Enjoy Korean royal desserts at Kohojae

A server at Korea House serves chrysanthemum tea for the autumn dessert course in Seoul on Nov. 19. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kwon Mee-yoo

As Korean food continues to gain influence internationally, relatively lesser-known traditional Korean desserts are receiving renewed attention.

Korea House in central Seoul launched Kohojae, a second brand specializing in traditional Korean confectionery, earlier this year.

Visitors can enjoy beautiful scenery and traditional Korean architecture with a variety of Korean sweet treats once served to royalty.

"Nowadays Koreans are familiar with desserts as there are so many cafes serving a variety of confections. Trendy youngsters are always looking for something new and dessert is no exception. At Kohojae, they find new desserts, not from abroad but from our own tradition," Jin Na-ra, manager of the marketing planning team at Korea House, said.

The royal desserts are served at Munhyangru, one of the annexes of Korea House. The name Munhyangru means a palace with fragrances.

The two-hour tea session is available upon reservation and the location provides a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, allowing people to rest and take time away from bustling life. For safety reasons, only 12 people are allowed for each slot and the tea and dessert set is served individually.

Autumn dessert course at Korea House / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

The autumn course included six "hangwa," or Korean traditional confectionaries, and one "tteok" (rice cake) served with chrysanthemum tea.

"Duteop danja" is a type of rice cake that was served for the king. It is made of glutinous rice powder and covered with red bean paste. Its fillings include rare ingredients such as yuzu, honey, pine nuts and cinnamon.

The rice cake is served on a piece of "hongok jeonggwa," a candied Jonathan apple slice.

"Yakgwa" is a type of deep-fried snack that is soaked in "jocheong," grain syrup, or honey, for days to infuse it with a sweet taste and give it a soft texture.

Yuzu "gwapyeon" is a jelly-like traditional Korean confectionery. Fruit juice is mixed with starch and agar to achieve the gelatinous texture.

"Dasik" is a type of hangwa known for its decorative appearance. The bite-sized snack is made with ground grain or edible seeds and pressed into decorative patterns. For the autumn course, black sesame and chestnut are used for dasik.

"Hodu gangjeong" is fried and candied walnut.

"Gotgamssam" is walnut wrapped in dried persimmon and one of the seasonal delicacies of autumn.

"Back then, sweet taste came from rare ingredients such as honey and grain syrup. Sugar was also imported during the Joseon Kingdom era and used for sweetness," Jin said. "The royal desserts always used seasonal ingredients, so we change the menu with the season."

Kim Tae-hoon, left, and Oh Seung-e enjoy the autumn tea course at Munhyangru of Korea House in downtown Seoul, Nov. 19. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Rediscovering Korean sweet treats in authentic way

The Korea House opened back in 1957 as the government's official reception hall. It went through a major renovation in the late 1970s, modeled after Jagyeongjeon Hall of Gyeongbuk Palace.

The renovated Korea House was entrusted to the Korea Cultural Assets Preservation Foundation, now the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, and became a popular Korean restaurant and cultural center. The place is known for hosting traditional Korean wedding ceremony and traditional performances.

The Korea House gained international attention as K-pop sensation BTS was photographed for the Billboard Cover there in 2018.

"We mainly serve royal cuisine at the restaurant and the annexes are mostly empty unless there are group bookings. So we tried to make Korea House more accessible to the younger generation," Jin said.

The brand name Kohojae came from the first two letters of both "Korea" and "House," combined with "jae," a Korean suffix meaning house.

"We provide authentic Korean royal court cuisine and it includes desserts and sweets. So we thought of offering an assortment of Korean sweets and tea at the beautiful 'hanok' (traditional Korean house)."

The move also came as a breakthrough as Korea House lost its major foreign customers due to the travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We tried to take a step closer to the younger generation, who are social media savvy. The program also provides a getaway from daily life amid the pandemic in downtown Seoul. The food here is made with top quality ingredients without preservatives. The cafe also goes well with eco-friendly trends as it is plastic-free. All dishes and objects are made by artisans and craftsmen," Jin explained.

Metal artist Park Soung-cheul made metal trays varnished with lacquer and ceramist Kim Sang-in made white porcelain tea cups and dishes for the Korea House's royal dessert course. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

For instance, the "soban," or small portable dining table for serving tea, is made by the Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 55 Somokjang, or furniture making, bearer Lee Man-shik.

To serve tea on tables, metal artist Park Soung-chuel crafted metal trays varnished with lacquer.
Ceramist Kim Sang-in made pottery used to serve the treats and tea cups.

Park Seon-keung, a knot master and transmission education assistant of Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 22 knot-making, collaborated with textile artist Shin Ye-sun to create ornamental object, instead of traditional "norigae," or accessary worn with hanbok.

Important Intangible Cultural Asset No. 55 Wanchojang, or sedge artisan, Seo Soon-im collaborated with designer Cho Young-sun to create sedge trays and wall hangings, breaking away from the traditional use of sedge mats.

Through Kohojae, Korea House has expanded its customer base.

"As we offer the traditional dessert sets at a reasonable price, it lets new visitors know about Korea House, which preserves and inherits the tradition of Korean royal cuisine. Some of our new young customers returned to have our 'hanjeongsik' meal course or reserve the tea course for their parents," Jin said.

Lee Mi-kyung, Korean royal cuisine expert at Korea House, presses pumpkin seed dasik into a mold on Nov. 19. Dasik is a bite-sized snack made with ground grain and pressed into decorative patterns. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Lee Mi-kyung, Korean royal cuisine expert the Korea House, gave a demonstration of how to make some of the sweets, which will be part of Kohojae's winter course starting in December.

"Geonsi danja" is a type of rice cake with dried persimmon.

"The fillings include red bean, yuzu, jujube, pine nut, cinnamon power, honey and a pinch of salt. Then you hollow out a dried persimmon and put the fillings inside the persimmon. The persimmon is a good source of energy, full of sweetness and vitamin C. The carbohydrates in fillings make Geonsi danja like a meal," Lee explained.

"Daechu joran" is a jujube-shaped dessert made from jujube.

"You chop dried jujube finely and add honey and cinnamon powder. Cinnamon was a popular ingredient for royal desserts, which gives relish to the dish. Even porridges and baby food can have extra flavor with cinnamon," Lee said. "You make the dough into the shape of a jujube and put a pine nut instead of stem. Sometimes, you coat it in pine nut powder for a distinctive texture."

Lee Mi-kyung shows traditional Korean sweets geonsi danja, daechu joran and pumpkin seed dasik, which will be part of Korea House's winter tea course. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Lee said Korea's traditional royal cuisine is fairly plain.

"Korean royal cuisine focuses on the taste of its ingredients. For modern people who are accustomed to strong sweet and salty tastes, traditional Korean food might taste too bland. However, when you become familiar with this, it brings out the taste of the ingredients and it's good for your health," she said.

She also demonstrated how to make pumpkin seed dasik using "dasikpan," or decorative molds.

"This is made with fried and ground pumpkin seed, mixed with honey and pressed into dasikpan. Honey goes into most Korean desserts. Honey is known to boost the immune system and thus was used frequently in royal cuisine," Lee said.

Lee, who has doctoral degree in food engineering, experimented to modernize the recipes for Korean royal desserts.

"There are directions in traditional Korean culinary books, but some of them are not quantified in detail. So I had many tests and invited people for tastings to make the desserts agreeable to taste," she said.

She believes that Korean food is a great content for Korean culture and hallyu.

"When you press a dasik into its mold, it usually has patterns symbolizing a favorable auspice or good fortune. Traditional Korean food requires devotion to make as they demand fine touches in each process. Good food is like medicine," she said.