Korean Slate

This is not the confectionery company Lotte’s ordinary Choco Pie!

Had a hard time figuring out a title for this post. Still not sure what the formal designation for this product should be. The English on the front says Lotte Premium Pie Ghana (with Premium Chocolate Pie in smaller font). The Korean under Ghana says Cacao (Premium Pie made from Ghana Chocolate in smaller font). The English on the sticker label on the back of the box says Ghana Pie (Cacao).

Notice that Lotte didn’t use the term “choco pie” but the company does have another product formally designated as Choco Pie, which I have eaten but still haven’t taken a picture of the box and posted about it.

So what’s the difference between this and chocopie? Well, per the box, the premium ingredient in this product is supposedly Ghana chocolate. And the two layers sandwiching the thick white filling is dark, not white as in a regular choco pie. Texture-wise, my mouth noticed that this isn’t as squishy as the original chocopie from Orion. A true gourmet will declare the less squishy the better, yet because of the nostalgia associated with chocopie squishiness, you want to of course say the original’s better!

The box in the picture contains six individually wrapped round pies. Nutrition Facts: Serving Size 1 pouch (32 grams). 140 calories, 65 from fat. Total Fat 6g, 3.5g from Saturated Fat. No trans fat. Just 5 milligrams of cholesterol and 96 mg of sodium. Total Carbohydrate 20 g, none from dietary fiber, 12 g from sugars. Protein 2 grams. Percent Daily Values 3% calcium, 3% iron. No vitamin A or C.

Ingredients: enriched flour, sugar, corn syrup, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED shortening (palm, soybean), cocoa mass, d-sorbitol, cocoa preparation, egg, cocoa powder, lactose, glucose, skimmed milk powder, sodium bicarbonate, whole milk powder, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, cocoa butter, gelatin, salt, alcohol, coffee powder, emulsifier (soy lecithin, glycerin esters of fatty acid), coconut cream powder, cocoa extract, whey powder, cinnamon powder arabic gum, ε-polylysine, artificial flavor (vanillin, vanilla), enzyme. [my capitalization to emphasize very unhealthy ingredients]

Allergy Information: contains ingredient [sic] from soybean, milk, wheat, coconut, cocoa. Net Weight: 192 g (6.77 ounces)

Manufactured by Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. Seoul, Korea. Tel: USA 213-688-8806. Korea 2-2635-8722. UPC 8 801062 274819. Product Code 63933. Retail price: 1800 Korean won.

The box also contains an explanation of 템퍼 초코 (“temper choco”). 템퍼링 공정을 통해 만든 초콜릿으로 일반초콜랫에 비해 더 부드럽고, 깊은 맛을 내는 고급 초콜릿입니다. It simply states that chocolate made through the tempering process is of high quality, since it’s smoother and has a deeper flavor than regular chocolate.

It’s unlikely I’ll buy this again because of the high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated ingredients. I know I should read the label before buying, but if I did that I wouldn’t be able to try most Korean snacks, since most of them contains HFCS, etc. Strange though that the nutrition facts given says this doesn’t contain trans fat, which I thought was always in partially hydrogenated oils.