Yakgwa

Yakgwa is a deep-fried wheat confection soaked in honey, shaped like a flower and dusted with sesame seeds at its centre. It is one of the best-known traditional Korean sweets and is still sold in confectionery shops and markets across South Korea.

History

Yakgwa has a long past. Sources place its use in Buddhist rites during the Later Silla period (668–935), and it was popular in the Goryeo dynasty among royalty, aristocrats, temples and private households. It is also recorded that in that era it was known in China as mandu Goryeo.

Its present name took shape in the Joseon dynasty. It means "medicinal confection": pre-modern Koreans regarded honey as medicine and gave the label yak to many honey-based foods. Because honey and wheat were costly, for centuries it was a treat mainly for the upper classes.

Its form changed over time too. It was first modelled as birds and animals, then flattened so it could be stacked, passed through a spherical stage and a cube, and finally settled into the round shape with a rippled edge seen today.

Culture

Yakgwa appeared in ancestral rites (jesa) and at celebrations such as Chuseok, weddings and sixtieth birthdays. At the Goryeo royal wedding it was used in the pyebaek greeting ceremony, and the motifs pressed into its surface carried wishes: butterflies for a happy marriage, pine for the start of the year, lotus for harmony.

Today it is eaten with tea as an afternoon snack or given as a gift, and its sales rise around Seollal and Chuseok. Traditional confectioners and supermarkets sell it year-round. In recent years it has also appeared in modern desserts, from cookies and financiers to ice cream.