How To Use an Urban River #3 — Mugwort Flows Through Generations

8:00am — The morning dew slowly evaporates. As the sun warms up the air, it also seems to activate the sweet scent of herbs along the river.

Continuing to pedal, I notice a group of old ladies sitting under the shade of a few overgrown shrubs. Perched up above the riverside, you can hear their shouts and laughs from quite a distance. They also appear to be doing some activity with their hands, though I can not make out exactly what it is.

From down here on the bike path, there is just one clue to their activity — a steady stream of spring water, spilling out into a lower basin. I peer into this old stone-lined basin and a goldfish looks back at me.

It is not until a week later, that I find out what this place is. On this day, I meet an odd couple here — an old woman dressed in a flower pattern coat, and a younger lady in a hip-looking miniskirt and sweater.

The two work side by side at the upper spring-fed laundry basin.

People don’t actually wash their laundry at the spring these days. But they do often wash mugwort (쑥) or other wild plants picked from the riverside.

Mugwort is a culinary highlight in Korea. It can be picked wild from almost any corner of the city, park, riverside, or mountain throughout spring, summer, and fall. But it is most sought after in early spring. This is when the leaves are extremely tender, and slightly sweeter.

This wild herb sounds like something a witch would have on hand. Indeed, it probably is. But Mugwort has also been used for thousands of years on every continent for incense, spiritual ceremonies, beer, and as a general medicinal herb. Fans of the herb include native peoples, pagans, St. John the Baptist, little old ladies on the Korean riverside — and in this case, a curious granddaughter.

This granddaughter knows well that Mugwort is widely used in Korean cooking. You will find it here in soups, salads, crispy pancakes, and even in lattes.

However, the typical use of mugwort in this part of the world would have to be in Korean ricecake (떡). This, at least, is what the grandmother at the laundry spring tells me.

Apparently, those old ladies I saw laughing and chatting last week had just finished a morning of gathering mugwort leaves, and were washing their prize in the old laundry spring. Some would take those leaves to sell at the local market a few minutes up the river. Others would use them in ricecake, or some other spring specialty.

The granddaughter however, is doing something else. She recently opened a cafe and is experimenting with new ways to use traditional foraged foods. Her featured menu items this spring are Mugwort cake and mugwort lattes.

So here, as water trickles down from this spring, filtering through stones and reeds into the river, so too does a tradition trickle down, slightly altered, re-imagined, filtered through the creative minds of the next generation.

Just another one of the little miracles that an urban river can bring to life.

The illustrations in this series were originally commissioned by the Daejeon Sejong Research Institute.

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Questions: What is your favorite way to eat (or drink) mugwort? Any recipes out there for us to try?

Next Week: We pedal on. The sun gets stronger. We end up in one of my classic favorite riverside poses.

Another Story: Can cities embrace weeds? A few years ago, when we exhibited a series of ‘protocols’ at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, we highlighted the power of mugwort, among other weeds. This story suggests that cities are in dire need of the service of weeds:

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