The history of this Korean carrot salad can be traced to Central Asia in the late 1930s. Many Soviet Koreans were deported there from the Russian Far East. Since they were missing the familiar flavours of Korean cuisine, the salad was invented to replace their beloved kimchi.
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The popularity of Korean Carrot Salad has spread far beyond the Koryo-Saram community. It is now widely found in supermarkets, cafeterias, and restaurants throughout most of the former Soviet Union. Packets of spice mix for the salad are also widely available in store and it is often prepared at home as a side dish, from scratch or from a mix, by people of various ethnicities in post-Soviet states. Numerous recipes are available in Russian online. The dish has even made it to the diaspora of Bukharan Jews (from Central Asia) in New York, where it can be found on the menu in many Bukharian restaurants.
Once prepared, often only one ingredient is visible in Korean Carrot Salad: shiny, shredded carrots ‒ sometimes with flecks of black or green depending on what spices have been used. But the many invisible ingredients are apparent in the salad’s surprisingly rich flavor. The strips of carrots are usually long and thin enough to twirl around a fork, like spaghetti, and eat in large, crunchy mouthfuls.
The Koryo-Saram descend from ethnic Koreans who lived and thrived in the Russian Far East until a brutal deportation under Stalin in 1937. Most of the Korean population in the Russian Far East had settled there from 1860-1930, as a result of economic hardship and the Japanese annexation of Korea. In 1937 the NKVD reported that the Japanese were making use of Korean spies in the region. Stalin soon had 171,781 Koreans from the Russian Far East deported to Central Asia. 40,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the deportation. After suffering through difficult early years, the deportees developed rice farms and economic stability in the Kazakh and Uzbek SSRs. They also adapted their cuisine to local conditions.
Korean Carrot Salad is based on Korean banchan: small dishes traditionally served alongside rice. It perhaps most closely resembles kimchi, a dish of fermented, spiced vegetables. The vegetables often used by the Koreans, including cabbage and seaweed, were difficult, if not impossible, to come by in Soviet Central Asia. Carrots were plentiful, however, and supplemented and eventually replaced other vegetables in the cold salad that became Korean Carrot Salad. Tossed with vinegar, oil, garlic, and spices, the salad also seems to reflect somewhat the Russian palate. The dish was, until recently, virtually unknown in South Korea.
I couldn’t find where carrot-raisin salad originated, but I did learn that ancient Egyptians and Romans ate raisins, and this kind of dried fruit is also mentioned in the Bible. The American market began in California in 1873 when a freak hot spell withered grapes on the vine, and an enterprising San Francisco grocer called them “Peruvian Delicacies,” according to foodimentary.com. The Sun-Maid company opened in 1915, the same year its representatives discovered Lorraine Collette Peterson drying her hair in her parents’ back yard in Fresno, California. Young Lorraine agreed to wear a red sunbonnet and pose for the “Sun-Maid Girl” painting reproduced on the company’s boxes of raisins ever since.
When I discovered that May 1-7 is National Raisin Week, I immediately remembered my mother’s carrot-raisin salad from the 1960s. When I asked her for the recipe, she said she never used one. She simply shredded carrots, then mixed them with raisins and mayonnaise. For color coordination, she served the salad from an orange and white bowl similar to the one pictured here.
Instead of relying on my mother’s memory for making her carrot-raisin salad, I went to the Good Housekeeping Book of Salads (1958) for specific directions. My mom never added oranges or garnished her salad with slivered almonds and cilantro, but I wanted to add a bit of color contrast. The hint of sugar in the mayonnaise dressing reminded me of when we thought sugar gave us energy instead of empty calories – and my sister and I jumped up from the table to bounce our Wham-O Super Balls in the street after dinner.
1/2 cup raisins Boiling water, as needed 1 large orange or 2 clementines 1 1/2 cups grated raw carrots (about 5 medium carrots) 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used 2 tablespoons) 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt Lettuce leaves, for serving Slivered almonds, for garnish (optional) Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional)
Why Southern Carrot Salad with Raisins is the Perfect Side Dish
FAQ
Where does carrot salad originate from?
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