to Shandong.
— Map of Gojoseon
• Millet agriculture dispersed from Northeast China to the Russian Far East: Integrating archaeology, genetics, and linguistic
Could a small group of farmers from Northeast Asia brought the ancestral cultivated pepper south, which eventually descended into localized erjintiao in ancient China leaving gochu varieties in ancient Korea? The fact that millet farming started by pre-Korean “Siberian” farmers in the Liao River valley basin and spread east to the Korean Peninsula and west to the Shandong Peninsula around the Balhae/Bohai Bay at 9000 years ago led to cultivation of other grains including rice that spread eventually southward starting 4000 years ago eventually into Southeast Asia makes the spread of the direct ancestral pepper of gochu and erjintiao possible.
Discontinuous spread of millet agriculture in eastern Asia and prehistoric population dynamics
C. Leipe, T. Long, E. A. Sergusheva, M. Wagner, and P. E. Tarasov
Science Advances
Sep 25, 2019
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content … x6225.full
— Fig. 1 Spatiotemporal distribution of directly dated millet remains from central and eastern Asia.
Another means of spread of seeds is a chance pepper seed dispersing birds migrating from the Korean Peninsula to the south.
But maybe ancestral gochu did not arrive until much later, when Sichuan province existed. The East Asian clade started with just early gochu lineage. Sichuan cultivated their own way. Koreans further cultivated it their own way to make less spicy yet sweeter localized landrace varieties.
Another possibility, there are written documents in Japan stating the Japanese stole gochu from Korea during the Imjinwaeran invasion they called Goryeo “koshaw” (gochu). The Portuguese could have brought a few gochu seeds from that wound up in Sichuan, although the Japanese and Portuguese did not seem to cultivate gochu despite Japanese seizing “koshaw.”
To fund the war, Portuguese slave traders had no qualms trafficking tens of thousands of Korean slaves worldwide sourced by equally greedy Japanese who kidnapped Korean prisoners during the 16th century Japanese full scale military Imjinwaeran invasion of Joseon Korea. A Korean farmer could have by chance wound up or escaped from Macau inland to Sichuan with a gochu pepper pod. The untraced history of what happened to all these Korean slaves the Portuguese trafficked was never written, since history is not written in detail for slaves.
I am speculating possibilities. An investigation shifting from Japan to peppers in China now seems to be in order to clarify the origin of Korean gochu.
Chile Pepper Institute
1998
https://cpi.nmsu.edu/wp-content/uploads … 8-fall.pdf
There are two theories as to how chiles were brought into [China].
One theory is that chile peppers were traded along the Silk Road to Northwest China, and from there spread through the entire country.
The second theory is that perhaps peppers were introduced to Southwest China from Southeast Asia. Yunnan Province, located in the southwest part of China and bordering Southeast Asia, is the center of plant genetic resources in China.
Not only have domesticated Capsicum annum been found there, but semi-cultivated and wild forms of chiles such as ‘Xiao Mi La’, a wild type of Capsicum frutescens, ‘Shuan La Jiao’ and ‘Da Shu La Jiao’ (Capsicum frutescens) also have been found there recently. These are woody, pungent chiles.
Oddly, this discussion does not mention Columbus theory or Portuguese traders, making it sound as if Yunnan was the bio-diversity source. This discussion states that at least Capsicum peppers can can be found to grow wild in Southern China. “Woody, pungent chilies” suggests the plants lingified, the stems hardened to become woody perennial pepper trees.
From the 2017 Gochu DNA study, there was mention of Chinese writing the character for red pepper with a tree radical.
Among those who subscribe to the Japanese invasions theory, some claim that Korean chili (苦椒) must be the same species as black pepper and mountain peppers (山椒) that grow on trees because the Chinese name for red peppers (椒) contains the meaning of tree (木) rather than the plants (艹). However, this view betrays a lack of understanding of the biological characteristics of red peppers. They say this incorrectly because they are not aware that in tropical regions, chilies become perennial trees through a process of lignification.
What does an example of gochu look like in comparison to erjintiao?
This is what Korean cheongsong gochu looks like.
http://csenhshop.com/shop/images/chili_detail01.jpg
So then what is this erjintiao or also spelled erjingtiao (different characters but similar sounding) pepper from Sichuan?
◦ erjingtiao 二荆条 — a local variety of chile (also given as erjintiao 二金条, “two golden strips”)
In Sichuan, there are a number of peppers and Sichuan peppercorns used.
Sichuan peppercorn is not related to Capsicum peppers. Often called just ‘Sichuan pepper’, it is a black peppercorn berry type spice like Korean mountain sancho.
The stubby ‘bullet head’ pepper is difficult to find information. It looks bulbous, like a habanero type pepper belonging to Capsicum chinense variety (“Chinense” type peppers were thought to originate from China hence “chinense.”) But could be classified annuum. It looks somewhat similar to CM334 pepper from Mexico.
The shorter ‘facing heaven’ pepper is a bird type pepper Capsicum frutescens which is a different species than Capsicum annuum to which erjintiao and Korean gochu belong. But sometimes it gets classified as annuum, depending on the website.
Erjintiao stands out as an unusually long pepper compared to the other Sichuan peppers. The wild bird peppers are tiny and upright. Longer, fleshier and/or pendulous downward peppers are considered a sign of cultivation, meeting human preferences over that of birds.
Er jing tiao
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Er_jing_tiao
Er jing tiao (Chinese: 二荆条 is a type of chili that is most common in Sichuancuisine of China.
The chili is typically shaped like the letter J and is between 5 and 6 inches long.
This chili is known for its deep color and robust fragrance, and is often used in chili oil for that reason.
It is also a major ingredient for many famous chili sauce products, such as the thick broad-bean sauce doubanjiang. It has a spicy and salty flavor which is used in combination with noodles or rice. It has a long history in Chinese cuisine and has gained popularity over the time. It’s easy to find it in traditional authentic Sichuan cuisine, whether in restaurant or kitchen at home.
Er jing tiao’s taste is different from common types of chili; its taste and smells are slightly spicier.
It is a very special type of chili, its colors change from green to red as time passes.
They are also eaten as a fresh vegetable, seasoned with salt and soy sauce. Harvesting time is usually from early May to October.
Erjingtiao Chili
http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/cp_chinaz.html
[Er Jing Tiao; Two Vitex; C.annuum]
This is a unique chili, with a strong aroma and taste, but with very moderate heat, at about H3. It is used in many ways, dried and ground to flakes or powder, as an ingredient or as a dry dip.
This chili is so mild it is often eaten as a vegetable, green or red, as Anaheim chilis are here, seasoned with salt and soy sauce, or in recipes.
In Sichuan, it also an essential ingredient in Chili Oil and various sauces. It is particularly essential in the famous Broad Bean Chili Sauce (La-Doubanjiang) of the region. These are up 7 inches long and 1 inch wide (178 x 25 mm).
The Sichuan erjintiao/erjingtiao physically looks similar to Korean gochu.
The erjintiao is said to be spicy or it is very mild, but usually the mildness is pointed out for its flavor over sheer heat.
“This chili is so mild it is often eaten as a vegetable, green or red…”
Erjintiao has low heat level characteristics that show culinary similarities to gochu as a vegetable.
“It is a very special type of chili, its colors change from green to red as time passes.”
Chinese in Sichuan seem to exclusively use erjintiao pepper for making sauces, mainly Sichuan chili oil.
The Chinese seem to skip the extra laborious step of removing the seeds altogether and grind up the seeds with the dried skin. The pepper must be more milder yet flavorful to be preferred for sauces.
In contrast, in the days before machine processing, Koreans made gochugaru through time consuming process by taking out the seeds. What did Korean women do with the separated seeds, then? Since it took time to grow and time to extract out all those seeds, they were used to make 막장 makjang sauce!
Here is a step by step recipe.
https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?b … gle.com%2F
재료분량
막장용 메주가루 500g 엿기름 300g 물 8컵 고추씨 ½컵 고춧가루 ½컵 조청 1컵 소금 ½컵
Gochu seeds are mixed with mejugaru, gochugaru, and either wheat, rice, or barley garu powder where the starch makes for more rapid fermentation. Extra more work for just pepper seeds, but nothing wasted and nutritiously delicious, too!
Which looks more appealing for eating pepper seeds, Sichuan chili oil or Korean makjang, is up to cultural preference.
막장 Makjang
https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/kr/topic/detail/7554
So far, it seems Korean gochu and Sichuan erjintiao peppers are similar in appearance and reported spiciness is on the milder side for culinary use which differ culturally. Coming from a common ancestor to form the East Asian clade still needs investigation. Genetic studies alone cannot always trace the history of cultivated plant species geographically when plant ancestry is not clear cut. So any historical records must be gleaned for clues.
