Korean malt syrup

[MelissaH]

I'm hoping there's a little intersection between the homebrewing community and those who cook Korean food.

I found a recipe for pork ribs that glazes them with a mixture that includes malt syrup. These days, it's easier for me to get homebrew supplies than it is for me to get to the almost-local Asian grocery.

Can anyone out there give me a suggestion as to what sort of malt syrup the Koreans use, and what its homebrew equivalent might be?

Thanks,

MelissaH

[Soup]

Cannot give you a direct comparison but I believe you are referring to Mul Yut. I think it is corn syrup (someone plese check me on this).

However since your end goal is making korean pork ribs, you can use honey, brown sugar or white sugar. They all work just as good.

I have a lot of korean cook books and most call for sugar or honey instead of malt syrup. The best version of the korean pork ribs (both the soy based one and the kochujang based one which is spicy) is done by my father and he always uses sugar.

Soup

[mgaretz]

At the homebrew store your best bet would be to stay with "light" malt syrup. Anything else would be flavored for making beer.

[nakji]

Mul yut is a light-coloured syrup, isn't it? To this day, I'm not sure what exactly it's made from, but I have successfully substituted corn syrup into recipes calling for it. It doesn't contribute much in flavour, just liquid stickiness. You could use honey, but the flavour is more pronounced, and corn syrup is cheaper, I suppose.

[MelissaH]

Yes, I'm looking for mool yut (choose your preferred transliteration).

I wish I knew what grain was malted to make it!

MelissaH

[nakji]

choose your preferred transliteration

I choose the Revised Romanization of Korean!

I'm pretty sure the malt syrup is made from barley, but it doesn't look anything near as dark as brewers malt.

[monkuaruka]

I had a similar problem finding this for a Chinese crispy chicken recipe.

The generic name of this is "maltose syrup". If you can find an Asian or Japanese market, look for Mool Yut (Korean) or Mizuame (Japanese). The Wikipedia entry shows maltose as being about 1/3 as sweet as honey or straight sugar. You should be able to substitute honey (and this is commonly seen in English translations of Chinese recipes), however based on the relative sweetness I would recommend reducing quantities by about 1/3.

Good luck, and best regards from Tokyo...

[zaskar]

I've gotten Malt syrup from the korean market here. I've also seen Korean malt syrup w/ the following ingrediants: Corn syrup, glucose, water.

Malt syrup is made from barely. Maltose is used for peking duck, give it that shinny coat.

I'll be going later this morning and could look and see what I can find there. LEt me know.

-z

[baroness]

You may be able to find barley malt syrup at a natural foods store.

[SheenaGreena]

My mother uses karo syrup as a substitute for the malt syrup and I never notice a taste difference (:

[heidih]

My mother uses karo syrup as a substitute for the malt syrup and I never notice a taste difference (:

Karo, a brand of corn syrup, comes in light which is clear, and dark. Do you know which one your mom uses?

[nakji]

Sorry, i should add that mul yut is very pale - almost clear in colour. Light corn syrup would be a good substitute.

[Doodad]

As a Korean food lover and homebrewer who used to work in a supply store I would not use the brewer's malt.

I would, however, use sorghum syrup if I could find it. Or do Richard Blais' trick in the TC finale and cook down the Carribean drink Malta.

If nothing else for flavor's sake.