Korea Trending: 韩流甜品疯, 爆谷变身高档食物！
A new trend is re-shaping the dessert market in Korea, and those in the spotlight are popcorns and ice creams. Popcorns are becoming high-end goods; heading away from the easily consumable movie snacks, to luxury products that can be found at department stores.
一股新潮流正在重新塑造韩国甜品市场，而主角竟然是爆谷与雪糕，爆谷正成为高档食物，逐渐远离戏院，一下子变成百货公司的名贵产品。
Gourmet Popcorn
Photo courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
First runner up is Cream Pop. This store is only a month old with its grand opening on October 4th. Cream Pop features gourmet popcorns in various flavors, such as plain, sweet kettle, sweet onion, chili onion, cheddar cheese, caramel, oreo, strawberry cinnamon, fancy nuts, and Cream Pop mix of cheddar and caramel. Cream Pop first went viral on Instagram, and now the business is blooming with its hot location in the heart of Seoul’s trending fashion mecca, Garosu-gil.
Photos courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
首先是第二位的Cream Pop。在10月4日才正式开业。它提供了不同口味的爆谷，包括原味丶甜麦片味丶甜洋葱味丶辣洋葱味丶车打奶酪味丶焦糖味丶OREO味丶草莓肉桂味丶腰果味以及车打焦糖味。Cream Pop从Instagram受到关注，直到现在座落首尔的时尚心脏地带——街路树街。
Photos courtesy of blogger Cutie Pie
The popcorn bags follow the high-end trend with simple popcorn illustrations on its paper bag. The package is even more gentrified in KuKuRuZa’s stores, mainly found at department stores. Their popcorns are a bit sweeter than the ones in Cream Pop, but their packages come in different shapes and materials that would totally make them giftworthy. After all, it’s a department store brand.
爆谷袋贯彻了其高档风格，印有简单的爆谷图案。同样可以在百货公司找到的KuKuRuZa，包装更是华丽。他们的爆谷比起Cream Pop甜一些，但包装有着不同形状与物料，用来送礼亦不失礼，不过都是因为它是百货公司的品牌。
‘Dry Ice’ Ice cream
Photo by Jisu J
Likewise, ice creams are coming out in eye-catching looks. Located in the heart of Itaewon, the largest foreign-clustered district in Seoul, a newly opened ice cream shop Bastille steals the hearts of passengers nearby first with their exotic interior, then with their unique ice creams.
同样地，雪糕亦以着抢眼的形象登场。在首尔最大的外国人聚集地区—梨泰院的心脏地带，一所新开张的雪糕Bastille成功以其充满异国风情的装潢和独特的雪糕掳走不少人的心。
Photo by Jisu J
Bastille offers three different flavors of ice creams in dry ice, with the most popular one as Choco Chex ice cream with French breakfast toppings. Other flavors include cinnamon toast crunch and Kellogg’s cornflakes. The ice creams live up to their names, tasting exactly the same. Bastille features their ice creams in two layers of plastic cups with dry ice in between, making the ice cream look as if it’s diffusing smoke. Definitely a must-try!
它提供了三种不同口味的乾冰雪糕，最受欢迎的是巧克力脆脆雪糕配法式Toppings ，而另一款口味则是肉桂脆吐司和玉米片，同样不负众望，一样好吃。Bastille的雪糕杯是两层的，底层加了乾冰，在烟雾弥漫下，雪糕就有如在仙境般，绝对是必试之选。
Macaroon Ice Cream
Photo by Jisu J
Another trend sweeping the dessert market is macaroon ice cream. This trend has even been picked up by a local major retailer, Paris Baguette, for commercialisation. The original store for these macaroon ice creams is Penguin Macaron in Daehakro. At 5 p.m. on weekdays and 4 p.m. on weekends, the store starts selling 300 macaroon ice creams daily. A big line forms almost all the time, and the macaroons are sold out in less than two hours. The sweetness of ice creams is enhanced by extra sweet macaroon covers.
而另一款横扫甜品界的就是马卡龙雪糕，而这个口味已被一些本地连锁店如Paris Baguette商业化，不过最先发明马卡龙雪糕的商店其实是在首尔大学路的Penguin Macaron。平日在下午5时开门，周未则是下午4时，每日只卖300客马卡龙雪糕，每次都是大排长龙，不足2小时便完全售罄。甜甜的马卡龙更是提升了雪糕本来的甜味。
Photo courtesy of blogger Nadrimi
Popcorn + Ice cream
Photo courtesy of blogger Yhjung1
Before you hit the exit button, however, take a look at this hybrid. Located near Penguin Macaron, the ice cream store Flip Pop features caramel corn pop, an ice cream with caramel flavored popcorns decorating layers of towered ice cream. This store even offers a chance to create your own 7-seconds long flip book.
先别赶着走！在Penguin Macaron附近还有一间名为Flip Pop的混合雪糕店，在雪糕上洒了一层焦糖味爆谷，你还有机会在这里做一本7秒的手翻书。
Amid the approaching cold weather, Koreans are still reaching out for these unique desserts. What do you think will come next?
在这麽冷的天气下，韩国人还是吃这样特别的甜品，下一次又会给我们带来什麽新创意呢？
TEXT: JISU J
CHINESE TRANSLATION: CHRIS Y
GRAPHICS: SUKI Y / HOKK FABRICA
