1. The True Nature of Post-Meal Naengmyeon Broth
After a meat-heavy meal, many restaurants offer a small cup of icy, cold naengmyeon broth as a complimentary dessert to cleanse the palate. It’s easy to drink it mindlessly, thinking it’s a small amount and will just refresh your greasy palate.
2. Ingredients Closer to ‘Sugar Water’
However, the dessert broth used in most restaurants is typically not a traditional ‘dongchimi’ or ‘meat stock,’ but is made by diluting a commercial concentrate with water.
– Main Ingredients: The main components of this concentrate are sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, salt, vinegar, and various seasonings (like MSG). Especially when served as a palate cleanser, it’s common to add even more sugar or soda to create a more intense and stimulating sweet and sour taste.
– The Danger of Liquid Sugar: This type of simple sugar, served cold in a liquid form, is absorbed by our body at a very high speed. This is like pouring fuel on the fire of your already rising post-meal blood sugar and can cause severe hyperglycemia.
3. The Illusion of Temperature and Taste
Because the broth is very cold, the sweetness may not be easily perceived. However, in reality, you could be consuming an amount of sugar comparable to a cola or juice. A single cup of broth, drunk casually as a ‘palate cleanser,’ can ruin the blood sugar control you carefully managed throughout your meal in an instant.
Summary: The naengmyeon broth served as a dessert at restaurants can be closer to ‘sugar water.’ It is a lump of liquid fructose that raises blood sugar very quickly and steeply, so people with diabetes must not drink it.
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