Hodugwaja

Small walnut-shaped pastries filled with sweet red bean paste and a whole walnut piece, Cheonan's famous regional specialty.

Hodugwaja are bite-sized walnut-shaped pastries invented in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in 1934, making them one of Korea's earliest recorded regional food specialties. A light, slightly sweet wheat batter is baked in walnut-shaped molds until golden, with a filling of smooth red bean paste and a whole roasted walnut piece nestled at the center that gives each pastry its characteristic earthy crunch. The snack became so associated with Cheonan that it is the dominant souvenir food sold at Cheonan Station and rest stops on the Gyeongbu Expressway, and generations of Koreans associate hodugwaja with road trips and homecomings. The pastries are typically sold warm in boxes or paper bags, and the smell of freshly baked walnut cookie is a recognized comfort trigger in Korean collective memory. Unlike many traditional sweets that have been reinvented or modernized, hodugwaja has remained essentially unchanged for nearly a century, a testament to the perfection of its original recipe. Today, dozens of shops in Cheonan compete for the title of the original or best recipe, and food tourists make pilgrimages to the city specifically to taste and compare versions from different producers.