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Hershey chocolate tastes like__
- Thread starter SchneiderMan
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Ahh, vomit tasting chocolate.
Here I was spending all that money on really good dark chocolate, when I could have saved it and had chocolate which tastes like vomit.
Hard to believe, but I've been seeking vomit tasting chocolate for many years.
Thank you, OP, my search is ended.
Here I was spending all that money on really good dark chocolate, when I could have saved it and had chocolate which tastes like vomit.
Hard to believe, but I've been seeking vomit tasting chocolate for many years.
Thank you, OP, my search is ended.
My theory is that it has something to do with growing up with that unique taste of Hershey. And that fact that it's more affordable than imported chocolate, many haven't bothered trying out other brands. Or that we Americans just have bad taste in general
This is going too far, but it was interesting to get feedback.
Unfortunately, in Europe the UK has a terrible reputation for chocolate and for cars. We do have Green and Blacks though (from the same company that brings you the Kraft Cheese Slice).
In Greece, only one Supermarket in my area carries Hershey's chocolate. It's not as bad as you say it is. I think the Hershey's chocolate in Europe tastes different than the one in the U.S.
I'm a dark chocolate fan.
I'm a dark chocolate fan.
I like the taste of Hershey's chocolate, it certainly does not remind me of vomit.
It's not super high-quality world-shattering chocolate, but it gets the job done.
It's not super high-quality world-shattering chocolate, but it gets the job done.
A Hershey bar is lucky to contain 10% cocoa, if that. They also take out almost all of the cocoa butter and replace it with Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate, a cheaper alternative filler made from castor beans. Pretty much all the big, cheap American chocolate makers do the same thing - the result is an end product that tastes more like wax (or vomit) than chocolate.
What's even worse is that Hershey's has bought out artisinal chocolate-makers like Scharffenberger and Joseph Schmidt and ruined their products. Thankfully there are plenty of other smaller chocolatiers they haven't bought / ruined yet, and the numerous European imports are still an option.
What's even worse is that Hershey's has bought out artisinal chocolate-makers like Scharffenberger and Joseph Schmidt and ruined their products. Thankfully there are plenty of other smaller chocolatiers they haven't bought / ruined yet, and the numerous European imports are still an option.
Hershey Kisses are awesome. It's something I have always loved.
Totally agree. Why spend more for the fancy expensive stuff, when youve got Hersheys?
Most definitely. My personal favorites are Lindt, Ferrero, Milka, Dove, Toblerone and Godiva although they are overpriced. Luckily around L.A, all these are available at local supermarkets
I don't mind a Snickers bar once in a while or a anything else with nuts!
I'm not making this up lol Guess this means I've got a better chance at becoming a chef than you?
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Dredging up this old thread with some comments from a total chocolate and pastry nerd. Lots of misconceptions in this thread.
1. Hershey's tastes that way because it's supposed to taste that way, not because someone screwed up. Hershey's smells slightly like vomit / sour milk because it contains elevated levels of butyric acid. This is due to Hershey's use of the "Hershey Process", which it has used since the turn of the century. The Hershey Process (which is a trade secret) was designed to produce chocolate more cheaply back when raw cacao was extremely expensive and a chocolate bar was a luxury good. This is no longer the case. but because of the long history of the Hershey Bar and Kisses being sold in the US, Americans are used to this flavor in Hershey's chocolate and the company has stuck with the process. The rest of the world is not used to the taste and considers it a sign of poor manufacturing. What people unfamiliar with Hershey's chocolate might consider to be a fault or "mistake" in making the chocolate is actually a deliberately introduced flavor. This IN NO WAY excuses Hershey for the (IMO) awful taste of a standard Hershey bar. I think Hershey's should abandon the Hershey's Process. It no longer makes sense and once you notice it, it's terrible. PWe should all persuade Hershey to ditch the outdated process.
2. A standard Hershey's bar contains far more cocao than many popular European chocolate bars. The EU minimum percentage is only 1% while a Hershey's bar contains about 11% cacao solids. The UK is (in)famous for have a pretty lax definition of "chocolate", something that sparked a trade war about 15 years ago. In fact, many bars that are sold as "chocolate" in the UK could not legally be sold in the US as "chocolate" because the cacao content is too low or because the manufacturing process introduces non-cacao fat. An example of this is Cadbury Dairy Milk which is based on (much cheaper) palm oil and thus is not chocolate in a purist sense. Because of this, Dairy Milk is contract manufactured in the US without the palm oil for sale in the US. So from a purist sense, a Hershey's Bar is more "real chocolate" than the vaunted Dairy Milk. So there, snotty Brits.
3. Hershey owns several high end brands that produce boutique world class chocolate (Dagoba, Scharffen-Berger etc). Also, many products produced by Hershey's don't follow the Hershey Process and thus exclude the "sour" taste (example: "Pot of Gold"). The company knows how to make unbelievably good chocolate.
1. Hershey's tastes that way because it's supposed to taste that way, not because someone screwed up. Hershey's smells slightly like vomit / sour milk because it contains elevated levels of butyric acid. This is due to Hershey's use of the "Hershey Process", which it has used since the turn of the century. The Hershey Process (which is a trade secret) was designed to produce chocolate more cheaply back when raw cacao was extremely expensive and a chocolate bar was a luxury good. This is no longer the case. but because of the long history of the Hershey Bar and Kisses being sold in the US, Americans are used to this flavor in Hershey's chocolate and the company has stuck with the process. The rest of the world is not used to the taste and considers it a sign of poor manufacturing. What people unfamiliar with Hershey's chocolate might consider to be a fault or "mistake" in making the chocolate is actually a deliberately introduced flavor. This IN NO WAY excuses Hershey for the (IMO) awful taste of a standard Hershey bar. I think Hershey's should abandon the Hershey's Process. It no longer makes sense and once you notice it, it's terrible. PWe should all persuade Hershey to ditch the outdated process.
2. A standard Hershey's bar contains far more cocao than many popular European chocolate bars. The EU minimum percentage is only 1% while a Hershey's bar contains about 11% cacao solids. The UK is (in)famous for have a pretty lax definition of "chocolate", something that sparked a trade war about 15 years ago. In fact, many bars that are sold as "chocolate" in the UK could not legally be sold in the US as "chocolate" because the cacao content is too low or because the manufacturing process introduces non-cacao fat. An example of this is Cadbury Dairy Milk which is based on (much cheaper) palm oil and thus is not chocolate in a purist sense. Because of this, Dairy Milk is contract manufactured in the US without the palm oil for sale in the US. So from a purist sense, a Hershey's Bar is more "real chocolate" than the vaunted Dairy Milk. So there, snotty Brits.
3. Hershey owns several high end brands that produce boutique world class chocolate (Dagoba, Scharffen-Berger etc). Also, many products produced by Hershey's don't follow the Hershey Process and thus exclude the "sour" taste (example: "Pot of Gold"). The company knows how to make unbelievably good chocolate.
I'm a big chocolate lover and back in high school Hershey's dark chocolate was my favourite. Since then I've tried so many different chocolates, finally culminating with a discovery of an awesome local chocolatemaker which totally spoiled me. Their stuff is relatively expensive (though completely worth the impeccable quality), so I can't really eat it in the same quantities as before, but that is probably a good thing. The bad part is, now I mentally compare every piece of chocolate to that stuff, and 99.9% of the time it's a let down.
Luxury once sampled becomes a necessity!
Luxury once sampled becomes a necessity!
Oh yeah, the Brits produce some really terrible chocolate. I mean, Green & Black's is pretty good, but the mass-market stuff is terrible. And "dark" chocolate is not necessarily much better just for being "dark"--the standards of what can be sold as "dark" or semi-sweet is not that high. Milk chocolate can be fine chocolate. (Scare up a bar of Slitti LatteNero if you can) For myself, I bake a lot, so I'm usually buying my chocolate in 3-5 kilo bags of callets, and I usually get E. Guittard, El Rey, or Jacques Torres. I'd like to bake with Taza more, but it's just way too expensive to use in bulk.
thanks for the interesting and informative post.
i don't particularly like hershey's, which always had a funny taste to me. now i know why.
that said, i never particularly liked cadbury's or whitman's and other similar products.
to remain in terms of industrial chocolate, i like milka, lindt, caffarel, perugina, godiva and ritter.
toblerone is good too.
someone mentioned Nutella. i love the stuff, but it is not chocolate. it's a hazelnut spread with a minimum of cocoa in it, just a hint really.
As long as we're necro-posting...
I can get Lindt chocolate bars (the 70% & 90%) in my local Wal-mart and Target stores. The prices are much lower than any other stores around me.