() is a general term for traditional Korean

confections Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somewh ...

. With ''

tteok ''Tteok'' () is a general term for Korean rice cakes. They are made with steamed flour of various grains, especially glutinous rice, glutinous and non-glutinous Japonica rice, rice. Steamed flour can also be pounded, shaped, or pan-fried to make ...

'' (rice cakes), forms the sweet food category in

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...

. Common ingredients of include

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s and

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

s, sweet ingredients such as

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

and ''

yeot () is a variety of '' hangwa'', or Korean traditional confectionery. It can be made in either liquid or solid form, as a syrup, taffy, or candy. is made from steamed rice, glutinous rice, glutinous sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes, or mixed gr ...

'', and spices such as

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

Names

() translates to "Korean confectionery" referring to traditional confections contrasting with ''yanggwa'' (), which identifies "Western confectionery". In the past was called ''jogwa'' () which means "artificial fruit" or ''gwajeongnyu'' () as meaning "fruit food category".

History

The history of goes back to the era of the three kingdoms (57 BCE ‒ 668 CE), when various types of confections were consumed by royals during festivities, national holidays or in court, according to the '' Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms''. Following the two

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

Unified Silla Unified Silla, or Late Silla, is the name often applied to the historical period of the Korean kingdom of Silla after its conquest of Goguryeo in 668 AD, which marked the end of the Three Kingdoms period. In the 7th century, a Silla–Tang alli ...

in the era of two kingdoms (698–926) and

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

(936‒1392), the cultivation of crops and consumption of confections increased drastically as the

diets forbade meat. Confections were offered in Goryeo's national feasts, rites, ceremonies, and banquets, including the two Buddhist festivals, the Lotus Lantern Festival and the Festival of the Eight Vows. Prevailing tea ceremonies also required more types of confections. Concerns regarding the increasingly excessive consumption of confections that have large amounts of oil, grain, and honey have consequently lead to several regulations throughout the course of its history. In 1117, King Sukjong restricted the extravagant usage of deep-fried grain confections. In 1192, deep-fried grain confections were mandated to be replaced with fruits and in 1353, a total ban on deep-fried grain confections was issued. Restrictions continued in the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

(1392‒1897), according to '' Comprehensive Collection of the National Codes'' that recorded that the use of deep-fried grain confections was restricted solely for rites, weddings, and toasts to longevity. Commoners caught eating them on occasions other than that were subjected to monetary fines or corporal punishment.

Categories

can be classified into eight main categories, namely '' dasik'' (tea food), '' gwapyeon'' (fruit jelly), '' jeonggwa'' (fruit jerky), '' suksil-gwa'', '' yeot-gangjeong'', '' yugwa'', '' yumil-gwa'', and candies. * Candies – Traditional Korean candies can be eaten as they are, or used as sweetening ingredients in other types of . ''Dang'' (; "candy") or ''Dangryu'' (; "candy category") refers to hard and sweet confection. It can be made of crystallized

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, or saccharified starch. ''

Yeot () is a variety of '' hangwa'', or Korean traditional confectionery. It can be made in either liquid or solid form, as a syrup, taffy, or candy. is made from steamed rice, glutinous rice, glutinous sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes, or mixed gr ...

'' is a traditional sweet in either

liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

solid Solid is a state of matter where molecules are closely packed and can not slide past each other. Solids resist compression, expansion, or external forces that would alter its shape, with the degree to which they are resisted dependent upon the ...

form, as a syrup, taffy, or

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

. It is made with grains such

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

, glutinous sorghum,

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

sweet potatoes The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

, by saccharifying them using barley malt. * '' Dasik'', literally "tea food", is a bite-size sweet that is normally accompanied by tea. It is made by pressing honied powder into a decorative

mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

. Typical ingredients include

rice flour Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

, black

sesame Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

, and

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

. * '' Gwapyeon'' is a jelly-like summer dessert made with a variety of fruits, such as berries, cherries, and apricots. It is made by mixing fruit juice with starch and agar to attain a gelatinous consistency. * '' Jeonggwa'' is a crispy, chewy sweet made of

candied fruit Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel (fruit), peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually Food preservation, preserves it. ...

s, or

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s. Common ingredients include yuja,

quince The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the Malinae subtribe (which contains apples, pears, and other fruits) of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yel ...

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

, lotus root,

radish The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...

ginseng Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as South China ginseng (''Panax notoginseng, P. notoginseng''), Korean ginseng (''Panax ginseng, P. ginseng''), and American ginseng (''American ginseng, P. quinquefol ...

, balloon flower root,

burdock ''Arctium'' is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mecha ...

root,

bamboo shoot Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including '' Bambusa vulgaris'' and '' Phyllostachys edulis''. They are used as vegetables in numerous Asian dishes a ...

, and

winter melon ''Benincasa hispida'', the wax gourd, also called ash gourd, white gourd, winter gourd, winter melon, tallow gourd, ash pumpkin, Chinese preserving melon, is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is nat ...

. * '' Suksil-gwa'', literally "cooked fruit", consists of fruit, roots, or seeds cooked and sweetened with

. Common ingredients include

jujube Jujube (UK ; US or ), sometimes jujuba, scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'', and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused wit ...

, and

. ''Suksil-gwa'' is similar to—and sometimes classified as—'' jeonggwa'', but has unique characteristics that differentiate it from the ''jeonggwa'' category. * '' Yeot-gangjeong'' is made by mixing toasted seeds, nuts, beans, or popped grains with

rice syrup Brown rice (malt) syrup, also known as rice syrup or rice malt, is a sweetener which is rich in compounds categorized as sugars and is derived by steeping cooked rice starch with saccharifying enzymes to break down the starches, followed by stra ...

and then cutting it into desired shapes. Common ingredients are

pine nut Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), or pignoli, are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locall ...

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

perilla ''Perilla'' is a genus consisting of one major Asiatic crop species '' Perilla frutescens'' and a few wild species in nature belonging to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus encompasses several distinct varieties of Asian herb, seed, and vege ...

seeds, and popped

. * '' Yugwa'' is a deep-fried confection made with

glutinous rice flour Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domestication of animals, domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterp ...

dough. It can be classified into '' gangjeong'', '' sanja'', and '' hangwa'' depending on its shape and size. * '' Yumil-gwa'' refers to a deep-fried confection made of wheat flour dough. It may be made of various ingredients such as

, cooking oil,

powder, nuts and

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 ...

(rice wine). It may be classified as '' mandu-gwa'' (dumplings), '' maejap-gwa'' (ribbons), or '' yakgwa'' (flower) according to the cooking methods. Other varieties include: * '' Gotgam-mari'' is a roll made of dried

persimmon The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's p ...

s and

s. It can be made by rolling a toasted and peeled walnut with a dried, deseeded, and flattened persimmon, then slicing each roll like slicing a

gimbap ''Gimbap'' (; ), also romanized as ''kimbap'', is a Korean cuisine, Korean dish made from Bap (rice dish), ''bap'' (cooked rice), vegetables, and optionally cooked seafood or meat, rolled in ''gim (food), gim''—dried sheets of seaweed—and s ...

. * '' Yaksik'', also called ''yakbap'', is a sweet rice dessert made with steamed

mixed with honey,

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

s, pine nuts, and

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. ...

Occasions

Traditionally, was offered during

jesa ''Jesa'' (, ) is a ceremony commonly practiced in Korea. Jesa functions as a Ancestor veneration, memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholic Church in ...

(ancestral rites),

chuseok Chuseok (; , ), also known as Hangawi (; ; from Old Korean, "the great middle f autumn), is a major mid-autumn harvest festival and a three-day holiday in South Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunisolar calendar on the ...

(harvest festival), geolhonshik (weddings) or hwanggap (sixtieth-birthday) celebrations. Today can be purchased online, in markets, coffee shops or at tea houses.

Modern times

In the 1900s, began to fall out of favor with the introduction of sugar and western confection. In recent years, it has seen a revitalization and is associated with holiday food. With the rising demand for , this market has seen increased support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery. Today, it is offered as ceremonial food and is often gifted especially during

seollal () is a Korean traditional festival and national holiday commemorating the first day of the Korean lunisolar calendar. It is one of the most important traditional holidays for ethnic Koreans, being celebrated in both North Korea and South ...

(Korean New Years). As society has sought healthier alternatives in consumable goods, efforts to produce confections to stimulate wellness began. Healthier was created by adding

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

, and laver.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Names

History

Categories

Occasions

Modern times

See also

References