Trading Fall Favorites

    by Johanna Alexander, ETA ’20

    Content warning: this is a recipe BLOG and as such it will read like one. Don’t like? Don’t read. #livelaughlove #suburbanMom-sona 

    As you all might already know, Korean Starbucks BARELY carries The Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL). It’s there for like two weeks and gone before Halloween. To some this may be devastating, but to me, this crime is overshadowed by one much more heinous, almost sinister in nature: there is no apple cider!

    I worked on a farm last year so I was blessed with free cider every week during fall apple season. Blessed and also cursed, for as soon as we ripped August off our paper calendar, a certain withdrawal-like feeling crept into my body…What do you mean it’s September? The leaves are changing colors? Who gave them permission?? The queen has not yet sat upon her throne with spiced cider in her golden chalice!!!!!! 

    Just as I was about to succumb to the cognitive dissonance of fall with no liquid indicator of the change of seasons, my host mom sat a glass of something oranger than orange juice down at the breakfast table.

    The second I took my first sip I felt the impact of the season’s first amber leaf hitting the ground. It was full of pumpkin flavor, a little sweet. Refreshing. A little tangy. 단호박 식혜. Sweet pumpkin rice drink. A beverage that, though lacking caffeine, could rival the reigning champ PSL for pumpkin drink of the season.

    I decided that I MUST learn how to make this pumpkin sikhye; in return, I would show my host mom how to make apple cider.

    First, I learned the ways of sikhye. My host mom, watchful eyes aflame with the embodied spirit of Gordon Ramsey himself, guided my hand in the measuring, chopping, pouring, stirring and straining of our nightly sikhye sessions. I was Hercules and she Chiron, meticulously  preparing me to make a sikhye fit for the gods—lest her honored name be shamed by a mistake in my recount of her sacred recipe. 

    Halfway through our sikye olympic training (we made a total of four batches), I discovered the magic of slushie-cold sikhye (freezing it in the kimchi fridge is the secret!). A refreshing ending to the hot days of summer and a foreshadow to the chilly fall days ahead.

    Next, was the apple cider. 

    I didn’t realize how much seasonal weight rested on a 16 oz glass of muddled apples until I came to Korea this year and was unable to drink it at my leisure. As Joni Mitchel once said, “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” If you have ever lived away from home, you will understand how tiny, seemingly insignificant details of your daily life –things that you’d never think twice about –suddenly become so remarkably consequential that you think you ought to repent for lack of proper exaltation of their name until now. 

    Oh great Apple Cider, Goddess of Fall, your humble servant shall now proselytize in your blessed name.

    “Chilsung cider?” 

    “Apple juice?” 

    “Apple cider vinegar?”

    It proved to be quite the elusive beverage. We bought 15 apples for 5,000 won from the old man selling fruit by our house. What a steal! I then went about finding spices. 

    “Spices?” my host mom asked. “We have red pepper powder here. Won’t that work?” 

    My brain short circuited for a second before I realized the confusion about the word spice. 

    This spice combination was new to my family. A lot of cinnamon and funny shaped cloves, allspice, and nutmeg that they said smelled just like black pepper. Perhaps more impressive than my family’s reaction upon tasting the finished product was their reaction to the smell of all the spices boiling in the pot. 

    When the apple cider was all finished and bottled, they each tried a glass and agreed that it would be great when the weather got chillier or when they had a cold. I shared extra cider (and fall memories) with my Gumi friends, who in turn shared it with their friends, co-workers, and families. Though I was wary at first that no one would kneel with me in praise of the fall goddess, I heard through the whispers of Hermes’s messengers that the kids and office teachers were thoroughly convinced; “Now this is a drink we can get behind!” 

    It seems we have reached a happy ending to the story of a girl and her mission to trade fall favorites. I have not only fulfilled my duty as a scribe to the ways of pumpkin sikhye and helping hand to its creator, but also successfully welcomed fall with my family and friends in Gumi through the warmth and flavors of spiced apple cider.

    However, a prophet’s work is never done.

    For you, my dear readers, for you I shall now share recipes for both pumpkin sikhye and apple cider. So, when fall is in full swing all my fellow Fulbrighters will be juiced up with the powers of both American apple cider and Korean pumpkin sikhye.

    Then, we will collectively be unstoppable. We’ll welcome the wind and the rain and the darkness of the fall season with mouthfuls of apple, pumpkin, and spice; with heartfuls of warmth, memories, and everything nice!

    Part 1: Korean Pumpkin Sikhye

    Makes about 8 liters which is a helluva lot of sikhye so either give it to friends, throw a party, drink it all yourself—pumpkin is good for digestion—or reduce the recipe. 

    Total time: 6 hours

    Ingredients:

    Tools:

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Directions:

    1. Put barley flour into the bag and close it. Put it in a big bowl with 4 liters of water. Give it some massages and squeeze out that flavor. You’ll see the water turn milky white. Let it sit for a little and come back. Massage for a few more minutes. Repeat three times.
    2. Put the cloudy barley water in the rice cooker with your 1-2 bowls of cooked rice (leave the bag in the bowl). Cook for 5 hours on the keep-warm (보온) setting. If you don’t have a rice cooker you could use an instapot, crock pot, or leave it on your stove/in the oven on the LOWEST setting. You’ll know it’s done when some rice floats to the top.
    3. In the meantime, pour 4 more liters of water on your bag—if the quality of the barley flour is good, there should still be milky whiteness coming out. If it gets to the point where you can’t massage more cloudy liquid out, don’t add any more water. Let it rest until the rice from step 2 is done.
    4. Steam the pumpkins and then remove the skin. Chop into chunks. When the rice from step 2 is all done, add some water from the uncooked barley bag bowl and blend with the pumpkins.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     5.  Pour your warmed barley and rice mix into the giant pot for the stove (if you don’t want much rice, use a strainer to separate the rice. Make sure to squeeze out the juice from the separated rice). 

       6.  Add your pumpkin puree and all the extra uncooked barley water. Mix well. 

       7.  Add dried ginger.

       8.  Bring the pot to a boil. Once boiling, add some sugar. The sugar is all to taste, but for 8 liters of water we used more than 500 grams. Add as much as you like. You can also add more after it’s completely boiled. 

       9.  Boil for about 10 minutes.
            Let it cool to room temperature. Remove ginger pouches. Then funnel the sikhye into any storage bottle you want. Refrigerate and drink when it’s nice and cold. Make sure to give it a shake before pouring a glass.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Part 2: Spiced Apple Cider

    This recipe makes about 2 liters of hot spiced cider. If you want the classic version, just omit the four spices (they’re hard to get in Korea anyways).

    Total time: 4 hours

    Ingredients: 

    Directions:

    1. Wash and quarter apples. Remove seeds (apple seeds have arsenic). 
    2. Add apples, spices, sugar, and orange to a pot and cover with at least two inches of water.
    3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer with a cover for 2 hours
    4. Remove orange halves and mash up all the chunks.
    5. Simmer uncovered for up to 1 more hour. Check on it every so often to taste the flavor and make sure you still have water left.
    6. Cool completely.
    7. Squeeze through a cheesecloth and a strainer and I mean REALLY work at it. Waste not want not my friends.
    8. Enjoy hot (or cold).

    Note: The cider we drink in the USA is slightly fermented, but this recipe is not. If you would like to ferment yours, I will leave that to you and your own google search bar, as I am no brewing master. You can tell the difference in taste, but it’s not so different that I wouldn’t call it apple cider.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    [Featured Photo by Elizabeth Stewart]