Persimmon, cinnamon and ginger drink, Sujeonggwa

 

When we ate korean bbq during the warmer months in South Korea we always got a small cup of icy cold drink at the end of the meal. Sujeonggwa 수정과 a sweet, lovely refreshing cold drink with the taste of cinnamon, ginger, a hint of persimmon and always topped with three pine nuts, they say it helps your digestive system.

I served Galbi to a few friends who had never tried anything korean before and since I had just bought some dried persimmons I had to make and serve this drink at the end of the meal.

The original recipe is a bit too sweet for my liking so I halved the amount of sugar. and instead of boiling each ingredient separately I combined everything together in a sauce pan. In Korea you use the whole dried persimmons, but since I am not there I use what I can find as a substitute.

5 dried persimmons
5 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup of fresh ginger, sliced
1/3 cup of sugar
12 cups of water
pine nuts

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan except the pine nuts, add the water and boil, when it starts to boil put a lid on and simmer on medium to low heat heat for about 60 mins. Taste the liquid if it needs more sweetness and adjust it to your liking.

Drain the liquid through a sieve and let the punch cool down. I put the cooled liquid in the freezer for a half an hour or so before I serve the drink.

Pour the drink into little tea cups and garnish with pine nuts.