Suksil-gwa

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Suksil-gwa (숙실과; 熟實果), literally "cooked fruit", is a category of hangwa (Korean confection) consisting of cooked fruit, roots, or seeds sweetened with honey.^[1][2] Common ingredients include chestnut, jujube, and ginger.^[3] Suksil-gwa is similar to—and sometimes classified as—jeonggwa, but has unique characteristics that differentiate it from the jeonggwa category.^[2]

It has been mainly used for special occasions such as janchi (banquet), or jesa (ancestral rite).^[3] During the Joseon era (1392–1897), it was consumed by yangban (scholar-officials) and in royal court cuisine, due to the requirement for good quality fruit and an elaborate cooking process.^[4] Suksil-gwa is usually served with two or three kinds in one dish.^[3][4]

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.^[2] 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.^[2]

• Yullan (율란; 栗卵) – made by mashing and sieving boiled and peeled chestnuts, mixing the sieved chestnut with cinnamon powder and honey into a dough, then shaping the dough into chestnut-shaped confection and garnishing it with pine nut powder.^[3][5]
• Joran (조란; 棗卵) – made by mashing and sieving boiled and deseeded jujube, 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.^[3] Sometimes, joran can be filled with the mixture of chestnut powder and honey.^[6]
• Saengnan (생란; 生卵) – also referred to as gangnan (강란; 薑卵) or saenggang-ran (생강란; 生薑卵), 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.^[3][7]
• Bamcho (밤초) – also referred to as yulcho (율초; 栗炒), made by simmering peeled chestnuts in water, with honey of the same weight as chestnuts added.^[3] When the honey penetrates the chestnuts, cinnamon powder is added and the confection is drained and coated with pine nut powder.^[3] Both dried and fresh chestnuts can be used to make bamcho.^[8]
• Daechu-cho (대추초) – 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.^[3] When served, daechu-cho is garnished with a toasted pine nut on the stalk end of the jujube.^[9]

See also

• Gwapyeon
• Jeonggwa

References