Hershey's chocolate
 

I was watching some documentary series "The Food that Built America" (worth a watch) and it discusses Mr Hershey and his special way of making chocolate which apparently uses soured milk.

Anyway, today I'm in the supermarket and tucked away I noticed a Hershey bar. I've never had one so I thought I'd taste this sour stuff. It tastes like eating stale vomit. How is this America's chocolate bar? It's disgusting.

Agree totally. And that essence invades their manufacturing plants. When they started making Cadburys in Hershey factories for the US market, they made Cadburys taste like vomit too.

Some of us Americans agree too. I didn't know about the sour milk, but find most Hershey's products disgusting. But I also don't waste calories on milk chocolate, only dark.

It's odd though, how when you grow up with something it can taste perfectly fine, yet to people in another country it tastes like vomit. I've noticed that with some European specialties too. Some of the fermented Scandinavian foods come to my mind - even though I love herring in all forms!

I hadn't heard the sour milk ingredient before, but I've always thought Hershey chocolate didn't really taste like chocolate. I liked it when I was a kid but that was many moons ago...

I hear many Europeans feel the same way upon tasting peanut butter, which I've always loved.

It’s what you’re used to. Most Americans aren’t going to eat vegemite, either.

Hershey's chocolate is definitely not your normal chocolate. I think some of the appeal is what Milton Hershey did as a benefactor. Relatives of mine were houseparents at the Milton Hershey School, and I know others who attended the school because they could benefit from it.

Yes. But Australians will eat promite, marmite, cenovis etc. They're variations on a theme. That chocolate does not taste like chocolate, it really tastes of vomit.

Right. That's one I always wondered about. I'm indifferent to peanut butter, and rarely eat it. But you get a very similar flavor in some Asian dishes, IMO. I love peanut sauce. And I believe some African dishes, although I'm far, far from an expert on that cuisine.

But my guess has always been that it's not the peanut butter Europeans find offensive, but rather the disgusting ways we use it in America...such as peanut butter and jelly/jam on bread. Or mixed with chocolate. Or in ice cream. I hope a few of you will chime in with thoughts on whether it's the product or the way we use it in the US.

BLASPHEMY! Those are all delicious and wonderful uses of peanut butter.

Nutella: How is mixing hazelnuts with chocolate that different than peanuts and chocolate?

I agree. Another combination of which I'm not fond. Although, of the combos I listed, chocolate would be the most palatable with either nut spread. I do like the actual nuts in chocolate, just not the peanut butter.

Oh, here's another. Skrewball - the peanut butter whiskey. It sounds so bad, I'm afraid to even try it. And that combo IS blasphemy.

Perceptive palate. The milk in Hershey's milk chocolate is treated with butyric acid, which acts as a preservative. Butyric acid has a distinctive sour smell; it is responsible for the aroma of barnyard waste, dog anal glands, and, yes, human vomit. Here is some not-appetizing background:

https://www.chemistryworld.com/podca...017662.article

Absolutely, including eating it straight from the jar on a spoon. I had a burger in Las Vegas once that had peanut butter on it---it was delicious.

I love PB stirred into a bowl of steel cut oats, just like they do across the Atlantic :D

The current Hershey's chocolate has changed quite a bit since the original receipt I think. It used to not be so waxy and had a much better texture and flavor. And as someone mentioned above, the Hershey version of Cadbury chocolate is much different and awful tasting compared to the British versions.