“It has a sweet taste and is not toxic. It improves the eyesight and blood circulation in the eyes. It heals the inner organs and helps stop shedding tears when one faces a cold wind.”

These are the medicinal effects of chrysanthemums, as written in the "Dongui Bogam" (동의보감, 東醫寶鑑), the best-known medical book from Joseon times.

Chrysanthemums are one of the most popular flowers, especially in the autumn in Korea. As it blossoms in late fall, despite the cold, Confucian scholars of Joseon times, or seonbi, thought the flower had noble Confucian virtues, or gunja (군자). For this reason, chrysanthemums were considered one of the Four Noble Lords (Sagunja, 사군자, 四君子) along with orchids, bamboo and plum flowers.

In the past, people used to have a seasonal custom of cooking and enjoying pancakes and liquor made from chrysanthemums on the day of Jungyangyeol (중양절), the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. Once you bit a piece of chrysanthemum pancake, or gukhwajeon (국화전), you would relish in its subtle yet wonderful fragrance.

Why don’t you enjoy some chrysanthemum pancakes and feel the true mood of autumn?





** Ingredients
5 cups glutinous rice or 10 cups ground glutinous rice
1/2 tbsp of salt
1 cup boiling water
20 edible chrysanthemum flowers
10 jujubes
10 chestnuts
8 pieces of manna lichen
Honey or sugar syrup
Cooking oil





** Recipe
1. Rinse the glutinous rice and soak it in water for about 12 hours. Add salt to the rice, mix it together and drain it through a strainer to make a fine powder. Gradually add the boiling water to make a tender mixture. Make dough circles for the pancakes, about 5 centimeters in diameter.
2. Wash the chrysanthemum flowers in cold water. Remove the water from the flowers. Peel and cut the jujubes in a round flower-like shape.
3. Cover a fry pan with cooking oil and cook the pancakes over a very low heat. When one side is cooked, turn them over and add the flower petals, jujube or other toppings to decorate the pancake.
4. Sprinkle honey or sugar syrup over the cooked pancakes before serving.









Managed by Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Jeon Han Korea.net Photographer
In cooperation with the Institute of Traditional Korean Food (ITKF)