Ice Up Your Summer in Bingsu Mecca, Daegu (Korea)

ICE UP YOUR SUMMER

in #1 Bingsu Mecca, Daegu (Korea)

Evolution of Bingsu and Unique Bingsu Best3

I bet you recognize what the dessert is even if you can’t say its name! This is one of the most popular Korean summer desserts, bingsu! Bingsu literally means ice shaving. When you walk around any street in Korea during the summer–whether it be a busy downtown or a suburb- you will notice banners of this colorful dessert!

-Where you can find bingsu: cafes, bakeries, some restaurants and even stationary stores in front of schools

This dessert has evolved into countless varieties over the past 5 years. Traced back in Chosun dynasty(1392 – 1910), Korean ancestors enjoyed its earliest form of bingsu, crushed ice topped with various chopped fruits. Later on, the modern form appeared in the early 1950’s. This is what Koreans perceived as a classic bigsu, “patbigsu”, which is ice shaving with sweetened red beans. Back then, patbingsu was served with a couple of toppings such as chopped rice cake and nut powder. Until the early 2000’s the mainstream patbingsu introduced more various ingredients like fruits, condensed milk, jellies, serials, etc. When I was a kid, I was very sad when summer was fading away in early September when stores stopped selling this seasonal dessert.

Now, you can enjoy this taste of Korean summer all year round! There are even franchises specialized in bingsu that provide this sweet dessert every season. It comes in a limitless options in terms of types of ice, toppings and kinds of bowls (Hooray!) You can choose ice from crunchy ones to powder soft one. Because the ice shaving is the essential ingredient of bingsu, it has developed into many kinds ranging from simple water, milk to unique mixtures of milk, condensed milk, cidar, or/and other secret ingredients. As you can see from images, recent bingsu often omit red bean paste and go with fresh fruits or it incorporates other desserts like cheese, coffee, ice cream, cake, yogurt and even alcohol(did I just said it is a dessert? Haha) It is a perfect way to slake thirst in the scorching summer. No wonder Daegu is becoming a bingsu mecca! In addition to all bingsu from franchises, a number of creative bingsu has developed in Daegu. The followings are some of them that are most talked about in social media this year.

Maldives Bingsu @Café Life