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| From upper left to clockwise; CU Malatang noodles, Orion spicy Sangeobab fish crackers, Samyang Foods' ultra-spicy Buldak mini noodles and Paldo's NehNemDdin noodles. Korea Times file |
Kim Sun-oh, 25, enjoys eating spicy food whenever she feels stressed out. "I'm happy to see spicier food on store shelves, and I'm happy that there is a wider range of products involving buldak (hot spicy chicken) flavor," she said.
Riding on the popularity of the Buldak stir-fried noodles, Samyang Foods has rolled out Buldak flavored kimbab, sauce and ultra-spicy Buldak mini, which is even spicier than the original one rated at 12,000 Scoville Heat Units.
The Scoville scale indicates the degree of spiciness by measuring the concentration of capsaicin.
Samyang Foods' Buldak series recorded 282.5 billion won ($240 million) of sales in 2018, and since its first release, 1.5 billion packs have been sold.
Popularized by the YouTube challenge and mukbang, an online broadcast during which a host consumes vast quantities of food, these fiery noodles have become a sensation in Korea and other countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Witnessing the huge demand for spicy foods, the Korean food industry is releasing products with hot flavors, including cheongyang red pepper and jalapeno.
"Compared to few years ago, when Buldak flavored products were popular among spicy food lovers, they've become more conventional," a Samyang Foods official said. "Last year, the annual sales of Buldak products rose 45 percent in Korea."
Spicy food has been found to alleviate stress and anxiety, and due to this effect, demand for spicy food is usually high in times of economic slowdown.
In March, Paldo released NehNemDdin, a limited edition of the cold, spicy noodle dish Bibimmyeon. It sold out in a month.
The product was developed to catch the trend of young people adding jalapenos to Bibimmyeon, a spicy and sweet noodle.
"The NehNemDdin is about five times spicier than Bibimmyeon, but we've sold 5 million packs. We are now preparing for additional production," a Paldo official said.
Orion released spicy Sangeobab fish crackers, intended to target young consumers.
BGF retail, which runs the CU convenience store chain, released CU Malatang noodles last year.
The product went viral, and 300,000 packs were sold in just four months.
Jo Su-hyeon, a professor of Medicine at Chung-ang University, warned that eating spicy food may have its downsides. "Excessively eating hot flavors may cause obesity and gastrointestinal disorders," she said.
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