Should I..?

Do u see them..? 

 

Should I? Says the cat… 

Should I ? Says me… 

What would he say?  

~

5 Fun Facts About Hershey’s

 

          

 Everyone knows what their favorite Hershey’s product is, but there are a few things that you might not know about Milton Hershey’s company—a.k.a., the company behind beloved candies like Almond Joy, Heath, Reese’s, Kit Kat, and more.

1. The Hershey Empire is build on a fourth-grade education.

The Hershey family moved around a lot when Milton was a kid, which meant that he frequently changed schools. After Hershey finished the fourth grade, his parents decided that it was time for the young man to learn a trade. He began an apprenticeship with a printer but hated it, and in 1872 he began working for a confectioner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

2. Milton Hershey’s first love was caramel.

In 1876, Milton Hershey went to Philadelphia and used what he learned as a confectioner’s apprentice to start his 1st business, Crystal A. Caramels. When this venture failed, Hershey found another apprenticeship in Denver. After regrouping out West, he started a second company in New York City, which also failed. Hershey then returned home and turned his third venture, the Lancaster Caramel Company, into a global juggernaut with over 1400 employees.

3. Milton Hershey became interested in chocolate after the 1893 World’s Fair.

It wasn’t until 17 years after he opened his first failed caramel company that Hershey became interested in chocolate making. While attending the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey was so taken with the display of German chocolate production that he bought the exhibit’s machinery after the exposition closed. The next year, he opened the Hershey Chocolate Company back in Lancaster. The new venture was such a success that in 1900 Hershey sold his caramel company for $1 million to devote himself to chocolate. 

4. Hershey’s once made gum. 

Milton Hershey wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with rival companies. 

When he believed that Beech Nut Gum was going to start making chocolate to put him out of business, he put his cousin Clayton Snavely in charge of buying the equipment and gathering the know-how to get his company’s gum off the ground.

Hershey’s “Easy Chew” was introduced in 1915, but Hershey had trouble getting sugar and chicle (a natural gum) due to import restrictions placed on non-essential products. Easy Chew last appeared on store shelves in 1924. 

5. No one knows how Hershey’s KISSES got their name—not even the company. 

Hershey’s KISSES hit the market in 1907, and the Hershey Food Corporation holds the trademark for the word, but don’t ask what the name means—Milton Hershey took that secret to his grave. 

According to one timeline, “A popular theory is that the candy was named for the sound or motion of the chocolate being deposited during manufacturing.” 

                                         ~

The Good Ole Days…

 The Good Ole Days 

In the good old days around the late 1990’s, there were warehouses full of bulk boxes of candies. 

   They all had different names and shapes, but were actually the same candy! 

   There were dozens of shapes of basic SweetTarts!  And yet, some shapes were more popular than others even tho they were the same candy. 

    Some of the shapes I remember most were tiny baby pacifiers. They measured about 1/2” each and were true sweet-tart powdery types of candy. 

There were also shapes of dogs, cats, chairs, even 🍋 lemons, cherries and various fruits. 

     A less popular sweet-tart-type candy was in the shape of couches. They were coated, a bit harder, and vended thru their machines beautifully. Bow-ties, all sorts of shapes and small sizes. 

    None of these can be found any more. 

I miss the beer-peanuts, they were real peanuts heavily coated in a rough red candy shell. They were good, too! 

    There are still Hot Tamales around, but those tiny Red Hots candies that were popular are so hard to find, they are priced like gold. 

    I do the best I can with what we’ve got left. My machines don’t take bitcoins and never will, so I’ve got gumballs, M&Ms, Skittles, or gumballs. 

    I used to vend peanuts that did fantastic in bars and next to soda machines, but they messed up the machines so much that it was impractical to keep at it. 

    So it’s basically down to good old-fashioned gumballs, which put the gum in Gumball machines. The good news is that the gums come in various flavors and colors. They are fun to vend, easy to work with, look great and taste good. 

   Any new discoveries are always appreciated..!

   

   

     

Another Amazing Company!

Of course, I always prefer to see products manufactured/produced, sold, and enjoyed here at home, and I can balance that with the satisfaction of hearing about anywhere in the world who bans animal testing. Since I can’t personally verify any of it, until I see otherwise, I can trust it to be true. 

 Animal Welfare Policy

The Avon Company (“Avon”), with operations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and through affiliation in Canada, has deep respect for animal welfare and does not conduct animal testing. Avon is a strong advocate of both the ethical and humane treatment of animals and the protection of human health and safety. 

Our products are developed utilizing alternative testing methods such as extrapolations from existing data, computational modeling, in vitro (test tube/cell culture) testing and clinical tests with human volunteers, to ensure both their efficacy and safety.

As a member of the LG Household and Healthcare (LG H&H) family, Avon sells products developed for North America and global markets. At present, authorities in China require animal-based safety testing for cosmetic products in a few specific categories sold in China.

LG H&H is committed to global adoption of non-animal safety substantiation methods. We appreciate that authorities in China now accept alternative methods for an increasing number of cosmetic categories, including shampoo, body washes and color cosmetics.

 In addition, alternative safety substantiation is accepted in China for products manufactured locally, and we are in the process of transferring production of several cosmetic categories to our subsidiaries there. 

As a member of our industry association, the Personal Care Products Council, we are working with Chinese authorities to eliminate animal testing requirements for all cosmetics, and we look forward to a timely resolution to this issue.  

                     ❤️🐾 

                       

                                                  

                                                                ~

                        

Happy Valentine’s Day, Chocolate!

 Happy Valentine’s Day, Chocolate! 

Chocolate has been around for thousands of years in one form or another. Yet it’s only been in the last 100 or so years that it’s become a powerhouse, with companies launching new types of chocolate every few years.

From chocolate consumption by country, gender, and even time of year, the amount of data to wade through can be overwhelming. So here are some of favorite facts about chocolate; from its origins to its characteristics, and chocolate trivia that will entertain and inform.

Interesting Chocolate Facts

Switzerland is the biggest consumer of chocolate in the world.

Switzerland ranked first per capita with 8.8 kilos of chocolate consumption per person that year.

The top 10 was all comprised of Eurocentric countries, while the United States came in at the number 19th spot with 4.4 kilograms consumed per person.

Chocolate’s name has ancient origins.

The word chocolate is thought to be derived from xocóatl. 

This is a Spanish name that combines the word ‘chocol’ from the Maya (meaning hot), and ‘atl’ from the Aztec (meaning water or liquid).

It is thought that the Spanish avoided both these names because ‘caca’ means poop in their language.

Cocoa was domesticated roughly 5000 years ago.

An article published by The University of British Columbia covers a study that uncovered evidence of cocoa’s domestication between 5,300 and 2,100 years ago. This is thousands of miles and roughly 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.

Chocolate was initially consumed as a bitter drink.

Unlike the solid bars we consume these days, early civilizations consumed cocoa in the form of drinks. These cacao beverages consisted of ground cocoa paste mixed with water and spices. The fermented, cured, and roasted beans gave the drink a rather a bitter taste.

However it’s believed that the more special the occasion, the more botanicals were added. Drinks made from the crushed cocoa nibs were flavored with varying amounts of maize, vanilla, flowers, chili peppers, medicinal herbs, and/or fermented agave sap.

Cacao was literal money growing on trees.

In the book ‘The True History of Chocolate’, the authors discussed the Maya’s use of cocoa beans as a currency to pay for goods and services. This was also true in the ancient Aztec culture, who regarded cocoa beans as more valuable than gold.

Accounts from adventurers and envoys of the time often cite the use of cacao as a form of money. 

The Spanish brought cocoa to Europe.

Italian-born Christopher Columbus encountered cocoa on his 4th voyage in 1502 when he and his crew used a canoe that contained various goods that they took back to Spain.

One story goes that the introduction of hot cocoa to Europe started with the conquistadors’ encounter with the Aztecs in 1519. Others claim that friars in 1544 brought Philip II gifts in the form of Mayan slaves and cocoa beans.

Milk chocolate originated in Jamaica.

The formal discovery of the modern chocolate milk drink is credited to Hans Sloan, who set sail for the then British-controlled colony of Jamaica in 1687. He was an Anglo-Irish physician and collector who observed locals consuming the drink during his 15-month stay.

According to the historian James Delbourgo, Jamaicans have been brewing hot chocolate with milk as early as 1494, albeit not always with cow’s milk.

The first chocolate bar was molded in 1847.

J.S. Fry & Sons was one of the big three British confectionery companies founded by Quakers, and was the largest producer of chocolate in the UK in the early 1800s.

In 1847 they molded the first portable chocolate bar that was suitable for commercial production, made from sugar, chocolate liquor, and added cocoa butter. This original served as the template for chocolate bars as we know them today.

The milk chocolate bar was invented thanks to Nestlé powdered milk in 1875.

Daniel Peter initially came up with a process to mix milk into a chocolate bar I n 1857, but ran into problems removing water from the milk. The moisture level remained too high, and that caused mildew to form.

Luckily he was neighbors with Henri Nestlé, who had developed a milk condensation process that produced dry powdered milk. It would take another seven years for Peter to fine-tune his formula before launching his ‘Gala Peter’ milk chocolate brand in 1887. 

Hershey’s earned their first million producing caramel candies.

In 1886, after many years of drifting jobs and opening an unsuccessful confectioner’s business, Milton S. Hershey was penniless. His luck turned when he secured a loan with Lancaster National Bank to fund a large order for his “Hershey’s Crystal A” caramel candy to supply an English candy importer.

In late 1893 he decided to pivot to chocolate production after attending a world fair in Chicago, which would lead him to sell his successful caramel business for $1 million in 1900.

  

              ~

Baby Clydesdales

 The Anheuser-Busch family welcomed 4 baby Clydesdales; the colts will play a special part in a new Budweiser football tradition this Sunday..!

        

   

 ✔️

Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn…

 Winter ice storms can be beautiful, but not for driving in, 

Spring is perfect for hitting the trails, enjoying nature regeneration, hopefully without spring bugs, 

Summer heat is amazing for swimming and sun-bathing, avoiding heat-stroke, 

And Autumn trees produce colors u wouldn’t guess nature could achieve, preparing for any future ice-storms. 

I braved the ice to get to my customers, who were smarter than me and closed up early in preparation for that nastily beautiful ice storm  :-/ 

        

                                                    ~

Whew, Life Can be Rough…

 Heartfelt Congratulations to those of us who’ve made it this far! 

 

   ~

Saturday’s Child (Monday’s Child poem) 2023

   Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace.

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go. 

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living.

And the child born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe, good and brave.  

 

           ~

Happy MLK Day!

  Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

 It is observed on the third Monday of January each year. 

Born in 1929, King's actual birthday is January 15 (which in 1929 fell on a Tuesday). 

The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. 

The earliest Monday for this holiday is January 15 and the latest is January 21. 

         

                          ~

Here’s to 2023!

 

I lost a location the other day. Been there since 2019. 

They said there were too many kids, but kids just happen to be the bread & butter of the route! Of course that’s fine. 

Whenever machines are smudged, peeled, little tiny fingerprints everywhere, I know that machine does well, and that one did. It wasn’t a top-earner by any means, but it did fine and was easy to work with. 

That’s not the bad news, tho. 

And although it’s not bad news, it’s definitely difficult because now I gotta go find replacements, not my forté. 

I don’t make any profits on this route. It’s self-sustaining and rewarding only because it’s the very least I can do for the critters which is virtually nothing, but without it, it would be less than nothing. 

Locations sometimes worry that their site isn’t making enuf money for the machines, if the machine is still there, it’s making quarters, all it needs. It’ll never be able to make bank, but it’s enuf. 

Profits, if any, go to either HSUS, Best Friends, and/or others. 

I’m not allowed to say I work on behalf of HSUS, Humane Society United States, that would require thousands of $$$ and paperwork that I wouldn’t understand. No, I’m a Proud Supporter of HSUS, that’s my appropriate designation. I don’t always agree with their politics so I steer clear of that and try to stay focused on humane efforts and basics, such as keeping pets warm during cold snaps and hydrated during heat. 

Every machine and honor box has a sticker that states it is a supporter of HSUS and will have a sticker with the URL of this weblog for more information and contact info.  

    To 2023..! 

               ~