''Hwajeon'' (), or flower cake is a small

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

pan-fried Pan frying or pan-frying is a form of frying food characterized by the use of minimal cooking oil or fat (compared to shallow frying or deep frying), typically using just enough to lubricate the pan. In the case of a greasy food such as baco ...

rice cake A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object. A wide variety of rice cakes exist in many different cultures in which rice is eaten and are particularly preval ...

. It is made out of

glutinous Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domestication of animals, domesticated animals, or domesticated plants. These traits were identified by Charles Darwin in ''The Variation of Animals and Pl ...

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

and

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s from seasonal flowers, such as

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

. It is eaten during the festivals of ''

Samjinnal The Key Holiday () is a keyholiday originated from China, and is celebrated in multiple East Asian countries, including China and Korea. China The Double Third Festival () or Shangsi Festival () is a Chinese festival celebrated on the third ...

'' and

Buddha's Birthday Buddha's Birthday (also known as Buddha Jayanti, also known as his day of enlightenment – Buddha Purnima, Buddha Pournami) is a Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of East Asia and South Asia commemorating the birth of the Gautama ...

Etymology

The word ''hwajeon'' (; ) is a compound noun made of the

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

character ''hwa'' (; ), meaning "flower", and the character '' jeon'' (; ), meaning "a pan-fry". The synonyms ''kkot-bukkumi'' () and ''kkot-jijimi'' () are also compounds of the native Korean word ''kkot'' (), meaning "flower", and ''

bukkumi ''Bukkumi'' () is a pan-fried ''tteok'' (rice cake) made with glutinous rice flour or sorghum flour. It is a flat half-moon shaped cake filled with white adzuki bean paste or mixture of toasted and ground sesame seeds, Cinnamomum cassia, cinnamon ...

'' (), meaning a "pan-fried

"; or ''kkot'' () and ''

jijimi ''Jijimi'' () is a type of Korean stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew ...

'' (), meaning "pancake".

Varieties and preparation

''Hwajeon'' is made of

s from seasonal flowers. Typically,

, pear flower, goldenbell flower,

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

, and

violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

are used in spring;

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

is used in summer; and

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

and

cockscomb A comb is a fleshy growth or crest on the top of the head of some gallinaceous birds, such as domestic chickens. The alternative name cockscomb (with several spelling variations) reflects the fact that combs are generally larger on cock birds t ...

are used in autumn. In winter when flowers are scarce in Korea, alternatives like

mugwort Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus ''Artemisia.'' In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species '' Artemisia vulgaris'', or common mugwort. In East Asia the species '' Artemisia argyi'' i ...

leaves, waterdropwort leaves,

rock tripe Rock tripe is the common name for various lichens of the genus ''Umbilicaria'' that grow on rocks. They are widely distributed, including on bare rock in Antarctica, and throughout northern parts of North America such as New England and the Ro ...

, or

jujube Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

s are cut into flower shapes and used instead.'' There are two main ways of preparing ''hwajeon'': *

Glutinous Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domestication of animals, domesticated animals, or domesticated plants. These traits were identified by Charles Darwin in ''The Variation of Animals and Pl ...

is seasoned with salt, pounded into fine

, and kneaded with boiling water. The dough is made into a small, round, flat shape and pan-fried in

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...

. Flower petals are placed and lightly pressed on the dough while frying on the griddle. * Fine glutinous rice flour is kneaded into thick dough and rolled into thick sheets. Flower petals are then placed onto the dough, lightly pressed, and the sheets are cut with ''hwajeon-tong'', a utensil similar to

cookie cutter A cookie cutter in North American English, also known as a biscuit cutter outside North America, is a tool to cut out cookie/biscuit dough in a particular shape. They are often used for seasonal occasions when well-known decorative shapes are ...

, with diameter. The flower cakes are fried in sesame oil. This method was used in

Korean royal court cuisine Korean royal court cuisine (''Joseon Wangjo Gungjung yori'') was the style of cookery within Korean cuisine traditionally consumed at the court of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. There has been a revival of this cookery s ...

. Fried flower cakes are soaked in

to add sweetness and sprinkled with

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

powder.

''Hwajeon nori''

''Hwajeon nori'', which literally translates to "flower cake play", is a tradition of going on a picnic in the mountains to watch the seasonal flowers during spring and autumn. In spring, women used to go on a picnic, carrying a glutinous rice flour and griddle near a stream on ''

'' which falls on every third day of the third lunar month in the

Korean calendar The traditional Korean calendar or Dangun calendar () is a lunisolar calendar. Dates are calculated from Korea's meridian (135th meridian east in modern time for South Korea), and observances and festivals are based in Korean culture. Koreans m ...

. They picked edible spring blossoms and made ''hwajeon''. The variety made with

is regarded as the most representative ''hwajeon''. It is traditionally eaten with rhododendron punch consisting of the same flower floating in honeyed or magnolia berry water. Similarly, people enjoyed ''hwajeon nori'' in autumn, with ''hwajeon'' which is made with

flowers and leaves. It was consumed with chrysanthemum wine or yuja punch. The custom is closely related to the '' Junggu'', the traditional holiday falls on every ninth day of the ninth lunar month in the Korean calendar. These customs date back to the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

era (57 BCE ‒ 668 AD) and originated in

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

References

{{Portal bar, Food Flower dishes Korean pancakes Tteok

Etymology

Varieties and preparation

''Hwajeon nori''

See also

References