Yakgwa약과

Yakgwa (약과) belongs to a family of confections called yumilgwa, named for the oil (yu) and honey (mil) that go into them. The yak (藥, "medicine") in its name comes from the honey in the dough, the same way it is used in yaksik (sweet rice) and yakju (rice wine). In the Goryeo period, Buddhism was the state religion and meat or fish could not be offered to the Buddha, so yakgwa is said to have been offered instead.

It took a lot of expensive ingredients, yet people made so much of it that, according to the Goryeosa (History of Goryeo), bans were issued in 1192 under King Myeongjong and again in 1353 under King Gongmin. One story has it that during King Chungnyeol's reign, yakgwa was served at the wedding banquet of a Goryeo crown prince held in the Yuan court, where it won lavish praise, and that people in Yuan called it "Goryeo-byeong" (Goryeo cake) and sought it out.

As yakgwa spread to ordinary households, a rule is said to have appeared in the Daejeon Tongpyeon, a law code from King Jeongjo's reign in Joseon, punishing commoners who served yumilgwa at weddings or funerals with 80 strokes of the paddle. Once a fixture of feasts and ancestral rites, the cookie is now enjoying a second life as a trendy dessert paired with coffee or vanilla ice cream.