Patbingsu

Patbingsu or patbingsoo is a very popular snack/dessert in South Korea, especially during the sweltering and humid summer season.

This snack is composed of ice shavings and sweetened azuki beans (known as 팥, or pat). It initially began as a mixture of hand shaved ice and sweetened azuki beans. It was sold by street vendors. These days it has become a very elaborate summer dessert, often topped with ice cream or frozen yogurt, sweetened condensed milk, fruit syrups, various fruits such as strawberries, kiwifruit, and bananas, small pieces of tteok (rice cake), chewy jelly bits, and cereal flakes. Some vendors add cherry tomatoes as cherry tomatoes are generally considered a fruit in South Korea.

Variations

Bingsu are available in different flavors. Green tea and coffee are popular variates. For the summer 2007 season, Starbucks Korea released a frappuccino inspired by patbingsu.

Availability

Patbingsu is a summer specialty item found on the menus of most fast food restaurants in South Korea. KFC, McDonald's, Lotteria, and Burger King usually carry patbingsu on their menus from May to September. The ice cream/yogurt chains Pinkberry and Red Mango carry it year round.

Patbingsu is also a very popular dessert at cafés in Los Angeles' Koreatown.

Eating

Fans of patbingsu have different methods of eating. Some are "mixers" and immediately mix all the toppings into the base of ice and pat before eating. photo Others are serial eaters, eating each topping in succession. There is also a hybrid style where one starts as a serial eater and then after sampling each topping, the eater mixes the remaining toppings.