1. Ingredients for Sikhye
-Primary ingredients: Sweet rice and rice
-Secondary ingredients: Malt (dried barley sprouts) and sugar
2. Taste evaluation
-Spicy:☆☆☆☆☆
-Salty:☆☆☆☆☆
-Sweet:★★★★☆
-Sour:☆☆☆☆☆
-Toasted flavor: ★★☆☆☆
3.
Introduction to Sikhye
Sikhye
is a Korean traditional drink that is made by pouring malt into
cooked sweet rice and fermenting it. It
generally tastes sweet but it has flavors of grains (sweet rice) and
unique taste from fermented food.
Most
of Koreans think Sikhye was a drink but it used to be a completely
different food.
In
old times, people from the east coast province enjoyed eating
something called Eo-sikhye, which was fermented fish mixed with rice,
malt and spicy chili sauce, because they could easily get fish in
that area. As
Eo-sikhye was distributed in other regions, those who live in cities
where it is difficult get fish and those who did not like fish
started to make Sikhye in different ways without using fish.
And
the most popular one is called Andong Sikhye, which uses sweet rice,
malt, spicy chili sauce and radish instead of fish, which tastes neat
and cool. Radish
and spicy sauce was removed Andong Sikhye, and it became today’s
sweet and pure Sikhye.
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You
can pour malt and water in sweet rice and keep it warm to let rice
fermented. And then add more sugar for the sweeter taste.
Malt
is a dried product made by pouring water into barley until it sprouts
that would add unique sweet taste and flavor to it.
If
the temperature is too high, it cannot be fermented properly and if
it’s too low, it will taste extremely sour.
It
requires a lot of effort from those with a lot of experience to make
it taste and smell deeper than any other fruit juice or coke.
If
you drink cool Sikhye, it will have sweet and unique flavor and scent
of malt. And sweet rice at the bottom tastes so nice so you should
shake it before you drink it.
Sikhye
contains a lot of fiber so it will help your digestion if you drink
it after a meal. Plus, it will help you with your constipation
because it is a fermented product like yogurt.
I
suggest that you should try Sikhye instead of coke or coffee if you
need something to drink after meals.
Search on Wikipedia
4.
Kinds of Sikhye
People
in east coast areas still love to eat the original Sikhye with fish
in it called Eo-sikhye.
For
Sikhye, there are many kinds in Korea including Eo-sikhye in east
coast areas, regular Sikhye as a common beverage,
Hobak(pumpkin)-sikhye, Saenggang(ginger)-sikhye and so on.
-
Eo-sikhye(fish Sikhye): Fish is fermented with sweet rice (or rice),
malt and spicy chili sauce, and it tastes spicy and pungent.
-
Regular Sikhye: Sweet rice mixed with gyle, fermented and seasoned
with sugar.
-
Hobak-sikhye(pumpkin Sikhye): Sweet rice mixed with malt and pumpkin
water, fermented and seasoned with sugar. It has pumpkin flavor.
-
Saenggang-sikhye(ginger Sikhye): Ginger is added to regular Sikhye
and boiled together. It has a special flavor and spicy taste of
ginger.
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5.
How to enjoy Sikhye even more
Sikhye
is a popular dessert after meals for it tastes so sweet.
It’s
a popular traditional beverage for Koreans that you can find in any
convenience store or supermarket.
You
can also get it at a cheap price if you’re at a traditional market
or even order it at a restaurant.
Sikhye
tastes the best when it’s served cold. So you might find it
slightly frozen when you buy it.
You
could buy a canned Sikhye at a convenience store and put it in the
freezer.
The
most popular Korean foods among foreign tourists are mostly meat
cuisines like Bulgogi, Galbi and Samgyupsal.
So
when you’re full after a heavy meal, drink Sikhye then you’ll
feel much better and lighter.
