[Photographs: Vicky Wasik]
There comes a degree towards the top of each nice meal when the desk is roofed with soiled plates, rumpled napkins, and the tablecloth has become a Rorschach inkblot of wine and sauce stains. When belts are loosened and eyelids start to droop, it’s time for sujeonggwa. Sujeonggwa is a non-alcoholic Korean digestif made by simmering ginger, cinnamon, sugar, and water to make a heat, spiced, fragrant cross between a tea and punch. Historically, it is completed with dried persimmons and pine nuts for peak fall vibes. The restorative, heat warmth of contemporary ginger balanced by the molasses sweetness of brown sugar makes the right pre-dessert pick-me-up after an enormous meal.
For this model, dried apple chips substitute hard-to-find dried persimmons, which provides this sujeonggwa a mulled apple cider really feel, and to compensate for the lack of the gingerbread and dried apricot notes persimmons sometimes present, cinnamon sticks are flippantly charred over an open flame after which mixed with water, brown sugar, sliced ginger, cloves, and star anise to kind the bottom for the drink. The combination is simmered till intensely fragrant, faraway from the warmth, and a heaping handful of dried apple chips are added to the pot. The sujeonggwa is then put aside to steep for twenty minutes, strained, gently reheated, and served in mugs with a sprinkling of pine nuts—it is like an apple pie in tea kind.
