{"id":27145,"date":"2023-05-17T14:42:58","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T21:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/?p=27145"},"modified":"2023-05-17T15:28:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-17T22:28:21","slug":"korean-steamed-pear-baesuk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/korean-steamed-pear-baesuk\/","title":{"rendered":"Korean Steamed Pear (Baesuk) – My favorite home cough remedy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Baesuk or Korean steamed pear is a traditional Korean herbal drink to help with coughs – especially for those lingering coughs after a cold and other minor throat irritations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Korean<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Baesuk \ubc30\uc219?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Baesuk \ubc30\uc219 literally means ‘pear = bae’ + ‘cooked = suk \u719f’. So if you searched for it, you may see 2 different styles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal Cuisine Version (\uad81\uc911\uc74c\uc2dd) <\/strong>is where the pear is peeled and cut into pieces and then a few peppercorns<\/strong> are embedded into the pear and then cooked in water + honey + ginger<\/strong> liquid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular version<\/strong> is where you remove the center of the pear and you fill it with peppercorns and honey<\/strong> and steam the whole pear. And that’s what I have made in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the ingredient makeup, I think they are both very similar. Pear + Honey + Peppercorns are both in the recipes. But they differ in that the Royal Cuisine version has the addition of ginger and is overall less concentrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing for sure is that yes, the royal cuisine version was served as desserts to royal families in the Joseon era. And the Korean steamed pear appears in Donguibogam \ub3d9\uc758\ubcf4\uac10 (Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine<\/em>)<\/a> where it is said to “release chest congestion and reduce the hotness (not fever but in oriental medicine one’s body becomes too hot when you have a ‘cold’) of the body<\/em>“. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will also try to make the royal cuisine version soon but I first wanted to share what I have been making in my family for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Baesuk (Korean Steamed Pear) Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever wonder how within the same family, one person usually gets terrible sore throats and coughs when the other gets colds with very stuffy or runny noses? In our family, my husband always gets terrible sinus colds while I rarely (probably just 1-2 times over our 30+ years of marriage) get that but I get a cold that will always go to my throat and then I end up with terrible coughs that makes my abs hurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My poor daughter of course seems to get it just about evenly. But when she gets a coughing cold, it will last for a good few weeks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s soo annoying, isn’t it? Once in college, I was so tired of it, I took a double dose of a cough medicine I got from the pharmacy because I thought maybe if I drank a lot of it, my cough would go away. HAHAHA.. no, don’t do this folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean.. I don’t usually do things like that – in fact, it was the only time ever in my life not following instructions on the medicine bottle. Now, did it do anything at all?? No.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got married and started living in the US, I tried making Baesuk for myself because I remember hearing about it vaguely as a child. And you know what? It actually worked!! And then I became a real believer when my daughter as a toddler started to cough for weeks after a cold and I tried all the cough syrups but found that only my baesuk worked!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it was a bit of a challenge to get my girl to eat something so spicy \ud83d\ude1d(with the peppercorns) but I just needed to have her take it for a few days and the coughs would just subside. Yay for mom!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Korean Steamed Pear (Baesuk) as a cold remedy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So I know you may wonder if Baesuk really helps your coughs and if it does, HOW that can be. I couldn’t find any direct scientific studies done on Baesuk itself but I was able to find a few sources that talks about each of the ingredients in this steamed pear recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what I found on Pears<\/strong> – “A review of pears (Pyrus spp.), ancient functional food for modern times<\/a><\/em>“. From various in vitro,<\/em> in vivo,<\/em> and human studies, the medicinal functions of pears can be summarized as anti-diabetic,-obese, \u2212hyperlipidemic, \u2212inflammatory, \u2212mutagenic, and -carcinogenic effects, detoxification of xenobiotics, respiratory<\/strong> and cardio-protective effects, and skin whitening effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it looks like Pears do have some respiratory protective effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regarding honey<\/strong>, I found “Honey for Treatment of Cough in Children<\/a>” written by an MD who is the Chief of the Pediatric Emergency at the BC Children\u2019s Hospital in Vancouver. He says “A single dose of honey before bedtime was shown in recent studies to diminish cough and the discomfort experienced by children and their parents.”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, one of the most interesting finds about peppercorns<\/strong> is that in India, it’s a long article on peppercorn home remedies<\/a>. Also, I found a research paper written in the Journal of functional foods about the “potential of black pepper and piperine as promising candidates for the development of nutraceuticals and functional food ingredients to treat airways disorders<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are remedies that include honey and peppercorns together in Indian culture, and remedies that use pear and honey together in Chinese culture. This Korean Baesuk recipe includes all 3 and so I think it should work pretty well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional Baesuk \ubc30\uc219 (Korean Steamed Pear)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n