From the old times, our people ate the refreshing mung bean jelly in late spring. The mung bean jelly has been regarded to be the best of jellies. The people of Hwanghae province used to eat the mung bean jelly every summer and the liquid made by grinding water soaked greenpeas was used as the substitute for the thin gruel of rice for the weakly person and the dyspeptic.
The people of Gangwon province made the several kinds of jellies with the several grains and the mung-bean jelly was used for the holiday or to serve the guests.
Our people ate this jelly with the spiced soy sauce but preferred the mixture of the mung-bean jelly and the several kinds of processed subsidiary ingredients. In particular, it was widely used in spring.
The mung-bean jelly dish was called by the several names such as “Tamgpyong che” and “green gram paste” and so on.
The mung bean jelly was called “Tangpyongche” due to the following reason. In the period of Ri dynasty, the feudal government implemented the policy so called “Tangpyongchek” to maintain the authority of state power. It means that the government doesn’t lean to the only one faction and that it treats each faction fairly. For example, in 1727 king Yong Jo instructed to select and appoint each member from two factions in order to remove the disputes between the factions.
Once upon a time, when the feudal rulers engaged in a fractional strife, some noblemen gathered to discuss the “Tangpyongchek” and there was the mung-bean jelly at the dinner table for them and it was highly apprised by them. Later, it was called “Tangpyongche”
The mung-bean jelly dish was made of the green mung-bean jelly and so it was called “green gram paste”.