"Meju", Korean soybean brick, is made around "ipdong" in early November. Soybeans are soaked overnight, boiled in salt water, and then pounded in a mortar ("jeolgu") or coarsely ground in a millstone. About a "doe" (≈1.8 litres) or two "doe"s of pounded soybean is chunked, compressed, and shaped into a cube or a sphere called "meju". The "meju" bricks are then dried in a cool, shaded area for a week to several weeks until firm. When the bricks harden, they are tied with rice straws to the eaves of the house, or put in the warm ondol room with rice straws, for fermentation. In Jeongwol, the first month of the lunar year, well-fermented "meju" bricks are washed and sun-dried.