Simple Ways to Make Squid Game Honeycomb
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| How to Make Squid Game Honeycomb. Photo Elite Daily |
What is honeycomb?
Honeycomb Toffee, also known as Dalgona Candy, is everywhere right now thanks to the hit Netflix show Squid Game. Dalgona (or ppopgi) is a traditional Korean sugar candy that’s simply made with sugar and baking soda. In the show you can see players trying to carve out intricate shapes from toffee candy, without breaking.
You might associate Dalgona with the very popular Dalgona Whipped Coffee that went viral on TikTok last year— and you wouldn’t be wrong. The term itself refers to honeycomb toffee candy. Although it’s purely made with sugar, baking soda adds a unique texture to the candy. Unlike praline which hardens as it cools, the Dalgona is a sponge-like toffee that can be easily chewed. The word dalgona came from the casual Korean word “dalguna” meaning “it’s sweet.”
Who first made Dalgona?
The dalgona candy, featured in episode three of the show, was handmade by a group of candymakers in Seoul, which goes by the name of Segyero Dalgona. The street vendor has been making dalgona candies for eight years near the Hyehwa subway station, and provided 700 dalgonas to "Squid Game."
Before the pandemic, the business was difficult, according to the Segyero Dalgona stand owner Ahn Yong-hui, but thanks to "Squid Game," it is now selling more than 400 to 500 candies a day.
"Before the Squid Game, there weren't many customers on the street because of the pandemic, so sales dropped significantly," Ahn told ABC News. "Compared to then, sales increased by five times, and maybe up to seven or eight times."
Ahn told ABC News that on weekends, people lined up even before they finished setting up for sale. Some waited in hour-long lines for the candy, while some others traveled from a different city.
"Because my son wanted to experience the dalgona candy, we waited for two hours. I'm very happy that we had a great experience together," businessman Choi Ik-Ho, who was second in line to play the dalgona game, told ABC News.
Customers in their 40s and 50s say the thick sugary scent of dalgona often brings back old memories of their childhood.
What is Dalgona game?
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| Photo US Mail 24 |
In the Dalgona game, players have to carve out shapes from a Korean honeycomb cookie that is called Dalgona candy. In Korea, the Dalgona game is traditionally known as Ppopgi. Ppopgi which means ‘to pick’ was a very popular game in Korea during the 1960s and 1970s. This traditional Korean candy was sold by street vendors, mainly outside schools. Children would take up the challenge not to break the central shape.
How Dalgona Candy Took Over TikTok
And like its predecessor Dalgona Coffee, which was discovered by accident, the Dalgona Candy recipe was popularized by Netflix while recipe creators of TikTok bombarded the internet with their own versions of the seemingly simple culinary experiment. Bites with Lily shows us just how delicious the combination of sugar and baking soda can turn out, in her creative TikTok below.
READ MORE: What is TikTok's 'Tech-To-Speech': Best Ways to Use, New Features
How to make sugar-based honeycomb?
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| Photo shopee |
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Pinch baking soda
Cooking spray
DIRECTIONS
Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a ladle or in a very small skillet (preferably nonstick), add sugar. Place the ladle or skillet directly over a medium flame, and stir the sugar with a chopstick until it begins to melt, about 2 minutes.
Once all the sugar has melted and appears amber in color, immediately remove the ladle/skillet from the heat. Stir in baking soda until the mixture has aerated slightly and turned light brown.
Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet in 2 equal circles. Spray the flat side of a metal measuring cup or spatula with cooking spray, and press the candy to a ¼" thickness.
Use a cookie cutter to create your desired shape. Let cool and serve.
| Dalgona candy has roughly 70 calories as it is only made with sugar and baking soda. |
Tools to make honeycomb
To make this old fashioned Korean sweet you can buy a Korean honeycomb toffee making kit that comes with a measured ladle, press and some fun moulds to use as your centre shape.
However, you can also utilise some tools lying around your house.
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| Photo honestfoodtalks |
LADLE
This will be what you will use to cook the sugar and mix the baking soda together. Try and use a cheap one as it will be exposed directly to the heat.
WOODEN CHOPSTICKS
This will be used to stir the mixture. You can also use wooden sticks or popsicle sticks instead.
MAT
You will pour the honeycomb toffee mixture onto this. Using a Silicone mat will help to get the sweet off once it’s cooled.
HOTTEOK PRESS
Similar to a burger press, a Hotteok Press is a tool you can use to press down the honeycomb toffee mixture to get an even flat surface.
COOKIE CUTTERS
Use any cookie cutter pattern you like but bear in mind that a simple pattern will make the game easier. Make sure to pick cookie cutters that just fit within the centre of your Korean sweet. If you want to reenact the game in Squid Game make sure to get the umbrella, triangle, circle and star cookie cutters.
| COOKING TIPS When you are caramelising the sugar, make sure to use medium to low heat to avoid burning the sugar. Patience is key! When it is ready, the sugar should have a light brown colour. When you’re ready to add the baking soda, remove the ladle from the direct heat source to stop it from cooking any faster. Use the baking soda sparingly until you have formed a good mixture and consistency. Too much baking soda can make your Ppopgi bitter and make cleaning up later harder too as the mixture might stick to the ladle and other surfaces. When you are using a cookie cutter to add an indented shape in the centre, press down gently to make the game harder. On the flip side, the deeper the indent, the easier it will be to remove the shape in the centre! |
How to enjoy Squid Game Honeycomb
You can eat this old school Korean candy by eating it by itself or with milk. However, you can also break it into small pieces and serve over ice cream or a cup of Dalgona coffee. Alternatively, the most popular way to enjoy Dalgona candy is to play the Ppopgi game. Try and remove the indented shape without breaking it!
What is the honeycomb Squid Game challenge?
As mentioned, the Squid Game is based around childhood activities.
Dalgona candy is a honeycomb lollipop that’s part of a game popular in South Korea with children. Typically sold from street vendors for the equivalent of about £1.25, they’re circular-shaped and flat, with a symbol pressed into the middle.
Kids would play a game where they’d try to break around the design of the wafer thin cookie, leaving them with the shape but not the edges.
@thichanngonn ♬ Squid Game – Green Light Red Light – Yovinca Prafika
It’s deceptively tricky, as the candy tends to crack in straight lines rather than in the star, heart, or scalloped shapes normally found on Dalgona candy.
Competitors have been trying to master it using pins or other sharp objects to dislodge the shape, but even that doesn’t make it easy.
In Squid Game’s dystopian world, the penalty for an unsanctioned crack is death, although on TikTok we can assure you it’s just a bit of fun.
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