What is Pongo?

Pongo Jar

The quick answer is that it is a new type of chocolate hazelnut spread made by Feather Foods. The jar's label claims it has 77% less sugar, 3X more protein, and no palm oil... than what? That's part of what I'm going to try and decipher in today's feature article. Let's get the legal stuff out of the way. I was sent a free jar of this product via the Amazon Vine program to test and write a review on their website; no other form of compensation was received in exchange for my honest review. The article on The Chocolate Cult is an unexpected bonus for the brand.

When you think cocoa or chocolate hazelnut spread, what is the first brand you think of? Nutella, right? So let's compare the claims on the jar to that brand. 

Nutella has 7 ingredients; Pongo has 10.

Nutella has palm oil; Pong has sunflower oil and cocoa butter. (That's one ingredient from our scared fruit.)

Nutella has 20g of sugars; Pongo has 5g sugars but also 10g sugar alcohol in the form of maltitol. 

Nutella has 2g of protein; Pongo has 7g protein which includes whey protein concentrate

Both have cocoa powder, giving Pongo twice as many chocolate related ingredients as Nutella.

However, Pongo has 1g more of total fat than Nutella and 10mg cholesterol while Nutella has none. Pongo has 20 fewer calories per serving and the serving size is the same. 

You probably make your choice of what to buy and eat also on using the product not just the label, right?

Pongo Opened

Pongo is thinner which I think you can see in the photo above. The waxy paper under the lid was a pain to remove. It didn't have good sized tabs to pull, it broke into several parts, and it was covered with the product that got all over my fingers. That gave me a taste of the product itself. It has a definite maltitol flavor to it but also a strong hazelnut taste that quickly was conquered by a dark chocolate essence. If you don't like maltitol or cannot use it, stay away from this product because it is the first ingredient on the list and that flavor lingers.

Pongo on Toast

I used it on toast and found it a challenge to spread. First, I had to stir it as is common with natural nut spreads even though this is not what I'd call as natural or simple as Nutella. Second, the product was still thin and dripped from the knife so it was a bit messy to apply to the toast. Measuring out the serving would be a bit of  challenge because of the dripping. It tasted the same on the toast as by itself. The thinness would make this a good dipping choice if you had fruits, cookies, or marshmallows and might make it a good ingredient for candy or cookie making, just look up how the maltitol may affect temperature and time for such creations.

I will certainly finish this jar but this probably not a product I'd go out of my way to buy given the added ingredients. I'm more of a purist in terms of my chocolate hazelnut spreads.

What about you? Would you try this product?