[TRAVEL] How cabbages in Gangwon's mountainous areas beat summer heat

매봉산 — Cabbage fields in Maebongsan in the Taebaek Mountains. AJP Cho Bo-hee

TAEBACK, GANGNEUNG, August 14 (AJP) - Kimchi, the traditional fermented vegetable dish, is a staple in everyday meals in South Korea. Whether served with a steaming bowl of rice or paired with noodle soups, few consider a meal complete without it.

Many people customarily prepare large quantities of kimchi to last through the cold winter months when fresh vegetables become relatively scarce. The traditional practice of making the spicy dish, known as "kimjang," is recognized on UNESCO's intangible heritage list, although fewer and fewer households bother to make their own these days.

With improvements in greenhouse cultivation and crop varieties, many types of cabbages are now available all year round, catering to a growing demand for dining out, delivery services, and ready-to-eat meals. But the culture of collective kimchi-making usually begins in early winter, when chilly winds start to blow. The most common variety is cabbage kimchi, made from cabbages planted in late summer and harvested around mid to late autumn.

High temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius make cultivating cabbages difficult, as they grow best at around 20 degrees. For this reason, during the sweltering, muggy summer, cabbages are grown only in certain high-altitude areas with cooler temperatures, particularly in the geographically unique terrain of the mountainous areas of Gangwon Province such as Maebongsan in the Taebaek Mountains, Yukbaekmajigi in Pyeongchang, and Anbandegi in Gangneung.

The areas' mild, autumn-like weather even in summer provides ideal conditions for cabbages, making them a local specialty known for their crisp texture and sweet taste. Cabbages there were once cultivated at elevations of around 700 meters above sea level, but rising temperatures from global warming now force farmers to grow them at altitudes above 1,000 meters.

Known locally as the "Hill of Wind," Maebongsan in the Taebaek Mountains is home to one of the country's largest clusters of cabbage farms, thanks to its pleasant mid-summer temperatures of around 24 degrees, more than six degrees cooler than lower lands, and cool breezes sweeping across the hills. That is why most of the farmlands there, barren in winter, turns into picturesque green fields during the cabbage-growing season.

But farmers there, often with the help of migrant foreign workers these days, cultivate different varieties of cabbage in rotation each year to prevent pests and to avoid soil exhaustion.

Cabbage cultivation there began in the mid-to-late 1960s, when farmers and other locals started planting cabbages on unused or abandoned plots and paddies to make a living and gradually settled there. At the time, their quality was often considered low in terms of density and firmness, but they soon became sought-after among consumers in southern areas such as Busan and Daegu, where fresh vegetables were in short supply during the hot summer season.

Their demand soared and became widespread nationwide in the 1970s and '80s, as increasing numbers of people left rural areas for major cities like Seoul amid the country's rapid industrialization and urbanization.

안반데기 — Cabbage fields in Anbandegi in Gangneung. AJP Cho Bo-hee

Another such cluster can be seen in Anbandegi in Gangneung, where splendid cabbage fields stretch across the slopes and ridges of Mt. Gorupogi (1,238 meters) and Oknyeobong Peak (1,146 meters), offering a breathtaking panoramic view dotted with scattered wind turbines.

Situated at about 1,100 meters above sea level, cabbage farms there span larger areas than those in Maebongsan, which look more vast at a glance though.

Anbandegi is also famous as a stargazing site, attracting photographers and enthusiasts from across the country who want to capture starlit nocturnal scenes.

Free from city lights and blessed with clean air, it offers stunning night skies filled with countless stars, giving visitors the chance to observe the Milky Way on one clear, cloudless evening, if they are lucky enough.

The area's unique beautiful scenery attracts many tourists and other visitors every year, but the influx sometimes causes some inconveniences for locals, particularly during the peak harvest season in autumn.

Visitors should be mindful of this and take care not to damage carefully cultivated cabbages while taking photos or otherwise.

Cabbage fields in Maebongsan in the Taebaek Mountains AJP Cho Bo-hee — Cabbage fields in Maebongsan in the Taebaek Mountains. AJP Cho Bo-hee

Cho Bo-hee jobo@ajupress.com