On the day of First Full Moon Day (lunar January 15), people used to enjoy rice wrapped in edible herbs such as laver, dried vegetable leaves, aster, etc. It was called pokssam. Tongguksesigi wrote that pokssam was the rice wrapped in vegetable leaves or laver, and eating the soup cooked of dried cucumber stalks, eggplant skin, radish leaves, cabbage leaves, etc. on the day helped bear the heat.
In the past, our country had a custom of drying wild edible herbs like aster, bracken and roots of broad bellflowers and vegetables such as eggplant, pumpkin, radish, cabbage, etc. in autumn for frying them or cooking soup of them and wrapping rice in them in winter. In some areas including Kaesong, perilla leaves were used for pokssam. Our people’s custom of drying and storing various kinds of edible herbs to make special dishes shows not only their meticulous and frugal way of life but also the development of their diverse dietary life.