Pennsylvania Chocolate

 There’s plenty of chocolate in Pennsylvania. 

   There’s the Bradford Factory, the Wilbur store, the Rocky Mountain Factory in Pennsylvania and many other states. 

  

   

       

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Should I..?

Do u see them..? 

 

Should I? Says the cat… 

Should I ? Says me… 

What would he say?  

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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.” 

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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..!