Korean Slate

Unbelievable as though it may sound, this is the first product I remember ever trying from SahmYook Foods. Perhaps because they market primarily towards children. This 195-ml box attracted me at the supermarket because there was almost no English on it and didn’t seem to have any strategy for targeting English speakers.

,,, although you’ll notice how phonetically accurate the company transliterated its Korean name 삼육 into English. I thought it would be the typical Samyuk or Samyook. That good point in the bag, the English on their website could do with a bit of improvement. (Even the Korean page misspelled the word 검은콩 as 컴은콩.)

I don’t recall how this tasted in particular. Most Korean soy drinks are all the same to me. I suck on the straw and before you know it the tetra pak is empty, leaving me with the feeling that I’ve consumed my healthful allotment for the day and am now free to stuff my face with choco pie.

So we’ll have to go by ingredients list and nutrition facts for an evaluation. The content breakdown is provided only in hangeul. Too lazy to double-check the technical terms; don’t sue me if there’s some inaccuracy.

• 88.1% soy liquid (imported, meaning from outside South Korea, likely China)
• 6% liquid extract from black beans (grown in Korea)
• 0.33% calcium carbonate
• 0.3% sesame seeds (100% organic, from the USA)
• all sorts of sugars, salt, sweet-potato paste, oils, vitamin D3, vitamin E, MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides), arabic gum, corn starch…

I spotted 액상과당 which could be high-fructose corn syrup. Tsk, tsk.. 고과당시럽 … So not good… I guess that’s the last time I’m buying this product.

Nutrition facts: 140 calories. 16 grams of carbohydrates, 10g from sugars. 6 grams of protein. 6 grams of fat, 2.1 g saturated. No trans fat. No cholesterol. 180 milligrams of sodium. 160 mg calcium. 1.95 micrograms of Vitamin D3, which is 39% of recommended daily allowance.

Warning: Don’t ever put the box inside a microwave oven or subject  it to intense pressure.

UPC Code: 8 801136 361292. Manufactured in Chon-an City in Chungnam Province. Consumer hotline: (080) 580-3636.

Also has an HACCP seal. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.

Shake and then drink. Et cetera, et cetera 등등등…