The Hershey's Wrapper Scandal

I don't think any particular form of wrapping is going to solve the problem of hersheys tasting bad . . .=20

At any rate, the 'cookies and cream' bars have been in plastic for ages, and the last time i bought chocolate bars, about six months ago, they were in paper. they were poor tasting, but that's because it's cheap chocolate.=20

- Eric

Wouldn't it be much easier to buy real chocolate instead of milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate *is* real chocolate. There's nothing inherently wrong with the stuff, and some kinds (e.g. Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate, Michel Cluizel Chocolat Grand Lait Cacao Pur Ile de Java 50%) are really good, too.

However, I agree that it's somewhat immaterial to quibble over any quality loss in Hershey's - their milk chocolate is really bad to begin with.

More frustrating to me is the introduction of plastic wrappings on a lot of organic chocolates, especially those from Europe. They advertise boldly on the label that the wrapping has no aluminum. Now, how does it *improve* things to go from inert aluminum (which may have tenuous connections to Alzheimers) to off-gassing plastic (which has known connections to cancers and other toxic diseases), especially when plastic makes it taste worse

*and* less healthy? If they want to do it right, then they should wrap it in sealed wax paper or stainless steel foil. However, if they want to cut costs, why not at least be sufficiently candid as to admit it, or at least not so disingenuous as to conceal what they've done behind a "no aluminum" banner?

Not even tenuous; non-existent.

Not all plastics outgas; vinyls do, but generally they are not used for food packaging. The ones that do not, probably do not alter the taste -- except to prevent oxidation and absorption of odors from the environment. If you like what those do to the taste, plastic will be a problem.

Neither of which will prevent outside contaminants anywhere near as well as *proper* plastic packaging.

The "no aluminum" silliness, I think, is to counter the old, entirely debunked, story that's been running aroung Usenet since Noah first forwarded it.

Plastic -- properly chosen -- is probably the best packaging possible.

Isaac

Have to agree there. Its the process they use because Hershey insisted on using fresh milk (which was in abundance in Pennsylvania when he first got started) for his milk chocolates rather than import powdered milk from Europe. Cheaper but because of the high temperatures he needed to use to mix the water based milk with the oil based cocoa, the milk almost sours.

That's why Hershey's milk chocolate tastes sour to those who are used to European milk chocolates.

So now the wrapper and the candy taste exactly alike!

I'm not sure that plastic will have much effect on the taste of Hershey's---it's just not all that good a chocolate...

But it does remind me of when they moved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (hey, we all eat junk food on occasion...) to plastic wrappers---to me, the quality went downhill, because I discovered that I actually liked Reese's better when it was slightly stale (the peanut butter would harden up), and the new packaging kept it entirely too fresh.

Hey, Diogenes... over here... quick... an honest man! :)

For many years, one of the more popular items offered for sale at intermission at a local theatre is individually wrapped 3.5cm squares of Ghirardelli chocolate of both dark bittersweet and milk chocolate varieties.

See:

years these have come wrapped in foil which is easy to remove and virtually silent when opened by those who bring a couple of pieces back to nibble at their seats during the second act. Alas, no more -- last year Ghirardelli switched to sealed plastic packaging which has the strength of the Mylar that NASA used for its first communications satelite. In theory, these small envelopes should open silently along a seam. But, as it is difficult to figure out how this seam is folded -- and virtually impossible in the dark -- one hears members of the audience trying to rip these open with their fingernails, teeth, housekeys, or any other implement of destruction they may have on their persons.

Ah, the play may open to popular acclaim, but the chocolates do not.

Cheers, The Old Bear

Oddly enough, my brother's wife used to live within walking distance of a factory that cranked out Reese's peanut butter cups. She'd occasionally walk down there and buy factory seconds -- mistakes in packaging, usually. Anyway, the point is, when she moved away, she discovered that she didn't like them if they weren't fresh off the factory line.

Takes all kinds. But a drop in the quality of a hershey bar . . . you couldn't break an egg dropping it that distance. At any rate, big multimilliondollar companies put a lot of stock in consistency.

When Frito Lay announced that they were going to switch from hydrogenated vegetable shortening to corn oil for all their frying operations, there was a space of about four months there where doritos just weren't right. Some bags were oily, some bags were dry but lacked flavor, some bags were caked with seasonings. One of the bigger mistakes they've made has to have been switching right to corn oil without running it by their obviously extremely talented food scientists first to come up with documentation for a new production process, since it was obvious to anyone with a weakness for their carefully calculated chips that it was taking a while for the workers to get the hang of it.

Hershey probably thinks this plastic packaging will improve the quality of the end product. It will probably give it a longer shelf life and less of a propensity to absorb flavors from it's environment. If there is a quality drop due to issues with the actual packaging process or materials used, I'm sure they'll iron it out eventually.

And i have no sympathy for anyone who does not respect the sanctity of foil wrapped chocolate anyhow. Paper indeed.

But like i said, their mint flavored and cookies & cream bars were always in plastic. I don't even recall if they make those anymore. They always seemed reasonably easy to open and as tasty as could be expected, until i developed a sensitivity to some sort of secondary compound or solvent residue or other impurity in low quality synthesized vanilla and mint flavorings, which keeps me off cheap chocolate almost entirely. A really cheap bowl of mint chocolate chip icecream gives me the world's worst heartburn these days.

- Eric

Now? Haven't they always tasted exactly alike?

(In all my 46 years, I've never been able to tell the difference.)