Songpyeon () is a small Korean rice cake (tteok) shaped like a half-moon. It contains a range of fillings including red bean paste, toasted sesame seeds, and chestnuts and is traditionally eaten during the Korean autumn harvest festival, Chuseok, when it is often prepared by families at home. It is a popular symbol of traditional Korean culture. The earliest records of songpyeon date from the Goryeo period.
Description
Songpyeons are half-moon shaped rice cakes that typically contain sweet or semi-sweet fillings, such as soybeans, cowpeas, chestnuts, jujubes, dates, red beans, sesame seeds, or honey. They are steamed over a layer of pine needles, which gives them a distinctive taste and the fragrant smell of fresh pine trees. The colors typically include white (흰 송편, hwinsongpyeon), green (숙 송편, ssuksongpyeon), red (송이 송편, songgisongpyeon), and yellow (치자 송편, chijasongpyeon). Songpyeon is typically eaten during the Korean holiday, Chuseok, where it is shared amongst family, friends, and neighbors. It is also consumed with liquor on this occasion. "Song" refers to pine needles.
Culture
Songpyeon is quintessential to Korean families' Chuseok celebrations. Traditionally, songpyeon was made by Korean families using freshly harvested rice and then offered to their ancestors on the morning of Chuseok as thanks for the bountiful harvest during charye (), an ancestral memorial ritual.
Songpyeon is used to show gratitude for the year's harvest by placing it on a table with other foods, included newly harvested fruit, and taro. These three foods symbolize, respectively, the fruit of the heavens, the fruit of the earth, and the fruit of the underground.
Songpyeon is also said to represent the moon and wishes, which is why people will say their wishes while making and eating it.
Preparation
Songpyeon is made by kneading rice flour with salt and hot water until it is smooth in order to create a dough. Small pieces of the dough are torn off, rolled into balls and then indented in the center using a thumb. The filling of choice is placed inside the now hollowed center and then the ball is sealed closed and shaped. The rice cakes are steamed on top of pine needles for about 20–30 minutes and then rinsed with cold water in order to maintain their chewy texture. The rice cakes are then blotted dry and typically finished by being brushed with sesame oil.
Gyeongsang Province
Songpyeon made in Gyeongsang Province are typically larger than the songpyeon found in other regions. A popular type of songpyeon found here is ramie songpyeon, which consists of boiled ramie leaves which are added to the rice cakes to make them healthier.