{"id":402,"date":"2023-04-04T09:50:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T13:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/?p=402"},"modified":"2023-04-06T16:15:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T20:15:02","slug":"do-you-know-dalgona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/2023\/04\/04\/do-you-know-dalgona\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you know Dalgona?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Nostalgic Korean Snack<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"

Dalgona game was the happiest activities for Korean kids in the 70s and 80s. (Image by http:\/\/www.incheonbiz.com\/news\/articleView.html?idxno=109765)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the 1980s, when I was an elementary school student, there were not so many snacks for children to enjoy in Korea. One of their favourite snacks at the time was Dalgona, made with melted sugar adding a little bit of baking soda. Dalgona was popular with kids for two reasons. First, it was a snack that kids could make on their own, and second, kids played a game with it. Kids could get another Dalgona if they succeeded in separating a shape embedded in Dalgona without breaking it. My after-school memories were full of daily successes or failures in the Dalgona game. My mom would always keep me from eating Dalgona because it was junk street food, but I had no choice but to lie to her because of its fantastic taste and addictive game. It was one of the happiest activities for most Korean kids in the 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

<\/h2>\n

What Sparked the Old Korean Candy Craze?<\/h2>\n
\"\"

The Squid Game quickly made \u3147algona famous around the world. (Image by https:\/\/n.news.naver.com\/mnews\/article\/023\/0003644006)<\/p><\/div>\n

Dalgona was a honeycomb candy snack that existed in other countries as well. The only difference from others is that it is flat and has a shape in it. Korean Dalgona was widely spread after the 1950s when sugar was imported in large quantities from the U.S. and became popular from the 1960s to the 80s. However, it has been almost forgotten since the 1990s when the kinds of snacks for kids became various and abundant. Youngsters born after the 2000s knew little about Dalgona until they watched the ‘Squid Game,’ which caused a global craze in 2021. “Squid Game” made Dalgona a world-class food out of the blue. People tried Dalgona challenges all over the world. In the middle of Paris, France, people waited in long lines for hours to experience the Dalgona game. The snack, which is getting faded away from most Koreans\u2019 memories, has suddenly become the epitome of K-culture, which people worldwide love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How Do You Make a Dalgona at Your Home?<\/h2>\n

Since the “Squid Game,” you can easily find Dalgona making-kit online, such as on Amazon. However, you don’t need any special tools to make Dalgona. All you need to prepare are a small stainless steel pan, a wood stick to stir the sugar, cookie cutters you already have, some sugar and a bit of baking soda.
\nThe process is really simple; however, if it’s the first time you try, you can fail once or twice. Of course, even though you fail, it only means you failed to make a perfect shape, but you can still taste sweet Dalgona, so don’t worry.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Making Dalgona at home is very easy. (Image by Kyoung A Kim)<\/p><\/div>\n

    \n
  1. Gather all the ingredients and tools before starting<\/li>\n
  2. Put five teaspoons of sugar in the small pan and melt over medium to low heat.<\/li>\n
  3. Stir constantly, and control the heat by moving the pan up and down from the heat. Be careful not to burn sugar.<\/li>\n
  4. Keep the pan away from the heat before adding baking soda so that the pan loses its heat. Put a little fingernail amount of baking soda in the pan. Never use more than that; your Dalgona will be terribly bitter.<\/li>\n
  5. Once the baking soda is added, the mixture will immediately begin to foam and can burn quickly. You can go back to the heat shortly, but it would be better to avoid strong heat.<\/li>\n
  6. Usually, YouTubers or bloggers recommend using a non-stick baking sheet as the base because the hot Dalgona mixture can stick to the surface. But as I have done many times, there is no need to use a baking sheet. Just make the countertop clean and pour the hot Dalgona on it. By doing so, you don’t need a Dalgona press to make it flat.<\/li>\n
  7. We need to wait 15 to 20 seconds until the mixture spreads naturally and cools down. Make a shape using any cookie cutter when the Dalgona becomes flat and a little hard.<\/li>\n
  8. I used a small sauce container to make a circle shape and a knife for a square and triangle. Enjoy your Dalgona!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/h2>\n

    How Can You Enjoy Dalgona?<\/h2>\n

    There are many other ways to enjoy your Dalgona. If you break the Dalgona and put them in the latte, it will be a great sweet Dagona latte.  Putting some nuts on the Dalgona instead of embedding a shape will make it a healthier snack. It will be a hard candy when you put the hot Dalgona in a mould and cool it off. If you want to enjoy your croissant sweeter, just simply pour the hot Dalgona on the croissant.<\/p>\n

    \"\"

    There are many ways to enjoy the Dagona. (Image by Kyoung A Kim)<\/p><\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Hyosun. \u201cDalgona (Korean Sugar Candy).\u201d KOREAN BAPSANG, October 16, 2021. https:\/\/www.koreanbapsang.com\/dalgona-spongy-candy\/<\/p>\n

    Knutson  , Ariel . \u201cHere\u2019s Why Everyone Is Talking About \u2018Squid Game\u2019s\u2019 Dalgona Candy.\u201d the spruce eats, October 20, 2021. https:\/\/www.thespruceeats.com\/what-is-dalgona-candy-squid-game-5205185.<\/p>\n

    Young Oh , Chae . \u201c\u2018Squid Game\u2019 Propels Dalgona Candy to Fame, Stirring Delight, Competition and Nostalgia.\u201d abc NEWS, October 20, 2021. https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Entertainment\/squid-game-dalgona-candy-worlds-newest-sweetest-trend\/story?id=80591286.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A Nostalgic Korean Snack In the 1980s, when I was an elementary school student, there were not so many snacks for children to enjoy in Korea. One of their favourite snacks at the time was Dalgona, made with melted sugar adding a little bit of baking soda. Dalgona was popular with kids for two reasons. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-published"],"splot_meta":{"author":"Kyoung A Kim","license":"by","footer":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.kpu.ca\/foodhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}