Dasik facts for kids
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| Type | Hangwa |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | Korea |
| Main ingredients | grain or other edible seed flour or pollen, and honey |
| Dasik | |
| Hangul |
다식
|
|---|---|
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | dasik |
| McCune–Reischauer | tashik |
| IPA | [taɕik̚] |
Dasik (pronounced dah-sik) is a small, tasty Korean treat. Its name means "tea food" because people usually eat it with tea. It's a type of traditional Korean sweet called hangwa.
To make dasik, people mix flour from grains or other seeds, or even pollen, with sweet honey. Then, they press this mixture into special molds called dasikpan. These molds give the dasik pretty shapes and patterns.
A plate of dasik often has many different colors, like green, yellow, pink, black, and white. This makes them look very appealing! Some common ingredients used to make dasik include rice flour, pine pollen, black sesame, chestnut, and soybeans.
What Kinds of Dasik Are There?
There are many different kinds of dasik, each made with unique ingredients:
- Bam dasik (밤다식) is made from chestnuts. The chestnuts are steamed and mashed, or sometimes dried and ground into a powder.
- Geomeunkkae dasik (검은깨다식) uses toasted black sesame seeds, which are ground into a powder.
- Kkae dasik (깨다식) is similar but uses regular toasted sesame seed powder.
- Kong dasik (콩다식) is made from steamed and mashed yellow soybeans.
- Pureunkong dasik (푸른콩다식) uses steamed and mashed green soybeans.
- Songhwa dasik (송화다식) is special because it's made from pine pollen.
- Ssal dasik (쌀다식) is made from glutinous rice flour. The rice is steamed, dried, toasted, and then pounded into flour.
Where Did Dasik Come From?
Dasik first came to Korea from China during the time of the Song Dynasty. Over time, it became a very important food in Korea. During the Joseon Dynasty, dasik was often served at special events like weddings. It was a ceremonial food, meaning it was part of important traditions.
What is a Dasikpan?
A dasikpan (다식판) is a special wooden or porcelain tool used to shape dasik. It's like a cookie press, but for these traditional Korean sweets.
The dasikpan has beautiful designs carved into it. When the dasik dough is pressed into the mold, these designs create a raised pattern on the sweet. These patterns often have special meanings. They might show a family's name, or symbols that wish for a long life, good luck, health, or peacefulness. You might see letters, flower patterns, or even Chinese characters like 壽 (long life), 福 (luck), 康 (health), and 寧 (peacefulness).
A set of dasikpan usually comes with two pieces. Each piece is about 30–60 cm long, 5–6 cm wide, and 2–3 cm thick. They are carefully crafted to make each piece of dasik a little work of art!
