Andrew

The History of Hershey Chocolate

The History of Hershey Chocolate is a very fun and interesting topic. That topic includes information about Mr. Hershey, what year Hershey candies were first made and more. I am very happy that I chose this topic because I have had a lot of fun with it. I chose this topic because everybody loves Hershey chocolate and I wanted to find out why. I did find out why: the ingredients, of course. I also found an all new world to me: the world of tasty Hershey chocolate. I hoped to learn many things: what the newest candy bar was, what the oldest candy bar was and what Mr. Hershey was like in his childhood. I wanted to learn about the most popular Hershey product. I really wanted to find out how Mr. Hershey started making chocolate. I learned all I thought I would learn, and more. Things did not turn out as I expected because I had no idea that I was going to go to Hershey, Pennsylvania. I got a lot of facts there, which I will explain later. I found my information from many different places: books, the internet and the Hershey Museum. The most helpful resource was probably the web site that I found because it has a list of all the Hershey products. The most difficult thing was finding information from books because they were not as simple as the web site. Another helpful thing was the Hershey Museum. Another difficult thing was thinking of a three-D objective. There are many places where one can find information about Hershey chocolate. Chocolate was first made not far from here. Just down south in Mexico was where chocolate was first made. The Mayan Indians were the world's first chocolatiers, or chocolate makers. Chocolate is older than one might think. The Mayan first made chocolate around 500 A.D. That is around one thousand years before Christopher Columbus visited the New World. Almost no food is older than chocolate. There are many different types of Hershey chocolates: Name Date first made Calories York 1988 Reesesticks 1999 230 Kit Kat Big Kat 2000 Hershey’s Cookies “n” Creme 1994 Almond Joy Pina Colada 2004 Symphony 1989 230 Kit Kat Triple Chocolate 2004 Reese’s Pieces 1978 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 1963 Reese’s Pieces with Nuts 2004 Reese’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups 1963 Swoops Toffee and Almond 2004 Swoops Special Dark with Almonds 2004 Swoops York 2003 Swoops Almond Joy 2003 Smart Zone 2005 Cadbury Royal Dark 2002 Cadbury Royal Dark Mint 2004 Cadbury Raspberry Creme 2004 1 Gram Sugar Carb 2004 Sugar Free 2003 Rolo Bites 190 Cadbury Dairy Milk 220 Almond Joy 220 Hershey’s milk chocolate 1900 230 Hershey Kisses 1907 230 Almond Kisses 1990 Hugs 1993 Dark Kisses 2003 Mr. Goodbar 1925 270 Hershey’s milk chocolate with almonds 1908 Nuggets 1994 230 Reese’s Fastbreak 2001 280 Hershey’s Miniatures 1939 Kit Kat 1931 220 Hershey’s S’mores 2003 Big Block 1980 Krackel 1938 210 Hershey’s dark chocolate 1971 Milk Duds 1996 170 Rolo 1971 210 Zagnut 1996 Zero 1996 Nutrageous 1994 280 Take 5 2005 Snack bar 2004 Grand Slam 1989 Bar None 1986 5th Avenue 1936 290 Skor 1983 210 ***Semi-sweet chocolate bars are about 25% sugar, while milk chocolate bars are about 50% sugar. One can tell that there are a lot of Hershey products because I told you about half of them. There are many strange things about Mr. Hershey that many people do not know. Probably the biggest secret about him is that he did not always make chocolate. To prove that, Mr. Hershey founded his CARAMEL company in 1894. Later, in the year 1900,Mr. Hershey sold his caramel company for $1,000,000. Another secret to some people is that Mr. Hershey started an orphan school in 1910.Right when he sold his caramel company, Mr. Hershey began selling chocolate commercially in 1900. The Hershey Foods Corporation had a lot of competition with Mars and Nestle. There have not been many changes to chocolate over the years. The biggest change that happened to chocolate is probably that chocolate used to be a drink. A small change to Hershey chocolate is the five-cent chocolate bar being discontinued in 1969. As one can tell, it is hard to change chocolate. There are many steps to making chocolate. Making chocolate begins in the tropical rain forest with the harvesting of cocoa beans. Next, the beans are cut open and the seeds are taken out. The seeds are roasted and smashed. Next, add (if you are making milk chocolate) sugar, cocoa butter and milk. Then, conche the liquid chocolate, or make it smooth and temper it, or give it a glossy look. Pour the liquid into a chocolate bar mold. The final step is to let the liquid chocolate cool, take it out of the mold, wrap it and ship it off to the market. Making chocolate is hard work, but it is fun. Mr. Hershey had a very long and interesting life. He started out as a Pennsylvania farm boy, born in 1857. When he was young, Milton S. Hershey had a favorite day. It was Saturday because he could go to the candy store. He loved candy. But Milton was a hard worker when he worked. He worked so hard because he was a Mennonite, and that is part of their belief. Sadly, when he was just nine years old, Milton's sister, Sarena, died. Another strange thing was that Milton stopped going to school so he could learn a trade. The first trade he learned was typesetting. He had an apprenticeship with Sam Ernst. Mr. Ernst had a hot temper and did not like people who made mistakes. That was why Milton was fired. Once, Milton dropped a galley of type. Mr. Ernst got so angry that he fired Milton. His dad was not too happy about that. Milton's Mom decided his next trade was going to be candy making with Joe Royer. Mr. Royer, unlike Mr. Ernst, was a calm man who put up with mistakes. After the first day working there, Milton knew what he wanted to do with his life. After four years of learning, Milton decided it was time to go into business for himself. When he told his family, his Aunt Mattie gave him one hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Hershey started a company (in one building) with a big sign on top saying, "Mr. Hershey, Confectioner". Not only did he make and sell candy, but he also sold nuts. Even though he sold a lot of products, he did not make a lot of money. Because of that, he hired William Lebkicher, or Lebbie, as an employee in 1880. But, Mr. Hershey still had money problems. Finally, Milton Hershey went out of business. Soon after, he got a letter from his dad saying that Milton should come to Denver as soon as possible. Milton got on a train and left. When he got there, he loved the mountains. He also found a candy maker with whom he could work. This candy maker specialized in caramel. When Milton tasted these caramels, he loved them. Milton was taught how to make that kind of caramel. It was made with fresh milk. After Milton had mastered the caramel making machines, he started making caramels for his own profit. The next day Milton, Lebbie (he came back), Fanny Hershey (Milton's mom) and Aunt Mattie got together and started making and wrapping caramels. This went on and the Hershey's made a lot of money. One day Milton was asked to send caramels to England. Milton knew that he would be paid, so he said yes. He waited and waited for the money to come. Finally, a check from England arrived. The check was for $2,500. After getting that check, Milton went to England. He saw that people were dipping his caramels in chocolate, then eating them. To his surprise, Milton once saw some kids lick the chocolate and throw away the caramel. When Milton saw this, he started to make chocolate. Since he knew he could not handle two companies, in 1900 Milton S. Hershey sold the Hershey Caramel Company to the American Caramel Company for $1,000,000 and started the Hershey Chocolate Company. Since then many things happened to him. Mr. Hershey got married, Mr. Hershey started an orphanage and many other things. He even sent chocolate to the troops of World Wars I and II as a quick-energy food. In 1945 Mr. Hershey died. He was eighty-eight. That was quite a life for a Pennsylvania farm boy. You really do not need to learn much to be a chocolate maker, but it takes a long time to learn it. One must learn to control the machines, and how to wrap the chocolates. It is also important to know what bar mold to pour the liquid chocolate into. There are not many steps to being a chocolate maker, and one can make a good profit off of it. Doing my research to make this report was a quite fun experience. I am glad that I will be able to do two more Independent Study Projects. This project has been good for me because, if I get to work at the Hershey Foods Corporation, I will actually have an idea of what to do.   Glossary caramel - butterscotch with milk added. chocolatier - a chocolate maker. cocoa bean - a bean found in a tropical rain forest that is needed to make chocolate. conching - making chocolate liquor smooth with a conche machine. confectioner - a candy maker. Mayan - the tribe of Indians who discovered chocolate. Mennonites - a religion that believes in hard work. orphanage - a school or home for kids with no parents. semi-sweet - a type of chocolate that is 25% sugar. tempering - making chocolate liquor glossy with a temper machine.   Bibliography Brenner, Joel. (2000). The Emperors of Chocolate. New York. Burford, Betty. (1994). Chocolate by Hershey. Minneapolis. Burleigh, Robert. (2002). Chocolate. Hershey Foods Corporation. Hersheys. [Online] Available http://www.hersheys.com/product/az.asp, 1995-2005. Shippen, Katherine. (1959). Milton S. Hershey. Hershey. Snavely, Joseph Richard. (1953). The Story of Hershey. Hershey. .

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