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Too much of a good thing (Sujatha)

There is such a thing as too much chocolate.

We just got back from a two day trip to Hershey,
PA,  the 'Sweetest Place on Earth'.
I've always had an affinity for chocolate, lovingly lingering on those
tiny bars of Cadbury's milk chocolate that were a rare treat in
childhood. We had to study how Theobroma Cacao was cultivated and
cocoa harvested and processed in the Ivory Coast and Ghana for a whole
unit in our 10th grade geography class. I still remember marveling over
the size of the pods in the photos. No words in the textbook of the
Mayans or Aztecs, a missing part of the story deftly dismissed in a
single line about South American origins of the tree.
After several years in the U.S., I've been able to indulge at will in
that sweet pastime of buying and eating Hershey's bars or Kisses when
the mood strikes, or when the Halloween candy is in, or the Easter sales
and Christmas sales are round the corner.
This year, we actually paid a visit to that shrine to Chocolate:
Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was a model town back in the 19th century, the
brainchild of Milton
S. Hershey, built around the chocolate factory. Sort of like Willie
Wonka, but with human workers instead of Oompa-Loompas. And
of course, human workers need much more than just cacao beans to stay
alive. So they were recipients of the well-planned munificence of Milton
Hershey, who left much of his fortune to establishing charitable trusts
that ensured the well-being of future generations of Hersheyites. The
town and the charity school he founded bear his imprimatur, to this day.
The air there smells of chocolate, the streetlights are shaped like
Hershey's Kisses, the main buildings on the main avenue are museums to
Hershey's life and times. The crowds come pouring in, every spring, as
the theme park with its roller coasters and rides opens, and the
Disneyesque entertainments of the Chocolate World keep the tourists
entertained, with everything from '3-D' shows to 'Chocolate tasting
tours' to simulated 'Factory Tours'. The real business of Hershey's goes
on quietly, away from the tourist paradise, a large antiseptic factory
in white and blue, tucked away on the far end of the main avenue as it
peters out into the countryside.

It's a place well worth visiting, and will work wonders for those who
are in the mode to either indulge or rid themselves of an addiction to
chocolate.

(cross-posted from Fluff 'n' Stuff)

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5 responses to “Too much of a good thing (Sujatha)”

  1. Ruchira

    My book club read a biography of Milton Hershey last year – a very interesting account of Hershey, the man and the place.
    There was something about chocolates in the book that caught my eye. Although very fond of chocolates, I have always found most chocolates and chocolate covered confections in the US less than delightful. My standard for chocolate was set in childhood by Cadbury’s milk and milk & nuts bars in India and they were sumptuous. Many years later, I ate some really good chocolates in Europe. By contrast, the American varieties, even the expensive ones, seem overly sweet and even less appetizing to my palate, greasy. Hershey’s milk chocolate leaves an after taste of lard in my mouth – fatty and slightly sour. I learnt that this happens due to the difference in the fat content of the cow milk in different countries and of course, the addition of other fatty chemicals like lecithin. The Indian cow milk is much lower in fat and the Cadbury’s of my childhood did not contain lecithin. It therefore retained the lighter taste of milk and the pleasing chocolate flavor dominated without vying with the overbearing taste of fat. That is also perhaps why Indian ice creams (the good varieties) tend to be so delicious. The cream is lighter and the texture of the ice cream is a bit crystalline rather than overly creamy, somewhat like home churned. There was a company called Wenger’s in Delhi when I was growing up which made the best coffee and chocolate icecreams I have ever tasted … anywhere. Wenger’s still exists as a maker of cakes and pastries. But alas, they have gone out of the ice cream business.

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  2. Sujatha

    Interesting, about the sweetness and texture. The milk for Hershey’s chocolate comes primarily from the multitudes of dairy farms (Happy cows grazing in the fields…truly, not just for some picture-perfect postcard). The majority appear to be Holsteins or Jersey cows, which produce fattier milk on average than the Indian breeds. I’m not sure if the Hershey’s taste of the recent years was also from the use of corn syrup as a sweetener, but have noticed that the recent ‘Kisses’ seem less cloying than before. Maybe they are reverting to the use of cane sugar, which was used originally, Milton Hershey having gone to the extent of purchasing a sugar mill in Cuba in order to guarantee his sugar supply.

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  3. Ruchira

    Hershey’s sugar mill acquisition in Cuba was a very interesting part of the story. It illustrated his passion for doing everything from scratch and keeping complete control over the ingredients that went into Hershey products. The sugar manufacturing deal in Cuba was meant both as a means of making sugar cheaply and guranteeing a steady supply for his own factories as well as a way of making money by selling the surplus to other food makers. Despite Hershey’s legendary luck on most fronts, the fickle stock market played havoc with the sugar making venture.

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  4. Mandira

    During the recent acquisition bid for Cadbury, Hershey also toyed with the idea of bidding but eventually the company was acquired by Kraft. Read an interesting article on the takeover and chocolates in Economic Times by Vikram Doctor called “More than a mere Bite”.
    Mandira

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  5. Sujatha

    More than a mere Bite
    Thanks for the pointer, Mandira. That was a detailed report on the inside dealings in the attempted Hershey purchase of Cadbury’s.
    I knew that Bourneville may have been an inspiration of sorts for Milton S. Hershey, but knew very little beyond that. The ‘waxy’ taste that we are used to in Indian chocolates, vanishes entirely in the Hershey’s varieties. As for the ‘sour’ backtaste, I confess that I got used to it entirely after moving to the US, and feel odd when I don’t detect the sour backbite in any chocolate.

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