Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Sujeonggwa
A dark cinnamon-and-ginger punch simmered deep and sweet, served cold with soft dried persimmon and floating pine nuts.
Korean · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 40 min
~165 cal · 1g protein · 35g carbs · 3g fat · 0g fiber · 34g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Sujeonggwa is a traditional Korean punch enjoyed across the whole peninsula, a deep ruby-red drink simmered from cinnamon bark and ginger with sugar or honey. The two spices are cooked separately and then combined, giving a liquid at once spicy, sweet, and warming, which is then chilled until cold.
Its classic garnish completes it: soft, rehydrated dried persimmon (gotgam) floating in the bowl, and a scatter of pine nuts on top. The persimmon softens in the sweet-spiced liquid and is eaten at the end, a little treat waiting at the bottom of the cup.
It is a drink of holidays and the cold season, especially the lunar new year and the winter months, valued as both a festive punch and a soothing digestif after a rich meal. Fragrant, spiced, and cold, sujeonggwa is the traditional close to a Korean celebration.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 sticks cinnamon bark
3-inch fresh ginger
10 cups water
1 cup brown sugar (or honey)
4 dried persimmon
2 tbsp pine nuts, to float
Instructions
1
Simmer the cinnamon and sliced ginger in the water in separate pots (or together) for 30 minutes.
2
Combine the infusions, stir in the brown sugar, and simmer 10 minutes until dark and fragrant.
3
Strain and chill; soak the dried persimmon in a little of the punch until soft.
4
Serve cold with a piece of persimmon and a few pine nuts floating on top.
Korean holiday tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pyongyang. The mustard and the vinegar are the diner's job rather than the cook's. They come to the table to be added to taste, the noodles are traditionally left uncut so they are slurped whole, and the broth is a clear beef stock, sometimes blended with chicken or pheasant, deliberately restrained rather than sweet.
🗺️
North Korea. North Korean cuisine shares Korea's fermentation heritage but leans milder and more austere, cold buckwheat noodles (naengmyeon), corn and potato dishes, and hearty stews. Pyongyang's cold noodles are its most famous export.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from North Korea
Pyongyang NaengmyeonChewy buckwheat noodles in an icy, clear beef-and-radish broth, topped with pear, egg, and pickles.
OnbanA Pyongyang bowl of warm rice in chicken broth topped with shredded chicken and a mung-bean pancake.
Injo-gogi-bapSheets of soybean 'meat' stuffed with rice and topped with a spicy sauce, a resourceful North Korean street food.
Browse all North Korea recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a North Korea meal
BindaetteokDinner
Gangnaengi-tteokDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Botswana Ginger BeerBotswana
Tangawisi (Congolese Ginger Tonic)DR Congo
GnamankoudjiCôte d’Ivoire
Salone Ginger BeerSierra Leone
Kahawa ya TangawiziTanzania
Cherbet el LozAlgeria
Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Sujeonggwa?
A dark cinnamon-and-ginger punch simmered deep and sweet, served cold with soft dried persimmon and floating pine nuts.
Where does Sujeonggwa come from?
Sujeonggwa is a Korean dish from Pyongyang, North Korea.
Can Sujeonggwa be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sujeonggwa recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sujeonggwa safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sujeonggwa take to make?
About 50 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.