Dalgona

Photo Credit: Google Images

Although it doesn’t specifically fit the baking category, we decided to go towards making something involving caramel, a sweet that is made with sugar...lots of sugar. So, naturally, as a k-drama and kpop fanatic interested in anything korean-related, I instantly thought of dalgona, an old-fashioned Korean sugar candy. It is also known as ppopgi (뽑기), and the two basic ingredients needed are sugar and baking soda. However, since I ran out of baking soda (as my mom is an avid baker) and Zhou’s family does not bake, we will need to purchase this ingredient, as well as some more sugar in order to be able to make enough candy for the entire class.

Vendors (since it is strictly a Korean street food) would typically make them on the spot in Korea and sell them to walking passers bys for a relatively inexpensive price (1000 won- approximately $1). I remember when I first heard about this crisp, sweet (yet with a hint of bitterness) candy; I was watching an episode of the reality show of a popular boy band EXO. They were visiting and touring around a village site (Hanok Village) where they noticed a sitting elderly man crouched over a mini stove in the cold. Excited, they headed over and immediately began munching on the already-made cookies. The Korean members asked the Chinese if they had heard of the snack before, and they replied no. It’s because ppopgi is a traditional snack that had originated in Korea. One of the Korean members explained the deal with dalgona- if you manage to use a pin to make holes along the outline and separate the shape (which is on the surface of the sweet) away from the outer part without breaking it, the vendor will give you one for free. Not only is this one way you can attempt to win free candy, but you can also bite around the cookie and hopefully not break the picture. While they took a few bites of the dalgona and exclaimed at how delicious it was, the owner was making a new batch. As they watched in awe, he expertly melted the sugar in the ladle using a single chopstick and added baking soda. Once he mixed it in, he transferred the melted glob onto a lightly sugared tray and used his metal presser to generously coat the candy with the sugar before cutting it into three separate pieces and flattening them immediately. Then he used one of the multiple cutters (all of which had different designs) to press onto the rapidly hardening dalgona. Then it was done! The grandfather kindly told them that warm ppopgi is even tastier, and he definitely wasn’t wrong; the members were shocked at how amazing it tasted! One Chinese member asked how many he made every day, and he said 500 pieces...and on Saturdays and Sundays he doesn’t even have enough pieces to sell! Despite the fact that the candy is old-fashioned and traditional, many people still seem to enjoy tasting it, which is what prevents traditional foods from being forgotten. Anyways, I am excited to make this sugary candy!