The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar (most commonly called simply the "Hershey Bar") is the flagship chocolate
bar manufactured by the Hershey Company. It is often referred to by Hershey as "The Great American Chocolate Bar". The Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar was first sold in 1900 with the Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds variety beginning produced in 1908. A circular version of the milk chocolate bar called Hershey's Drops was released in 2010.
Hershey's Milk Chocolate[]
The Hershey Process milk chocolate used in these bars is cheaper to make than other types of chocolate as it is less sensitive to the freshness of the milk. The process was developed by Milton Hershey and was the first mass-produced chocolate in the United States. As a result, the Hershey flavor is widely recognized in the United States and Canada, but less so internationally, in particular in areas where European chocolates are more widely available. The process is a trade secret, but experts speculate that the milk is partially lipolyzed, producing butyric acid, which stabilizes the milk from further fermentation. This compound gives the product a particular sour, "tangy" taste, to which the US public has become accustomed, to the point that other manufacturers often add butyric acid to their milk chocolates. The American bar's taste profile was not as popular with the Canadian public, leading Hershey to introduce a reformulated Canadian bar in 1983. The company describes the revised Canadian formulation as a "creamier, smoother, lighter coloured and milder flavoured product more suitable to Canadian taste".