Everyone has a snack that holds a special place in their heart. For many Koreans, it’s the Orion Choco Pie.

More than 18.3 billion of the chocolate-coated, marshmallow-filled cake sandwiches have been sold since 1974 around the world, from South Korea to Russia, China and Vietnam. “If you pile them, you could cover the globe 32 times,” said Shin Hyun-mi, an Orion spokeswoman.

In its iconic TV commercial, Choco Pie represents “Jeong,” the idiosyncratic Korean emotion depicting inexplicable amiability and amicability among people. 

 

And in the real world, the chocolate treat has stories all its own. Many young men have longed for Choco Pies during their mandatory military service, when the cake was given to soldiers at special occasions as an award. In Vietnam, it is offered on religious altars for ancestors in many families as a treat for the deceased who liked it when they were alive.

“There is no golden rule to Choco Pie. It is simple. The ratio between the cake sheet, marshmallow and chocolate is 1:1:1,” said Kang Soo-chul, team manager of the Choco Pie unit at the Orion research and development center.

“But retaining the 14 percent moistness between the cake sheets and the marshmallow makes the snack crispy yet soft. We check the product on a daily basis ― I eat 9-10 pies a day to make sure that the golden rules are kept ― and that brought Choco Pie to where it is now,” he said.

And even at this very moment, the 41-year-old snack is evolving.

For global producers, the company holds a “Choco Pie University” program one or two times a year to allow Choco Pie makers in Korea, China, Russia and Vietnam to gather and exchange information and know-how.

“For example, making chocolates sweeter is crucial for Russians so that they can enjoy it as a tea cake. For the Vietnamese, keeping the chocolate coating clean and tight so that it does not melt down on your finger is very important. There are both cultural and environmental factors in the improvement, and sharing such experiences with others strongly maintains Choco Pie’s quality worldwide,” Kang said.

In Korea, customer complaints or suggestions are gathered on a regular basis and reflected in the product. As more Koreans prefer a softer texture in snacks, the viscosity of the cake sheets and marshmallow has gone up. For mothers complaining about the crumbs, the moistness has been delicately readjusted.

Alongside the incremental improvements in taste, Choco Pie is undergoing a major overhaul.

The company recently launched the “New Start” campaign, hinting at reestablishing its iconic “Jeong” campaign and the jingle that sang, “You don’t have to say anything, you just have to look ... and that feeling comes from inside your heart” when friends, family members or strangers share that particularly Korean emotion with others by giving or receiving Choco Pies in TV commercials.

“The young ones always texting, always having plenty of other snacks such as pizza or hamburgers, don’t really get that little bliss you feel when someone hands you a little pack of Choco Pie,” 41-year-old Kang said, recalling his own memories of jumping with joy in the early 1980s when his relatives would visit his parents and present them a box of the treats.

“We have recently increased the pie to 39 grams from the previous 35 grams to meet the youth’s preferences, and we are now trying to discover what the youngsters want. We are constantly trying to meet our customers at the right trend,” Kang said.

But one thing that does not change must be its taste. Here’s his advice for getting the ultimate taste out of a Choco Pie: Don’t eat it too quickly.

“At the 13th bite you will feel the marshmallow and the cake spread all across the inner mouth and at the 22nd bite, it passes your throat with all that richness,” Kang said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)