Dalgona (Ppopgi): Korea’s Two-Ingredient Honeycomb Candy from Squid Game

Few snacks carry as much nostalgia as dalgona (달고나), the pale, crackly honeycomb candy that Korean kids have been chasing down street vendors for since the 1960s. Also known as ppopgi (뽑기), it is made from just two humble things sitting in your kitchen right now: sugar and a pinch of baking soda (소다). A spoonful of sugar is melted in a ladle until it glows amber, a tiny bit of soda is stirred in, and the molten sugar suddenly foams up into a light, airy caramel. Press it flat, stamp a shape on top, and you have a disc of candy and a little childhood game all at once.

The magic is pure chemistry. When baking soda hits the hot sugar, it thermally decomposes and releases carbon dioxide. Those bubbles get trapped in the molten syrup, puffing it up into that signature spongy honeycomb and lightening the color to a soft caramel. Less soda is more here: a couple of small pinches gives you a clean sweetness, while too much turns the whole thing bitter.

A serious safety word before you start. Molten sugar is extremely hot, well over 150C (300F), and it clings to skin and keeps burning. This is firmly an adults-handle-the-ladle recipe. Keep children back from the flame, keep water away from the hot sugar (it can spit), wear oven mitts, turn the ladle handle inward, and never, ever touch the candy until it has cooled completely. The fun part is for everyone; the hot ladle is for one careful grown-up.

The Squid Game connection

If dalgona looks familiar even to people who have never been to Korea, you can thank Squid Game. In Season 1, the candy is the players’ second deadly game: each contestant receives a tin of dalgona stamped with a circle, triangle, star, or the dreaded umbrella, and must carve that shape out intact with a needle before time runs out. Crack it, and you’re eliminated. That single scene sent dalgona global, doubling sales for Korean street vendors overnight. Koroute’s Squid Game Season 3 finale article notes how the honeycomb candy keeps returning across the seasons as a recurring symbol, something small and sweet from childhood, sharpened into a test you can fail fatally. The good news: at home you can recreate the exact challenge with zero stakes and no needle, just a toothpick. (Don’t worry, no character outcomes are spoiled here.)

Ingredients

This makes one disc. Scale up one ladleful at a time rather than melting a big batch at once; small batches set evenly and stay easy to control.

• 1.5 tablespoons white sugar (per candy)
• 1/16 teaspoon baking soda, about 2 to 3 small pinches (less is more)
• A little neutral oil, for greasing the surface and press

Equipment: a stainless-steel ladle (the traditional tool), a chopstick or wooden skewer for stirring, parchment paper or a lightly oiled flat surface, a flat press (a hotteok press, or the smooth greased bottom of a metal bowl or cup), and a cookie cutter for your shape.

How to make dalgona

1. Put the sugar in the ladle and hold it over low to medium-low heat. Stir slowly and constantly with the chopstick; the sugar melts from the edges inward. If it starts to smoke, lift the ladle off the flame, overheating makes it bitter and burnt.
2. When the sugar is fully melted, lump-free, and a light amber, take the ladle completely off the heat, away from the flame.
3. Add the pinch of baking soda and stir quickly and vigorously, about 20 to 25 times, until the mixture froths, lightens to a pale caramel, and roughly doubles in volume. Work fast, it sets quickly.
4. Scrape the foam out onto the oiled parchment.
5. Wait 10 to 20 seconds so it firms slightly, then press it flat with the greased press into a thin, even disc.
6. Immediately stamp your cookie-cutter shape onto the top surface: press in, then lift away. Do not cut all the way through. Let it cool and harden fully before anyone touches it.

The childhood game is simple: once it’s cool, try to pick or lick the stamped shape out cleanly without cracking the rest of the disc. A star is forgiving; an umbrella is brutal.

Ways to play with it

Once you’ve got the basic method down, the variations are half the fun. Try the classic star (별), a heart (하트), or, if you want the full Squid Game difficulty curve, the umbrella (우산), circle (원), and triangle (삼각형). Insert a lollipop stick before pressing for a handled version that’s great for kids to hold (after it cools). Swap in brown sugar for a deeper, more toffee-like caramel flavor. And yes, the trendy whipped dalgona coffee shares the name, born from the same sweet caramel notes, though that’s a drink for another day.

However you stamp it, dalgona is proof that the most memorable Korean treats often come from the simplest ingredients. Make a few discs, hand out the toothpicks, and let everyone find out how steady their hands really are.