Traditional Korean snack shopping in Sokcho: two boxes of oranda

Looking for oranda at Sokcho Jungang Market

When you travel to Sokcho, there’s a place you end up stopping by at least once, right? It’s Sokcho Jungang Market. From delicious food to snacks, sweets, and giftable treats, Sokcho Jungang Market has so much to browse—it was seriously fun!

While looking around at food and snacks at Sokcho Jungang Market this time, I visited Sokcho Yetgokgan :) Actually, the purpose of this visit was very clear, haha. Buying oranda! Haha.

My husband loves oranda, so we said we should look for some when we went to Sokcho Jungang Market. Then we happened to find Sokcho Yetgokgan, which sells all kinds of old-fashioned sweets and traditional snacks.

Among the food offerings at Sokcho Jungang Market, Sokcho Yetgokgan had a wide range of products that would make great gifts to take home.

From oranda to syrups and drinks

There were honestly even more varieties than I expected, which made browsing fun! There were traditional snacks including nurungji red-rice brown-rice gwajul (crispy puffed-rice snack), brown-rice yugwa (fried rice puff), red-rice yugwa, yuja kkaburi oranda, and yakgwa (honey pastry).

If you like old-fashioned Korean sweets, these were the kind of displays that would be hard to walk past, haha. Especially if you enjoy longtime favorites such as oranda or gangjeong (sweet crispy rice clusters), it looked fun to choose a few one by one. They also seemed like a good option for anyone looking for food gift sets at Sokcho Jungang Market.

Syrups also came in 500 g and 1 kg sizes, with plenty of varieties for sale, including ginger syrup in 500 g and 1 kg sizes and balloon-flower-root and deodeok syrup in 500 g and 1 kg sizes.

There were lots of drinks too, not just traditional snacks.

They had makgeolli (Korean rice wine), as well as sikhye (sweet rice drink) and juice for people who do not drink alcohol :) So, you could come looking for snacks and sweets at Sokcho Jungang Market and browse products such as syrups and sikhye too. But there was one thing that especially caught my eye during my visit!

Balloon-flower-root and deodeok syrup simmering in the shop

It was the balloon-flower-root and deodeok syrup. The owner of Sokcho Yetgokgan was simmering it right in the shop. Seeing the process up close made me trust it even more, and I thought it would be a nice gift for my parents, so I picked up a business card to buy some for them next time!

Two boxes of my husband’s favorite oranda

This time, we had come specifically to buy oranda from the start, so we did not get carried away and bought just two boxes of oranda!

Finally, meeting the oranda my husband loves, haha.

The oranda had that appealing crunchy yet nutty texture the moment I bit into it.

The little pieces were held together nicely, but it did not feel overly hard or solid. It was crunchy to chew and had a sweet flavor.

Oranda can sometimes get cloying after just a few pieces when it is too sweet, but this had a nutty flavor alongside the sweetness, so it seemed nice with tea or coffee too! My husband said it was delicious as well and really enjoyed it, haha.

Traditional snack gifts from Sokcho Jungang Market

If you are looking for food and snacks at Sokcho Jungang Market but want something a little more special than ordinary cookies, old-fashioned treats such as oranda, gangjeong, and yugwa seem like great choices. Sokcho Yetgokgan had not only a range of snacks but also syrups and sikhye, so I thought it would be a good place to choose food gifts from Sokcho Jungang Market too.

Like us, you can simply pick up some oranda if you love it, or browse when looking for sweets to give your parents or acquaintances from Sokcho Jungang Market :) Best of all, the owner explained everything kindly, so it was nice to look around comfortably! If you visit Sokcho Jungang Market while traveling in Sokcho, do not just eat the delicious food and move on—have a look at traditional snacks like these too! For anyone looking for snacks at Sokcho Jungang Market, especially old-fashioned sweets, oranda, or gangjeong, I recommend Sokcho Yetgokgan!

I only brought home two boxes of oranda this time, but next time I definitely need to pick up some balloon-flower-root and deodeok syrup for my parents!