''Dalgona'' () or ''ppopgi'' () is a Korean candy made with melted sugar and baking soda originating from South Korea. It is a popular street snack from the 1960s, and is still eaten as a retro food. When a pinch of baking soda is mixed into melted sugar, the thermal decomposition of the baking soda releases

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

, which makes the liquidized sugar puff up and becomes a light and crunchy candy once cooled and hardened. Typically, the creamy beige liquid is poured on a flat surface, pressed flat, and stamped using a cookie cutter imprinting an image on the candy such as a star or a heart. Consumers try to trim their way around the outline on the snack without breaking the picture as a challenge. Traditionally, if this trimming is completed without breaking the candy, the consumer receives another free ''dalgona'' from the seller. Modern cafes in Korea serve novel ''dalgona'' coffee beverages where ''dalgona''-flavoured coffee cream is heaped on top of iced tea or coffee, as well as pastries such as scones. Some cafes also used ''dalgona'' to make desserts such as bingsu and souffle. ''Dalgona'' appeared in an episode of the Netflix series ''

Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian Survival film, survival Thriller (genre)#Television, thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revol ...

'', with a deadly version of the dalgona challenge being the second game played in the series. The success and international popularity of the show led to a revival of the candy's popularity in South Korea along with the rising prevalence around the world. Sales have doubled for ''dalgona''

street vendors A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether stationa ...

as foreigners become more interested in the candy. People have also taken to social media such as

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and

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to make their own candy at home as a challenge and as a cooking recipe.

Name

''Dalgona'' was originally a term specific for expensive candies that use

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

which did not use a pattern, while ''ppopgi'' was originally candies that use sugar and thus could be easily molded into shapes such as stars and circles. Due to problems with dalgona regarding its susceptibility to getting moldy, the word dalgona began to refer to the same food as ppopgi. In the

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

, including

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, it was mainly called dalgona and ppopgi, but the names vary from region to region. * ''ttigi'' (): Representatively, it was used in

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

, and other regions were used in most of

Chungcheong Province Chungcheong Province (; ) was one of the Eight Provinces (Korea), eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. Chungcheong was located in the southwest of Korea. The provincial capital was located at Gongju, which had been the capital o ...

except

Cheongju Cheongju (; ) is the capital and largest list of cities in South Korea, city of North Chungcheong Province in South Korea. The 'Cheong' in the name of Chungcheong Province is the Cheong of Cheongju. History Cheongju has been an important prov ...

and most of

Jeolla Province Jeolla Province (, ) was one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Kingdom of Joseon in southwestern Korea. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla, South Jeolla and Gwangju Metropolitan City as well as J ...

except

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

. ''Ttigi'' reflects the characteristics of Chungcheong and Jeolla dialects in which the vowel ''e'' (ㅔ) is converted into ''i'' (ㅣ), and when changed to a standard language, it becomes ''ttegi'' (). * ''gukja'' (): It was mainly used in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

and

North Gyeongsang Province North Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a province in eastern South Korea, and with an area of , it is the largest province in the Korean peninsula. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remaine ...

, and it is said to have been called a ''gukja'' (ladle) because it was made and eaten in a ladle. In addition, it was also called ''pajjakkung'' (), but it is not as strong as a ''gukja''. * ''jjokja'' (): It was mainly used in the

South Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple tha ...

, and it is presumed to have originated from the dialect of the ladle, but it is not accurate. * ''orittegi'' / ''orittigi'' (/): It was mainly used in

Masan Masan () is an administrative region of Changwon, a city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae District, Jinhae. Masan was ...

and is said to have originated from the dialect of "cutting" () and "pulling" (). * ''ttong-gwaja'' (): In

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, it is said that it was also called ttong-gwaja in addition to ''jjokja''. As the name suggests, it was called ''ttong-gwaja'' (poop cookie) because it looked like a poop. * ''ttegi'' (): It is said that in

Jeju Island Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...

, like Chungcheong and Jeolla, it was called ''ttegi'' by borrowing the standard language itself without transforming it into ''ttigi'', a dialect form. Exceptionally, it is said that it was also called ''tikka'' () in some areas of

Seogwipo Seogwipo (; ) is the second-largest Administrative divisions of South Korea, city on Jeju Island, settled on a rocky volcanic coastline in the southern part of Jeju Province, South Korea. In July 2006, Seogwipo's boundaries were expanded to inclu ...

Gallery

File:Making dalgona.jpg, Making ''dalgona'' on ''

yeontan , also known by the names () or ''fēngwōméi'' (, literally "beehive coal"), are coal briquettes used across East Asia for home cooking and residential home heating purposes. They were first invented in Japan, then propagated through the rest of ...

'' (coal briquettes) Dalgona 1.jpg, Dalgona Dalgona 2.jpg, A child trying to poke a shape out of dalgona File:Cha Dalgona Tea Beverage.png, alt=dagona tea and coffee, ''Dalgona''-flavoured coffee cream on iced tea at a modern Seoul cafe Dalgona popcorn.jpg, Dalgona-flavored popcorn

References

{{Reflist Candy South Korean confectionery 2020s fads and trends

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