Korean Sweet Potato (Goguma)
๊ณ ๊ตฌ๋งgo-gu-ma
Purple-skinned, chestnut-sweet sweet potatoes for snacks and sweets
Korean sweet potatoes have reddish-purple skin and pale yellow flesh that roasts up dense, fluffy and chestnut-sweet โ quite different from the moist orange sweet potatoes common in the US. Roasted goguma is a classic winter street snack.
- Korean name
- ๊ณ ๊ตฌ๋ง (go-gu-ma)
- What it is
- Purple-skinned, chestnut-sweet sweet potatoes for snacks and sweets
- Storage
- Keep in a cool, dark, airy place โ not the fridge, where they turn hard in the center.
- Substitute
- Japanese sweet potatoes (satsumaimo) are the closest.
- Recipes
- Used in 36 recipes on coo K food
How they are used
Sweet potatoes are roasted whole (gun-goguma), fried and tossed in crackly syrup (goguma-ppaseu), cut into fries or sticks for snacks, mashed into lattes and desserts, and cooked into rice. Their natural sweetness lets many recipes in this collection skip added sugar.
Sweet potato also gives Korean cooking two other ingredients: sweet potato starch, which becomes glass noodles (dangmyeon), and sweet potato stems (goguma-julgi), a summer namul.
๐ง How to store it
Keep in a cool, dark, airy place โ not the fridge, where they turn hard in the center. Use within a few weeks.
๐ Substitutes
Japanese sweet potatoes (satsumaimo) are the closest. Orange sweet potatoes are wetter and less sweet but work in most cooked dishes.
๐ Where to buy
This is a fresh ingredient, so it is best bought in person at a Korean or pan-Asian grocery store such as H Mart, or through an online Asian grocer that delivers fresh produce in your area. Look for it under its Korean name, ๊ณ ๊ตฌ๋ง (goguma).
