Chocolate Snobs Avoiding American Products
Do you know your imported Cadbury bars from your Hershey's? Lots of chocolate lovers do and, according to the Wall Street Journal, many are bound and determined to seek out imports from the U.K.
In the U.S., Cadbury bars are made my Hershey - and, apparently, taste like it.
Greg Ziegler, a food-science professor at Penn State University, says certain ingredient types - say, condensed milk versus powdered - can radically alter taste and texture... U.S. government regulations ban the use of vegetable fat in chocolate, while European Union rules allow it.
As a result, the American product uses more cocoa butter, which makes the chocolate "harder, melt slower and deliver its flavor over a long period of time," says Mr. Ziegler, who has conducted research for chocolate makers including Cadbury and Hershey.
The funny thing is that the use of vegetable fat is seen by many chocoholics as an act of near heresy. I guess you can't please all the people...
What's in a Name? Not Much for These Fans of Imported Cadbury [Wall Street Journal]
(Photo: svadilfari)
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Comments:
All I know is I'm Hershey Park Happy!
I never understood the whole Hershey hate thing. When I want good American styled chocolate I eat Hershey's and when I want European style chocolate I eat imported stuff. It's not too hard.
I remember asking a Hershey's employee about the whole fiasco when the Kissables where no longer considered "chocolate" due to the additives and he chuckled. He saw all the hate articles too and said the funny thing is that sales have increased and the American taste testing panels preferred the "non-chocolate" version over the "chocolate" ones. My opinion on that incident is that Kissables are gross either way.
As a Canadian expat in the U.S. who enjoys Cadbury's confections--they're very distinctly different in taste. I miss the non-American kinds. Beg my parents to mail me some, but there's only a window of a few months in the year they won't melt, and customs has taken to eating things from my care packages. Sigh.
Even Cadbury easter candy in the U.S. is just not right. Cadbury does formulate chocolates different for each location and I guess they assume Americans think hershey's tastes like chocolate or something equally absurd and offensive to the senses.
Nestle chocolates are formulated... off. KitKat in the U.S. tastes different (and awful if I may say so).
I'm still on my quest for perfect chocolate. I haven't found it yet - I prefer dark chocolate, and Dove is good for a quick chocolate fix, but I really need good chocolate that is also inexpensive. I can buy a Lindt bar once in a while, but it's not something I can stock up on.
I've always thought regular Hershey's chocolate tasted kinda like cocoa-flavored cardboard, bland and dry in texture, whereas straight-up Cadbury chocolate tastes smooth and sweet.
When I visited England a few years ago I was amazed at the variety of chocolate products offered up under the Cadbury name. Hershey's probably has a similar variety, but they only seem to use the Hershey's name for the cheap stuff, which makes the overall image of quality go down.
Then again, my ultimate favorite chocolate is Ghirardelli, which is made in San Francheesy, right here in Free Country USA.
Cadbury's from Hershey's and Cadbury's from the U.K. taste very different. I only like the U.K. Cadbury's. I don't think that's snobby at all either, its a matter of taste.
@pecan 3.14159265: I buy some kind of $2.25-3.00 bars from Whole Foods often enough (they have the wildlife pictures on them), 72% cacao, they're very sharp and tasty. They even make milk chocolate with 40-some percent cacao.
Dove is a standby.
@pecan 3.14159265: Dove dark chocolates are my go-to chocolate. They're soooo smooth.
But I have a weakness for those dark chocolate peanut M&Ms too.
@Raekwon: I find Hershey's to be very waxy and hard. I prefer chocolate that has a little give to it, if that makes sense at all.
which makes the chocolate "harder, melt slower and deliver its flavor over a long period of time,"
Sounds good to me. No, seriously. Who doesn't want their chocolate like that?
@Ratty:
Dry ice is the secret to mailing (well, you'll need to courier) things that have to be kept cold. It's pretty cheap, too (I pay about $2 or $3 a lb), although you may find the amount you need/container size unwieldy.
Just send a 3 month supply in the summer and you're good to go.
I'm impressed by the (inline) link to a 15-year-old article.
Hershey's owns Cadbury's. Literally.
@shepd: Yeah, doesn't stop customs from eating my stuff though, and my parents probably don't want to spend more than the standard $21 for a shoebox filled.
Mmmmm yes, lovely Cadbury's chocolate..so delicious and creamy.
Also see Galaxy Chocolate.
And Thorntons boxed chocolates.
No slight against my American friends but I've never found any chocolate in the US that compares with these. I live in CA.
Is this why Caramello doesn't taste right anymore?
"U.S. government regulations ban the use of vegetable fat in chocolate, while European Union rules allow it."
Eh? Everything I've seen says European chocolate has more cocoa butter, while American candy such as Hershey's tends to use more vegetable oil...
Good grief. As a Brit, I am amazed by this. My wife is American so I'm familiar with Hersheys - it's certainly not the best chocolate in the world, but then neither is Cadbury's! I really couldn't choose between them - neither is very good. OK neither are trying to be top-rank chocolate, but there's lots of other mass-market chocolate makers that are much better. Mars (UK and US) for instance, or Nestle.
It has something to do with the cocoa nibs as well... Hersheys ends up with a grainy texture due to that, whereas other chocolates are more smooth.
@pecan 3.14159265: makes sense to me. and my mom no longer eats cadbury creme eggs. ever since they started making it stateside...the hershey chocolate just seems cheaper.
@TCama: I prefer my chocolate not smell like remoistened spring dog doo sprinkled with cocoa powder and that it not have a waxy texture.
If only Hershey's was actually as described eith the line you quoted.
@pecan 3.14159265: Ohh i totally know what you mean.
When I went to India last year, and had the Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bar on the way home (my friends know me well)... *sigh* felt like heaven...
@Steel_Pelican: No, they don't. They have the right to manufacture and distribute Cadbury's in the U.S., but that's it.
There was talk as to whether or not Hershey's would try and buy Cadbury's, but they don't have the capital, and the Hershey trust isn't willing to cede control in order to raise outside funds to get them.
@Steel_Pelican: No.
Hershey's definitely doesn't own Cadbury plc, which is based in London. I think Hershey's owns Cadbury's USA operations or something.
@Hotscot:
Personally the bread chocolate, dark chocolate is the best I've ever had. My family agrees as I introduced them to Theo last Christmas.
I didn't know the joys of good chocolate until I married a a guy from London. We go to British import stores to find the good stuff. One you have a a proper Cadbury or Galaxy, you'll never want Hershey's again. Also, in the UK, Cadbury makes these lovely desserts, like mini trifles and puddings. I wish they'd bring those over here!
@Stephen Schenck: The vegetable fat that they're using in low-grade chocolate candies has a higher melting point and a crummy mouthfeel. Cocoa butter, with its lower melting point, behaves differently.
Three of the key differences that make Euro chocolate better are: use of greater amounts of cocoa butter and slightly lesser amounts of sugar, lastly they use a longer process to grind the chocolate smoother and this costs more.
American companies actually sell their cocoa butter that they extract to the European ones. Plus the Euro sugar is usually cane sugar while the American is from the sugar beet. The milk that goes into Euro chocolate has more fat as the American chocolate companies use cheaper milk solids.
So basically the American recipies are designed by accountants and the Euro recipies are designed by people with taste.
Also in Canada more and more chocolate bars are putting the extremely cheap Palm oil into them that gives it an excellent mouth feel and slightly minty taste while slowly poisoning you and destroying rain forests.
@Tallanvor: Ditto. All of my EU chocolates use a lot mor cocoa butter, and Hershey's...
as it turns out it's not even chocolate any longer.
After eating Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates for over 20 years in India, the US version of Cadbury feels a letdown.
Actually, it is the Hershey "flavor" that I despise. It frankly, tastes like vomit (no kidding, it has that rancid smell). I am no snob - there is a reason behind that vomit smell (sour milk utilization, since WW2 or use of butyric acid since then). See here: [nitecloak.wordpress.com]
and
Uhm, I don't consider Hershey's real chocolate. Doesn't it have HFCS in it? The only real American chocolate I can think of is Ghiradelli. If I buy brand name chocolate, I usually buy Lindt. The store brand at Whole Foods is decent though.
@pecan 3.14159265: I prefer my dark chocolate in the French Lu cookies style. They make some extra dark stuff over in France. I have trouble finding them here in the USA.
@pecan 3.14159265: The best chocolate bar I have ever had was a Divine Dark Chocolate with 70% Cocoa (and my wife agrees). We got a dark chocolate bar in a gift bag from our local grocery store at a new store opening. It tasted miles above any other chocolate we have ever had. Maybe not the cheapest, but it's fair trade, so I know more of the money is going to the people actually doing the hard part.
Don't know about English chocolate but I do know that everything Hershey is getting smaller and smaller. I have some Cadbury Eggs from about 10 years ago that are almost double the size of today's. (sentimental reasons: why I kept them in the fridge so long, before you ask)
I get it. I'm Canadian and even though I live in Seattle (I work here) I will drive home every other weekend and buy my Kinder and Aero bars. (Kinder Bueno's are the best!) Maybe its because I crave the sumptious taste of chocolate and hazelnut together or playing with an actual toy that comes in a Kinder Surprise egg. No offence but the people who crave this chocolate for the most part feel that there is more of a smoother, silkier taste with imported chocolate.
@SeattleTed is proud to like Robert Zimmerman: Ted, thanks for the link. I'll try your recommendation.
@TCama: But harder means "like wax," "melt slower" means that you get a strange half-melted, half-solid piece of gunk in your mouth, and "deliver its flavor over a long period of time" means nothing if the flavor is terrible and artificial tasting.
@anithinks: Of course, that vomit flavor is not that prominent in the Dairy milk bars as compared to Hershey Kisses and plain ol' Hershey bars...
@Girtych: But if vegetable fat is banned, doesn't that INCLUDE cocoa butter? Is it just a specific type that's banned?
It could be conditioning. I don't understand how anyone can eat Hershey's chocolate and 'classic' Coke just tastes wrong.
Green & Black is ok but it's hardly a substitute for Cadbury's.
@Ratty:
If you want imported Cadbury's try Dylan's Candy Shop or other unique places, even those places that sell all shamrock items, I've found UK cadbury bars there before and an Aero or two sometimes. Everytime I go overseas my mom has me bring her Kit Kat bars because she likes them so much better than the ones here.
@MostlyHarmless: I used to live in London, land of the magical Cadbury's machines in the tube stations. Oh, how I miss the constant access to delicious, delicious Fruit and Nut bars.
Hershey's is a terrible substitute. It always tastes grainy, strangely acidic, and bland to me.
"The funny thing is that the use of vegetable fat is seen by many chocoholics as an act of near heresy"
That's exactly what I was thinking.