Kudzu is native to Korea. The scourge of the South, as we call it in America (not to be confused with General Sherman). Here they infuse an alcoholic drink with the roots. And it’s not bad.

It was introduced to the US from Japan and used in the South, supposedly, to fight soil erosion. The theory was that the fast growing vine would spread lots of roots into the soil, thus keeping it from washing away in the frequent heavy storms. Of course the problem is that it lays down only one root, meaning soil erosion still happens. But the vine grows over everything in sight, including cars, homes, telephone poles and trees. So that’s kind of a problem.

But I digress. Here is the recipe.

• Harvest in late spring. April or may.
• Chop the root.
• Fill the container about 1/3 of the way with the chopped root and soju for the rest.
• Age for 100 days before filtering.

Supposedly if you take the kudzu that comes from that process and repeat, but age it for 5 years it is more delicious.