The Best in Season : Star of Korean Agricultural Products, K-Strawberry

The byword for strawberries Korea export is ‘Maehyang’. Maehyang strawberries have hard flesh, so they stay in high, fresh quality even though they are transported long-distance. With the recent development of freshness retention technology, strawberry varieties exported from Korea are also diversified. Strawberries in season in Korea are at their best quality right now, so they taste delicious for any kind of variety.

#Various Korean Strawberries overseas
To pick just one popular winter agricultural product in Korea, the first place is definitely ‘strawberry’. This is thanks to the high sugar content and texture, and Korean strawberries are also becoming very popular abroad.
However, Korean strawberries are slightly different in those for domestic consumption and export. Maehyang is the mainly exported strawberry variety, while 'Seolhyang' is mainly sold in Korea. This is because Maehyang is a little harder than Seolhyang, so it is suitable for long-distance transportation. But there is no need to be upset about this, thanks to the diversification of the strawberries that can be exported from Korea with the development of freshness retention technology. Seolhyang can be tasted abroad, and ‘Kuemsil', a hybrid of Maehyang and Seolhyang, can also be purchased. Kuemsil has both the hardness of Maehyang and the size of Seolhyang. Also, ‘Kingsberry’, which has the size of an egg, is a Korean strawberry that can be purchased overseas.

#How to Enjoy Strawberries Deliciously
Another name for strawberry is ‘the queen of vitamin C’. As such, strawberries are high in vitamin C, with 80mg per 100g. Eating just six strawberries is enough to meet the recommended daily vitamin intake. But this is possible when good quality strawberries are purchased. Thus, it is very important to select good strawberries. Good strawberries have stems with dark blue color that aren’t dried out. A ripe strawberry has red flesh up to the top. After purchase, store them in an airtight paper box. For strawberries that will be consumed soon, do not remove the stem but put plastic wrap on them and store them in the refrigerator. Strawberries have thin skins and are easily damaged, so it is best to wash them lightly under running water. If they are soaked in water for more than 30 seconds, the vitamin C will dissolve in the water and come out.

The Best Product Online : ‘Tteokbokki’, the Driver of K-Snack

Korea’s ‘street food’ and ‘representative snack’. This exactly refers to Tteokbokki. Characterized by its sweet and spicy taste, Tteokbokki is made by putting rice cakes in a sauce based on Gochujang (red chili paste). Depending on your taste, you can add ramen, ham, or glass noodles to it and eat it as a generous meal. Recently, as the number of people who know the taste of Tteokbokki is increasing abroad, Tteokbokki products tailored to local taste are also being released. 

#Tteokbokki Craze in Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, Tteokbokki is as popular as in Korea. Tteokbokki is drawing attention as there are more consumers who have seen Korean celebrities eating or seen Korean food on TV. Thanks to this, rice cakes, Gochujang, and Tteokbokki sauce that are necessary for making Tteokbokki were also listed as ‘Favourite’ in Vietnam’s Shopee and ‘Star’ in Indonesia’s Shopee. Both Favourite and Star are expressions that mean popular products.
The diversification of products also contributed to this popularity. New products have continued to be launched, from the existing Jjajang Tteokbokki and soy sauce Tteokbokki to Curry Tteokbokki and Rose Tteokbokki. There were also small rice cakes with cheese or are long pulled like noodles. With a growing perception that spicy food is Korean recently, Hot Chicken Flavor sauce is also sold as Tteokbokki sauce. Ssamjang (red chili and soybean paste), which is relatively less spicy than Gochujang, is also popular enough to be used as a sauce for Tteokbokki.

#Taste, Awareness, and Reasonable Price also play a Part
It is true that the taste and popularity of Hallyu (Korean Wave) have driven Tteokbokki’s popularity abroad. However, no matter how delicious and well-known products are, they aren’t easily sold if the price is too high. This is why the reasonable price of Korean Tteokbokki products attracts Southeast Asian consumers to buy them. The bite-size form and quality packaging may have aroused their purchase desire as well. In fact, many reviews of Korean Tteokbokki purchases from Shopee say ‘good quality’, ‘reasonable price’, and ‘good packaging’. One customer also shared his taste by saying, “Add chili powder and eat it all the way to the top.” Check out the detailed product review in the infographic.