Korean Sweet Potato Types: Bam, Hobak and the Japanese Honey One
Korean sweet potato types come down to three Korean words, 밤고구마 (bam-goguma, "chestnut sweet potato"), 호박고구마 (hobak-goguma, "pumpkin sweet potato") and 꿀고구마 (kkul-goguma, "honey sweet potato"). They describe texture and sweetness, and the variety name behind each word has been changing. In a 2019 piece, Real Foods , a Korean food news site, listed those three as the commonly known types and put a variety in brackets next to each: 율미 (Yulmi) for chestnut, 안노베니 (Annobeni) for pumpkin and 베니하루카 (Beniharuka) for honey. Beniharuka is a Japanese seed. According to experts quoted by Nongmin Shinmun in June 2025, that Japanese variety "had been dominating" (좌지우지해왔다) the Korean sweet potato market. Chestnut, pumpkin, honey: what the words mean in the pot The Korean agricultural terms are 분질 (bunjil, floury) and 점질 (jeomjil, moist and sticky). A 2019 field guide from the Rural Development Administration (RDA) pairs them directly: "점질(호박)고구마...