''Suksil-gwa'' (), literally "cooked fruit", is a category of ''
hangwa'' (Korean confection) consisting of cooked fruit, roots, or seeds sweetened with
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 ...
.
Common ingredients include
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
...
,
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
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 ...
.
''Suksil-gwa'' is similar to—and sometimes classified as—''
jeonggwa'', but has unique characteristics that differentiate it from the ''jeonggwa'' category.
It has been mainly used for special occasions such as ''janchi'' (banquet), or ''
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 rite).
During 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 ...
era (1392–1897), it was consumed by ''
yangban
The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats wh ...
'' (scholar-officials) and in
royal court cuisine, due to the requirement for good quality fruit and an elaborate cooking process.
''Suksil-gwa'' is usually served with two or three kinds in one dish.
Varieties
''Suksil-gwa'' can be divided into ''ran''-type and ''cho''-type by the cooking method. Each of the terms is affixed to the main ingredient.
The ''ran''-type involves meshing of the cooked ingredient, mixing them with honey, and shaping the mixture into the shape of the fruit. The ''cho''-type are made without the meshing process.
* ''
Yullan'' () – made by mashing and sieving boiled and peeled
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
...
s, mixing the sieved chestnut with
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 ...
powder and honey into a dough, then shaping the dough into chestnut-shaped confection and garnishing it with
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 ...
nut powder.
* ''
Joran
Joran, Jöran or Jøran is a masculine given name. Bearers include:
* Jöran Hägglund (born 1959), Swedish politician
* Jöran Jermas, an alias of Israel Shamir (born 1947 or 1948), Swedish writer, journalist, and promoter of antisemitism and Hol ...
'' () – made by mashing and sieving boiled and deseeded
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 ...
, mixing the sieved jujube with cinnamon powder and honey into a dough, then shaping the dough into jujube-shaped confection and optionally garnishing it with pine nut powder.
Sometimes, ''joran'' can be filled with the mixture of chestnut powder and honey.
* ''
Saengnan'' () – also referred to as ''gangnan'' () or ''saenggang-ran'' (), made by boiling peeled and finely minced ginger in a lot of water to reduce the heat, sieving it, simmering it in honey, cooling it, and shaping it into ginger-shaped confection and garnishing it with pine nut powder.
* ''
Bamcho'' () – also referred to as ''yulcho'' (), made by simmering peeled
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
...
s in water, with honey of the same weight as chestnuts added.
When the honey penetrates the chestnuts, cinnamon powder is added and the confection is drained and coated with pine nut powder.
Both dried and fresh chestnuts can be used to make ''bamcho''.
* ''
Daechu-cho'' () – made by deseeding jujube, steaming it for a short time and stuffing it with around two pine nuts, simmering the stuffed jujube with honey and cinnamon powder, and coating it with pine nut powder.
When served, daechu-cho is garnished with a toasted pine nut on the stalk end of the jujube.
See also
* ''
Gwapyeon''
* ''
Jeonggwa''
References
Hangwa
{{Korea-dessert-stub