PEPERO FLAVORS

If you are a K-drama, K-pop or simply a Korean culture fan, I am sure you have seen these snacks before and probably already tried it if I am not mistaken. If you were thinking in Pepero, yes, you got it right!

Where do they come from?

Pepero came to life thanks to the fifth-largest chaebol in South Korea, the Lotte Group, a worldwide conglomerate corporation, established on June 28, 1948, by Shin Kyuk-ho in Tokyo. Years later, with the opening of Lotte Confectionery in Seoul on April 3, 1967, Shin brought Lotte to his native South Korea.

This thin cookie sticks with chocolate dipped in the top layer, and my other flavors are in the market since 1983, when Lotte Confectionery Corporation began producing pepero in South Korea. The main ingredients used to produce a packet of Pepero are flour and cocoa mass and has now been sold to roughly 64 different nations globally, with Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines being its three biggest markets.

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

Pepero is the big deal, so amazingly good and well know that it has won the following awards:

• Watsons Best Selling Snack Award- 2012
• Watsons Best Selling Biscuit Award- 2014
• Watsons Best Selling Korean Biscuit Award- 2015
• Germany's Red Dot Design Award- 2019
• Germany's iF Design Award- 2020

Besides this on 2014, as the Pepero brand ambassadors, the K-pop boy band EXO worked with Lotte. EXO-K and Red Velvet made their debut in a 30-second commercial for the coated cookie sticks and a limited-edition Pepero box featuring the EXO members on the front was created by the manufacturer.

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

Pepero Flavors

As of 2021 there were 32 different pepero flavors, yes, a huge amount to choose from, although some of them might not be found outside Korea I am sure you still have a wide variety. Here, we are going to review Seoulteam’s favorite pepero flavors, in no particular order.

Dark Chocolate (Original)

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

This one is the OG of them all the chocolate has a nice not so stronger dark chocolate flavor, while the biscuit sticks are thinner and have a simpler taste and texture. It was one of the most voted by Seoulbox teammates.

Almond

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

This came in the top two as one of the tastiest pepero. It has a tasty crunch and milk chocolate. A perfect balance of chocolate to almonds. Almonds are amazing, and having it combined with chocolate makes you love it even more.

Choco Cookie

Chocolate lovers, this one is for you all, this pepero has crushed chocolate cookie pieces added to the chocolate giving an extra crunch and chocolatey flavor. “OMG so much chocolate mixed together, give more! – Seoulteam teammate.

White Cookie

(Image: Credits to the rightful owner)

Similar to the choco cookie but with white chocolate. The creamy white chocolate is complemented by crumbs of bittersweet crushed chocolate biscuit, you can compare it to Hershey’s white chocolate plus the biscuit on pepero.

Nude Pepero

After trying so many pepero you may guess our hands were full of chocolate as well as our desks, oops! So, the nude pepero might be the solution for messy hands, this is essentially the dark chocolate (original) pepero, but instead with chocolate inside each stick, making it easier to eat without getting chocolate on your hands.

Nude Gree Tea

Same concept as the Nude Pepero, but on this case, the filling is with green tea cream, in case you love matcha tea, you might find this one tasty. Not so many fans between our team, but still it was a nice experience to try it.

Hami Melon

The melon as a fruit is amazing! On a snack it can’t go wrong, right? Well, it didn’t supringly enough it has a nice milky-melon-ish flavor that combines nicely with the biscuit stick.

Other Pepero Flavors:

• Nude Cheddar cheese
• Peanut Butter
• Latte
• Peanut & Pretzel
• Strawberry
• Tiramisu Cheese
• Peanut
• Blueberry Yogurt
• Mint choco

 

Pepero is a snack that can be enjoy simply bit itself or with your favorite hot beverage, as suggested by Lotte itself. Although we wanted to keep trying more flavors, it simple wasn’t possible but we will get back at it for “Pepero Day.” Oh yes! There is a pepero day, but that will be a story for next time. Share with us which flavors have you try and how you eat it!

Author: SUJI SOHN

About the author: Suji was studying in London in the year 2019 and, although being separated from her family, her passion for Korea was growing. She noticed that a lot of her close friends loved Korean culture, food, music, and dramas and gradually started to fall in love with Korea, but there weren't many opportunities to actually "experience" this wonderful nation!

Suji was aware of what she needed to do to introduce Korea to her friends' lives and, conceivably, to those of everyone else who was curious about a piece of Daehan Min-guk.