Japanese Pocky vs Korean Pepero: The Battle of the Chocolate Biscuit Sticks

Pocky and Pepero are both chocolate covered biscuit sticks. So what’s the difference?

Japanese Pocky (ポッキー ) came first and were first sold in Japan in 1966 by the Glico company. Since 1966, Pocky has produced a variety of different flavors for Pocky. Some flavors include strawberry, cookies and cream, orange, banana, green tea, and coconut. Pocky also has some unusual flavors such as lychee, sweet potato, black sesame, and kiwifruit mango.

Korean Pepero (빼빼로) were sold in South Korean since 1983 by the Lotte confectionary company. Pepero also has a variety of flavors for their biscuit sticks such as chocolate, strawberry, white chocolate, almond with chocolate, mint chocolate, peanut butter, dark chocolate, blueberry yogurt, tiramisu, melon, and so on.

I personally do not have a preference. I have tried both pocky and pepero and to be honest, I don’t taste a difference. They pretty much taste the same to me, probably because they are almost the same thing except for the fact that they produce some different flavors. I have noticed in the United States, however, it is much easier to find and buy pocky in stores such as your local grocery store than it is to find and buy pepero. The only places I was able to find pepero were Asian food markets and possibly F.Y.E.

What do you prefer: Pocky or Pepero?

Pryanik: Russian Spice Cookies

Pryanik (Пряник) are Russian spice cookies. It is sweetbread filled with spices, marmalade, sweetened condensed milk, or caramelized milk. The spices used can be cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, or cardamom. It is often served as a snack with tea or coffee. The city of Tula is most famous for Pryanik. In fact, Tula even has its own museum dedicated to these cookies.

They come in many shapes and sizes, so they can be as simple or as elegant and nicely designed as you want them to be.