Chocolate News

27th October 2008

posted in Food News, Health, Nutrition & Fitness |

The time of year rivaled only by Christmas as kids’ favorite day of the year is nearly upon us. But before you pass out those much-anticipated chocolate treats to visiting ghosts and goblins, take a closer look at its label. In an efforts to cut costs, Hershey’s recently replaced cocoa butter with vegetable oil in several products. The removal of cocoa butter violates the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition of milk chocolate, so now instead of boasting its “milk chocolate” goodness, the labels on Mr. Goodbar, Milk Duds, Whatchamacallit and Krackel now have to read “chocolately,” while Hershey’s Kissables are now labeled “chocolate candy.”

Cocoa powder gives chocolate its taste, but its the cocoa butter that gives it that inimitable texture. Cocoa butter is one of the rare, naturally occurring vegetable fats that is solid at room temperature and melts as it hits body temperature — that is to say, it melts in your mouth — and gives well-made chocolate its excellent shelf life. In terms of nutrition, the change from cocoa butter to vegetable oil doesn’t significantly affect calorie or fat content, but unlike vegetable oil, cocoa butter doesn’t raise cholesterol levels. Nutritionists also point out that cocoa butter can offer health benefits by protecting chocolate’s antioxidant properties.

Hershey’s is betting on the fact that consumers won’t pick up on the taste difference and indeed, in a blind taste test recently conducted by Today, about half of the participants said they liked the new Hershey’s Kissables even better than the Kissables sans cocoa butter. Yet when a number of industry groups lobbied last year for a change to the FDA’s definition of chocolate to allow cocoa butter to be replaced with vegetable oil, chocolate connoisseurs sent hundreds of outraged letters to the FDA in protest. Across the board, it seems that chocolate consumers prefer real chocolate to mockolate. Nine of the 10 bestselling U.S. chocolate candies are made with the real stuff, with Butterfinger the outlier. Hershey fans, never fear — Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey’s chocolate bars still contain real milk chocolate.

But even as America’s chocolate king cheapens its low-end stuff — and let’s face it, Milk Duds are among the first Halloween candies to be traded — the company is going gourmet with other brands. Organic lavender or lemon ginger Dagoba chocolate, anyone? Hershey’s bought the high-end organic chocolatier along with artisans Sharffen Berger and Joseph Schmidt, and earlier this year, introduced Starbucks and Bliss chocolates. It’s rival Mars is following suit, introducing premium M&Ms in flavors like raspberry almond and triple chocolate for $4 a bag. Dove, another Mars brand, recently launched its large bars in six new flavors, including chocolate cranberry almond and dark chocolate roasted almond.

For chocolate connossieurs with a conscience, there’s yet other affordable but still gourmet chocolate offerings available, often stocked by your local supermarket. Green & Blacks, a London-based chocolate maker, offers bars in 13 flavors all made with organically grown cocoa beans (About $3.49 for a 3.5-ounce bar). San Diego-based Chuao Chocolatier uses cocoa beans from Venezuela to make its ChocoPod, a hybrid of its bon bons and chocolate bars. Innovative flavors include Firecracker (popping candy, chipotle, salt), Picante (spicy cabernet caramel) and Candela (spicy macademia praline in dark chocolate). Individual bars (.39 ounces) are sold for 99 cents at places like Whole Foods and Pier One Imports. Divine Chocolate not only uses fair trade cocoa beans to produce its dark chocolate bars, its Ghana cocoa farmers are also part owners of the company. A 1.5-ounce Divine Chocolate bar sells for about $1.50 at places like Whole Foods, Food Emporium, Nordstrom, Wegmans and independent health food stores and co-ops.

In other candy news, Mars closed a $23 billion deal to purchase chewing-gum giant Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. earlier this month, a merger that bumps Britain’s Cadbury from its position as the world’s largest confectionary group. The sale ends more than a century of family control at Wrigley’s, which was founded in 1911 and made popular by its Juicy Fruit and Spearmint gum brands. The company will retain its Chicago headquarters and will take over Mars’ sugar candy brand, including Skittles and Starburst, as well as production facilities in Australia, the Czech Republic and Mexico.

Have you noticed a flavor difference in Hershey’s vegetable oil brands? Does the switch bother you? Know of any other great gourmet chocolate brands? Discuss any and all chocolate news below.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Food News, Health, Nutrition & Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On October 27th, 2008, devil said:

There was a time when I’d eat ANY kind of chocolate. I’d have probably eaten a spider, if it was coated in chocolate.

My preferred chocolate is See’s. I’ve eaten Godiva and Ethel M’s and wasn’t impressed. For me, expensive is not necessarily better.

That said, Hershey’s tastes too sweet and lacking in real chocolate flavor for me. It’s okay for giving to screeching children in the checkout line to shut them up, but I don’t want to eat it. And all this dolling up of Hershey’s (raspberry almond, cranberry almond…WTH?) is just putting lipstick on a pig to me.

Heaven is where I get to eat all the See’s Bridge Mix and Harry & David dark chocolate covered espresso beans that I want and I won’t have to share.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 8:54 am

2 On October 27th, 2008, Krista said:

Yes, it matters to me. This is just another example of the consumer being duped into purchasing low-quality goods. I know soap isn’t the topic of this post, but my dermatologist just let me in on how much my “favorite” soap has changed since I first started using it back in the ’90s. I no longer buy that kind of soap. No wonder the price has stayed the same…they’ve been using lower and lower quality ingredients to try to save $.
But anyway, back to chocolate. For me, it’s Bissingers all the way, baby. Their one non-mall store location is just a few blocks from my house, and their hot chocolates are killer.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am

3 On October 27th, 2008, Carrie said:

There is a place in Baltimore called Ma Petite Shoe that sells shoes and chocolate (owned by a woman, anyone?). They have the best stuff there.

I don’t go for milk chocolate- it’s dark all the way. But I do think this is a disturbing trend, subsituting things in the foods we love. Because eventually, they don’t taste the same anymore. I love the more gourmet brands you mentioned, Rachel, and I would rather eat those occasionally (because of price) than crappy stuff on a more regular basis.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am

4 On October 27th, 2008, ladyjaye said:

I no longer like most North American so-called chocolates (aka candy bars). Nowadays, when I buy chocolate, I go for the big French brands, namely Poulain and Côte d’or. I like my chocolate bittersweet rather than with milk… One of the few North American chocolates I really enjoy is After Eight (minty chocolate).

The worst offenders I find are the so-called Easter chocolates (you know, those big rabbits or licensed characters). They’re horrible and taste waxy.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 10:13 am

5 On October 27th, 2008, naath said:

Most UK “normal” (that is “cheap”) chocolate is made with vegetable oil – and, yes, the EU tried to make us stop calling it chocolate but NO, we would not fall for that! It’s OK really, I mean, sure, there’s lots of stuff that is *better* but it’s not all that bad; although I don’t eat any of it anymore because it is not Fair Trade and I reckon that I can afford Ethical chocolate. (Cream Eggs made in the US taste odd though; I mean, it’s *like* a cream egg… but not. So I think the taste change might be obvious to some people).

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 10:24 am

6 On October 27th, 2008, CarrieP said:

Hershey’s bought Dagoba?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

dammit. I’m so tired of conglomerates buying up my favorite stuff and then changing it into a crappy version of its former self.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 11:02 am

7 On October 27th, 2008, Rachel said:

Boy, you guys are some real gourmet chocolate afficionados! I hadn’t even heard of many of the brands listed here. The husband and I don’t eat chocolate often, so maybe that’s the reason we’re none too picky about it. If we’re craving it, we’ll usually share an Almond Joy or a box of Hershey’s 60-calorie sticks. I sometimes get the sugar-free stuff, but you have to really eat that in moderation or risk the consequences later. As for chocolate varieties, I generally dislike dark chocolate, unless its flavored with mint or coconut.

I know soap isn’t the topic of this post, but my dermatologist just let me in on how much my “favorite” soap has changed since I first started using it back in the ’90s.

I think this is true for a lot of products. When food and gas costs began rising a few years ago, many food manufacturers didn’t want to hit consumers with sticker shock, so they began repackaging products in smaller portions while still charging the same prices. Other companies, like Campbell’s Soups and Miracle Whip, began using more water in their products. We’ve noticed that the Chocolate Quakes we like to snack on are now so barely covered in chocolate coating that they appear to look almost like regular rice cakes. And as was pointed out in the HFCS thread, many food manufacturers are dumping in more and more HFCS to mask unpalatable products.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 11:53 am

8 On October 27th, 2008, SugarLeigh said:

Now, here I thought that Cadbury was based in Canada!? They must have world wide outreach!

Which is fine by me, because I prefer their chocolate to Hershey’s any day of the week. Not that Hershey’s is bad, because it’s actually quite good. Cadbury’s is just that much better.

But, you know, Cadbury doesn’t have an amusement park and ritzy hotel as far as I’m aware, so I think Hershey will end up doing just fine in the end.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

9 On October 27th, 2008, Tari said:

I don’t eat any of it anymore because it is not Fair Trade and I reckon that I can afford Ethical chocolate.

This is my big gripe about chocolate…bad enough that they’re switching out to cheaper ingredients, but worse that the mass amounts of cocoa and vanilla used by big conglomerates comes at the expense of social and environmental justice for the farmers growing it and the land they’re growing it on.

As for what I like, Equal Exchange and Divine both have good selections of Fair Trade organic bars.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

10 On October 27th, 2008, Bree said:

As for chocolate, you can’t go wrong with Lindt chocolate truffles, especially the milk chocolate ones. They are melt-in-your mouth good. Ghiardelli makes some great-tasting chocolate, but it can get pricey (I love their dark hot chocolate though).

Some of the best chocolate you can get is from private family-owned stores. In my town, we have Bomboy’s Candy, and 90% of it is made at their shop. Another popular candymaker in Maryland is Wockenfuss.

I never knew cocoa butter didn’t affect cholesterol levels. Ironic that with the hysteria over the world’s obesity epidemic, you’d think there would be a bigger push to put cocoa butter back in chocolate and take the vegetable oil out!

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

11 On October 27th, 2008, Charlynn said:

“Yes, it matters to me. This is just another example of the consumer being duped into purchasing low-quality goods”

That says it for me. I’m sick of companies doing this and thinking the consumer won’t find out.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

12 On October 27th, 2008, The Bald Soprano said:

Over here (Germany), Lindt just introduced some new flavors of bar chocolates–at least, they appeared at our grocery stores for the first time this summer. My new favorite chocolate: their new one with fleur de sel (really really fine sea salt crystals) in it. I don’t know what it’s called in English, officially. It almost makes up for the total lack of chocolate covered pretzels over here.

Of course, I also bought my first imported mexican chocolate to make my own chocolate mole sauce.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

13 On October 27th, 2008, Nicole said:

OMG, Bald Soprano, the fleur de sel one sounds amazing. I also love Lindt, but once upon a time, Milka was my favorite chocolate. They, too, were bought up by a multi-national, and though they’re still good, they’re not what they once were. I remember buying a huge bar one summer when I was in Europe and bringing it home and eating it one square at a time to make it last as long as possible.

I also really like Ritter Sport, and not just because it’s my last name! Their dark-chocolate ganze mandel (whole almond) is soooooooooooo good.

Yeah, and as for Hershey? Fugeddaboutit. Not even chocolate in my book. I’d rather go without.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

14 On October 27th, 2008, Paul said:

Oh yeah, I notice a difference.

This is another instance where “ordinary” consumer goods are becoming cheaper to manufacture without necessarily any price break for the consumer, whereas the “premium” product is yesterday’s “ordinary” product at a higher cost. The M&Ms Premiums are *ridiculous*.

Worse, this also promotes (IMHO) ignorance when it comes to chocolate. If enough people have a chocolatey candy, will they be able to discern what a “good” or true gourmet chocolate even is? As a bonus said chocolate will be (both naturally and artificially) expensive, putting it out of reach of most people.

All that said, Frey’s milk chocolate is my current favorite. Guittard is easily the best chocolate I’ve had on any regular basis (their baking chips beat the pants off of Nestle, or anyone else for that matter.)

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

15 On October 27th, 2008, Lisa said:

I think you’re on to something, Paul. Purchasing a “premium” product (like those silly M&Ms) gives the consumer a different take-away emotion than does buying a fake-chocolate Hershey bar. There’s a greater sense of luxury, and, in the case of fair-trade and organic products, there’s an undeniable feel-good aspect of such a purchase. That might overcome an individual’s objections to buying a chocolate product.

That said, I like Milk Duds and will defend their grainy sticky goodness until I die. I also loved Cadbury eggs and Caramellos as a kid, but I haven’t had one in a long time.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

16 On October 27th, 2008, Emerald said:

We can get Hershey bars here in the UK, and my husband and numerous other British people I know who’ve tried them hate them. I personally don’t dislike Hershey, but it’s definitely different from the chocolate we have over here.

Husband was not enamored of any US chocolate until he discovered you could buy Cadbury’s in Walgreens. Then he discovered your Dove bars, and there was no stopping him. He’s more of a chocoholic than me by miles, but he’s not worried about how upmarket or otherwise it is as long as it tastes right.

Since I got back to Blighty I’m missing, on the one hand, anything at all from Café Dilettante, and on the other, Seattle Chocolates’ Pike Place Espresso bars. (They’re decaf. Who cares?!)

I utterly recommend Green and Black’s, which are in most stores over here, and I saw at the weekend that they have their Christmas flavors out, although my absolute fave of theirs is the dark cherry bar.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

17 On October 27th, 2008, Charlotte said:

Wow, I had no idea there was a definition for what can be considered “milk chocolate”.
I’m a big fan of Milky Way and Snickers bars. Whenever I feel run down or tired in the middle of the day, if I have a little $ to spare I get one of those and it helps me make it through the rest of my day.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

18 On October 27th, 2008, Rachel said:

Haha, Charlotte. You almost sound like a Snickers commercial.

No kidding, I worked with a guy once who swore by his own “Snickers Diet.” The diet consisted of eating Snicker bars twice a day for breakfast and lunch washed down with tall glasses of milk and then a regular dinner. He claims to have lost weight with it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

19 On October 27th, 2008, SilverSeraphim said:

Eh, I hadn’t really noticed a difference in the Hershey’s, but I don’t buy chocolate that much these days anyways, for various reasons. One of my absolute favorite places to get chocolate is Malley’s, which is a local Cleveland company. They are sooo good…

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

20 On October 27th, 2008, Sherie S said:

I decided to stop buying Hersheys when they shut down one of their U.S. plants and moved in overseas! I am buying Gharideli (sp) because they are made in the SF Bay area!

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

21 On October 27th, 2008, merri said:

mmm i love lindt esp the truffles… as for hershey as long as they keep the kisses and the regular chocolate bars milk chocolate… still, its sad that theyre taking away the cocoa butter. it just sounds so much more appetizing than veggie oil. i probably wouldnt notice it though even now that i know.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

22 On October 27th, 2008, JJ said:

That’s too bad about the veg oil- I’m sure I’d notice. If cocoa butter is what makes chocolate “melt in your mouth”, taking it away completely changes the mouthfeel! No matter- my favorite chocolate companies are both US based organic, fair trade. Theo, based in Seattle, makes incredible bars with flavors like coconut curry and french bread. Vosges, based in Chicago, makes caramels, truffles, and the best bar in the world- Mo’s Bacon Bar. It’s applewood smoked bacon, grey sea salt, and darkish milk chocolate.
You can find them both in natural type stores like Whole Foods. Goodness. YUM.

posted on October 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

23 On October 28th, 2008, Tara said:

Well, that explains why the Kissables I bought ages ago at the big lots were so freaking delish and the ones I got recently tasted all funny. I couldn’t even ate them, I gave them to children:) Dang it, the originals were like mini versions of those Easter Eggs they make every year. Going cheap on the chocolate is NOT the way to keep me as a customer:)

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 12:10 am

24 On October 28th, 2008, PurpleGirl said:

I rarely buy candy bars, so I don’t know about the difference. I do know that I used to like Hershey’s regular chocolate bars until I was in London and got totally addicted to Cadbury chocolate bars–much, much better! I also like Ritter Sport, which I first had in Germany. And Lindt truffles, yummmmm. The only other chocolate I eat with any regularity is Dove. I’d rather have no chocolate at all than Hershey’s, even the regular kind. I can’t imagine how crappy it must taste now.

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 2:52 am

25 On October 28th, 2008, DaniFae said:

Hershey’s bought out Dagoba?! That’s terrible! I like Dagoba. I love their Lavender and Blueberry, and Chai bars.

And yes, it bother’s me that Hershey’s is trying to sneakily swap their products out to save themselves money. And I haven’t bought any of the brands they’ve started swapping out, not normally my thing, but I can tell the difference between chocolate and chocolately candy, and flat out refuse to eat chocolately candy. I’m kinda anal about my chocolate. Also I love DARK chocolate, and none of the big companies do it right, no richness, no complexity, and it’s too sweet.

Since it hasn’t been mentioned one of my favorite brands is called Endangered Species, they’re a fair trade company, that gives part of their procedes to wildlife protection charities. I picked on up in a health food store once because the pretty wrappers caught my attention (more with the animal gimmic, all of their chocolate bars are named after an animal, with artwork of it on the wrappers) and I was hooked. Similar in quality to Godiva, and they cost a bit less.

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 6:10 am

26 On October 28th, 2008, Rachel said:

DaniFae — I’ve bought the Endangered Species brand before at my local supermarket. Kind of pricey — I think that a regular-sized bar cost more than $2 — but as you’ve noted, the money does go to a good cause.

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am

27 On October 28th, 2008, amy jenkins said:

TCHO is the new chocolatey hotness.

http://www.tcho.com/chocolate/tcho-is

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

28 On October 28th, 2008, Bronwyn said:

Ugh, this DEFINITELY bothers me. But I’ve never been the hugest fan of hershey- I got rather upset when they released their fancy dark chocolate gourmet CRAP because I tried it and it really was awful. Almost as bad as the Wal-mart knockoffs of lindt, ghiradelli, etc. Don’t ever buy those they taste horrible.

Anyway I think if I had to pick a favorite brand it would definitely be Choxie. It’s the Target brand and they have some really good stuff- and since no one else seems to like it I can often find it on sale, ha! I had this chocolate bar I can’t remember the name of anymore but it was incredible- dark chocolate with crushed cocoa beans inside- it was like a Crunch bar but it actually tasted good.

Yum. That said, I don’t actually eat that much chocolate. I like it once in a while but I’m not totally into it.

posted on October 28th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

29 On October 29th, 2008, PurpleGirl said:

Oh, I forgot to mention that those fancy-schmancy M&Ms are actually pretty tasty.

posted on October 29th, 2008 at 4:15 am

30 On February 7th, 2009, Mickey said:

@The Bald Soprano: Oh hey, I just pimped the new fleur-de-sel Lindt bar on the more recent chocolate post! I <3 <3 <3 their chili bar as well. Shout-out from DK! Do you guys get Anthon Berg chocolate down there (Danish brand)? They just launched some interesting new gourmet-flavor bars, as well as fair-trade single-varietal bars; the latter were great, but I’ve not yet tried the former due to their somewhat prohibitive price.

posted on February 7th, 2009 at 10:52 am