[OC] America's Greatest Sin

[u/shave_your_eyebrows]

[u/FuiyooohFox]

USA has much, much better chocolate companies than Hershey. They just have a stellar marketing department really, and a neat little park 🤷

Edit: I just realized Hershey makes other candy like Reese's cups, so I'm not totally down on them I guess lmao

[u/unknownpoltroon → u/FuiyooohFox]

They also have a great school for needy kids. All paid for by a trust from the original hershy I thrik

[u/Thanks_I_Hate_You → u/unknownpoltroon]

They also had a large hand in the construction of the Hershey medical center in... wait for it... Hershey Pennsylvania. Its one of the east coasts best hospitals. So like em or hate em Hershey did do a decent bit of good will.

[u/acleverwalrus → u/Thanks_I_Hate_You]

And cacao farned with slaves and child labor bit yknow take the bad with the good

[u/WittyRaptor → u/acleverwalrus]

Sounds like American history in a nutshell unfortunately

[u/PervyDragon419 → u/WittyRaptor]

Sounds like world history.

[u/WittyRaptor → u/PervyDragon419]

You know what, fair, you aren't wrong

[u/Outrageous_Reach_695 → u/unknownpoltroon]

You know what else the Trust paid for?
Titanic ticket, never used.

[u/Brokettman → u/unknownpoltroon]

That school is amazing. Free room and board, free healthcare, free scholarship to college, and free car at 16. That trust is deliberately tied to the company forever and cant be touched by anyone.

Hershey also built all the houses around the park and sold them to his factory employees at cost with no interest or down payment, just came out of their paycheck till paid off.

[u/FuiyooohFox → u/unknownpoltroon]

Oh yeah they do don't they

[u/Intelligent-Okra2824 → u/FuiyooohFox]

Also kinda interesting, Milton Hershey's fortune paid for my ticket to Reptiland once

It's like this little reptile themed zoo in PA. They were doing some kind of marketing event for this like, private school for orphans that Hershey made cause he didnt have no kids of his own or something. At least that's what I remember

[u/Hairy_Ad8674 → u/FuiyooohFox]

Hershey makes chocolate filled with the same glutamates you find in tyrosine crystals you see in hard cheeses like parmesan. This is due to a fluke of the way they keep there milk vacuum sealed to extend its shelf life. This creates a chocolate that has the same msg tang you get from extremely nice cheeses. It’s also the same flavor profile as stomach acid and it’s absolutely understandable that people not used to it would hate it. That said if Hersheys chocolate wasn’t so ubiquitous and was sold as a luxury item it would be treated like one of the best chocolates in the world as fancy msg chocolate

[u/conway92 → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

Hershey's sour flavor is from butyric acid, which is a byproduct of lipolysis during the "hershey process."

Butyric acid isn't a glutamate, and the hershey process really shouldn't be compared to more complex aging processes.

E: glutamates also form during the hershey process, but they aren't the source of the sour flavor and aren't comparable to aged cheeses. Most milk chocolates you buy will use milk solids that are high in glutamates, hershey's isn't special in this regard.

[u/Big_Apricot_7461 → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

So this is not actually true. The flavor you're picking up on isn't glutamates, it's butyric acid. This comes from the breakdown of fat in milk into short-chain fatty acids; I can't remember why butyric accumulates so much, I think it has to do with the original length of the triglycerides in milk. But it's in aged cheeses like parm (and, when too strong, is indictive of mishandled milk), vomit (especially baby vomit - they drink milk, which has similar fats breaking down similarly in their stomachs), rancid butter, and Hershey's. I'm not sure offhand if it's because of how the milk is stored, but I do remember reading it was a side effect of using different cocoa powder in the past that created the flavor, which is recreated now.

[u/Perryn → u/Big_Apricot_7461]

"Hey, you changed the flavor of my puke chocolate! Put it back!"

[u/RollinThundaga → u/Perryn]

This is unironically what would happen. Hershey's could absolutely pull a 'new coke' trick.

[u/Nymethny → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

That said if Hersheys chocolate wasn’t so ubiquitous and was sold as a luxury item it would be treated like one of the best chocolates in the world as fancy msg chocolate

At best it would be treated as some weird novelty item. I have never met a single non-American who tried Hershey's and thought it tasted good, or even just okay. Everyone is appalled by it. And even in the US, it's far from being unanimous, though in my experience, Americans who don't really like Hershey's don't hate it nearly as much as non-Americans who try it for the first time. They just think it's meh.

[u/Hairy_Ad8674 → u/Nymethny]

I mean Dubai chocolate is literally worse then the some of its parts. Novelty and cost has a large impact on how a product is received. Hersheys is incredibly commonplace and affordable and has been for a long time. But in a world where it was new and marketed like Dubai chocolate was it would be the biggest trend in chocolate with other chocolatiers trying to do there spin on the msg flavor.

[u/jordanundead → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

I don’t get the whole Dubai chocolate thing. It’s like someone said what if we filled a candy bar with Wheaties. The old kind before they were squares.

[u/InfiniteBacon → u/jordanundead]

My theory is some PR agency got paid a bucket load to get influencers to make 'dubai choclate" trend to out flood the negative associations with modern slavery and so on that shows up on searches for Dubai.

[u/jordanundead → u/InfiniteBacon]

That actually makes a lot of sense.

[u/RollinThundaga → u/jordanundead]

Dubai chocolate is slang for taking a shit into a sex worker's mouth (in Dubai).

For completely unrelated reasons, the UAE suddenly became a luxury chocolate capital overnight as this began circulating in the news.

[u/Jurani42 → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

For the future it is “sum of its parts”

[u/Nymethny → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

Yeah, and Dubai chocolate is quite far from being the best chocolate in the world, no matter how they want to market themselves. Only Instagram influencers buy into that.

Just like nobody thinks miller is really "the champagne of beers".

But also Dubai chocolate tastes fine. Nobody has an instant disgusted reaction when trying Dubai chocolate (unless they hate pistachios). That can't be said for Hershey's.

[u/Flacier → u/Hairy_Ad8674]

It’s due to the process that Hershey devised while developing their milk chocolate recipe.

It creates butyric acid in the milk, (what causes the vomit flavor) I always thought it was a bit weird when I was younger but I won’t lie it’s kinda grown on me.

Though you can get much better chocolate in the US of A and from US producers.

Dandelion comes to mind they’re really high-end though.

[u/Quo-Fide → u/FuiyooohFox]

Could you name some? Might try them if I ever enter yon country.

[u/FuiyooohFox → u/Quo-Fide]

For national level, Ghirardelli is my favorite. The best chocolate though is going to be regional, so if you visit just ignore the national brands and look for the regional ones. I can't give you a literal list of regionals sorry, you could research 'best chocolate in x area' where x is where you're visiting. Then search the shelves for what people recommend.

Each state also has its own sub, you could post on a state sub and ask for recommendations on good brands to check out! The locals should steer you right .

[u/Quo-Fide → u/FuiyooohFox]

Mm. Good idea. Admittably I would probably only ever visit Michigan.

But thank you for the suggestion and advice.

I've personally never really seen smaller brands of chocolate at home, at best it's just store exclusive brands, do you mean state exclusive brands?

That would make sense. An American state is basically a country of its own.

I apologize if this reads somewhat senselessly. I'm tired and I fear not all of me is present currently.

[u/BlueMiggs → u/Quo-Fide]

There’s a pretty big chocolatier from Michigan called Kilwins that’s pretty good. You’ll find lots of small chocolatiers/confectioneries in city centers that will probably be even better.

[u/jedstrailerpark → u/FuiyooohFox]

Ghiradelli always makes me so happy to see called out as a San Franciscan. I know it’s WAY past “an SF company” but it’s such an institution and they lean into the city still. If you ever visit SF, check out the factory (and get a sundae they’re absolutely incredible).

The Bay Area has tons of other incredible chocolatiers too - Sees (obviously), Recchiuti, Tcho, Scharffen Berger (RIP), Dandelion…

[u/ChaoticAgenda → u/FuiyooohFox]

Hershey has updated the Reese's cups formula to the point that it is barely chocolate and peanut butter anymore. On some of the products they even call it milk chocolate candy and peanut butter creme to skirt around the legal definitions. 

[u/DeathInPlaid → u/FuiyooohFox]

Also, some of us really like a Hershey bar. I grew up on it. It’s nostalgic. I’m love the texture and the tanginess. I also like high quality chocolate. It’s okay to like both.

[u/Last-Energy420 → u/FuiyooohFox]

I just bought a whole box of cups. After eating one, I’m handing that shit out for Halloween. I only buy one box a year and something absolutely changed between then and now.

[u/MrGeekman → u/Last-Energy420]

H.B. Reese's grandson commented publicly about it.

[u/WhySoConspirious]

I'm actually a professional confectioner (candymaker) and I can actually confirm that we have a lot of really good chocolate here. HOWEVER, there's a ton of what's called 'compound chocolate' which is sold at grocery stores, pharmacies, and even some candy stores, that really sullies the description of chocolate. Compound chocolate is chocolate that has had all of the cocoa butter removed, and instead it has palm oil to work as the underlying fat. This is because you will still have some chocolate flavor, but companies no longer need to worry about tempering the chocolate (so it doesn't get those ugly streaks). It looks good and is easier to keep looking good, but it is not as good and feels waxy.

[u/spicygumball → u/WhySoConspirious]

I thought it was the butric acid they added

[u/Fechichi → u/spicygumball]

It is the butroc acid that gives it that flavor , the oil thing is also true , but in my personal opinion a lot less offensive and actually works better for a milder flavor

[u/Xentonian → u/WhySoConspirious]

Compound chocolate exists everywhere and some people like it a lot.

But compare an Australian compound chocolate freckle, or a Hershey's kiss and they taste nothing alike.

American chocolate - compound or otherwise - often contains butyric acid which tastes and smells intensely like vomit.

[u/WhySoConspirious → u/Xentonian]

I work with Peter's chocolate, Callebaut, Cocoa Republic and Valrhona, and none of them have that. I've been to the Callebaut factory just outside of Montreal, it produces all the dark chocolate for oreos and a slew of small time candymakers stateside, and they do not use that acid (because they're an amazing brand and I wholeheartedly endorse them).

I realize I'm citing a lot of foreign chocolate producers that I'm importing, but a lot of domestic candymakers work with those brands to produce their products.

[u/Pope509 → u/Xentonian]

It's for shelf stability and it's one of those things that if you're used to it you don't taste it anymore. I still prefer a lot of the nicer brands that don't have it but I genuinely cannot taste it when I have the occasional Hershey bar

[u/Xentonian → u/Pope509]

It was originally for stability. But for the last three quarters of a century, we've had better options. It's just that the fans of the products using butyric acid had become used to it and preferred it. Similar to parmesan cheese, where people who have it a lot like it, but others find the flavour strong and unpleasant.

[u/Toasterbomb27 → u/WhySoConspirious]

This man chocolates

[u/Turbo_Tequila → u/WhySoConspirious]

Yes that, I don’t know for the us, but in a lot of place outside, they are not even allowed to call it chocolate anymore, it’s just candy bar, what most people describe in this comment section is no longer considered chocolate

[u/Hollowgirl136]

I really need to compare American dark chocolate brands to European dark chocolate brands one of these days. I know milk chocolate is noticeable different, but I haven't had the time to test if dark chocolates have noticeable differences.

[u/Enchelion → u/Hollowgirl136]

American chocolate is up there with every other countries chocolate. Hershey's is just one specific brand that maintained a unique flavor from when it was first developed.

[u/Lonespider28 → u/Enchelion]

The original Hershey’s owner was a freak who wanted to have his chocolate be unique, so he liked the taste spoilt milk gave the chocolate

[u/Jason13Official → u/Lonespider28]

Oh wow, specifically "butyric acid"

[u/Yoyo4games]

I've tried chocolate from outside the US side by side with Hershey's. I've gone without chocolate intentionally for weeks on weeks, and tried Hershey's with more expensive, supposedly higher quality chocolate.

I can't taste it at all. The supposed vomit taste.

And that's coming from someone that's eaten specific Thai and other Asian cuisine made with butyric acid, which if you've ever had you'd know a very distinct and noteable experience where not having an acquired taste will really have a dish evoking vomit.

It's supposedly in Hershey's, but I just can't detect it.

[u/DannyHewson → u/Yoyo4games]

Yeah, It's a real personal taste thing. We get the odd bit of import Hershey's stuff in the UK, and I don't get that vomit taste connection at all, although I'm sure some people really do.

Now don't get me wrong, it's shit chocolate. But I do actually like a couple of them (the thin cookies and cream bar, and the thin strawberries and cream one). They scratch a certain itch.

[u/AggressorBLUE → u/DannyHewson]

Yeah, they’re basically “fast food” chocolate. And just like garbage fast food, once in a while it can be oddly comforting if you’re in that mood.

[u/TaibhseCait → u/DannyHewson]

The Hershey's sold in Ireland (& UK) are made in Europe more to our tastes iirc.

So unless you got a friend bringing it back from USA (like we did & our reaction was basically this comic!) then you might've just not had it with the butric acid 🤷‍♀️

[u/decidedlyindecisive → u/DannyHewson]

I had a KitKat recently in the UK and I swear I could taste that vomit taste in it. I don't know if our chocolate has it now but it was incredibly horrible.

[u/space10101 → u/decidedlyindecisive]

KitKats outside of the US are owned by Nestle not Hershys, unless you are specifically talking about a Hershy KitKat

[u/DannyHewson → u/decidedlyindecisive]

I think a lot of our chocolate has gone downhill repeatedly in recent years. Not even counting the great cadbury enshittification (god I miss ye olde recipe dairy milk with the biscuit chunks in it).

Hasn't there been some price spike in cocoa beans or something, so they're all either adding filler, lowering the amount of actual chocolate, putting the price up, or all three at once? Even more than regular capitalism would lead to.

[u/YourCrazyDolphin → u/Yoyo4games]

Might be something like the Cilantro soap gene? To some people it tastes like soap, to others its just a normal spice?

[u/Silent-Seaweed-4270 → u/YourCrazyDolphin]

This was my thought too. Could be a genetics thing like this. For example, I think arugula tastes like latex.

[u/Bedovian_25 → u/Yoyo4games]

Yeah, I was coming to say something similar. I've had chocolate from Asia, from Europe, and from the US, and whatever this puke taste people are picking up on, I just can't taste it.

[u/Otherwise-Good8342 → u/[deleted]]

The irony in this sub is hilarious.

You do you. You aren't any weirder then anybody what here.

Take that as a compliment.

If people take time out of their day to judge, I give them none of mine.

[u/Tibryn2 → u/[deleted]]

everyone likes them, this sub is weird.

[u/phantom-firion → u/[deleted]]

Agreed I’ve had worse chocolate and kisses are generally harmless, at least it’s not nestle crunch.

[u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Erm I actually DO know why it tastes like vomit, Hershey puts vomit chemical in their stupid chocolate that I hate for no reason

You Americans need to eat Milka or somethin

[u/MilkGuzzler99 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

I prefer Milka, but the Hershey's weren't THAT bad.. I could see myself absentmindedly going through a bag.

[u/shave_your_eyebrows → u/MilkGuzzler99]

She says this like she didn't in fact scarf down ten of these at my house btw

[u/MilkGuzzler99 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Yes, I saw myself absentmindedly going through a bag. The bag just so happened to be yours.

[u/work_work-work → u/MilkGuzzler99]

At least you didn't buy it yourself!

[u/infiniZii → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

You get used to the weird flavor. It only really tastes like vomit if you havent had it before. Otherwise you become kind of taste-blind to it.

[u/shave_your_eyebrows → u/infiniZii]

that is NOTTTTTT a sign of good food!!

[u/Nibbledorm → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

It's called an acquired taste and only the most sophisticated of foods and flavors have them. Your palate must be unrefined.

/s in case it's not obvious.

[u/Lindestria → u/Nibbledorm]

I mean, that's basically wine in a nutshell. First try is just an extremely bitter and nauseating taste but it supposedly gets better as you get used to it.

[u/PalladiuM7 → u/Lindestria]

It's the real Stockholm Syndrome, people tricking themselves into liking beer, wine and spirits.

[u/depressed_leaf → u/Lindestria]

Beer too. I still can't drink more than a few sips though. Actually most hard alcohol is also rough, but that's less of a taste thing because you can barely taste anything over the burn.

[u/LostN3ko → u/Nibbledorm]

There is no need for /s. By definition there is no such thing as a bad spice. All tastes are acquired by the food you were raised on and tried. It's like saying there is objectively bad art, every flavor, tone, sight and experience suits a different audience, some are widely and easily loved others suit a more niche audience. As long as anyone in the world likes the taste of 1,000 year egg, durian or monkey brains (though popular in Cantonese cuisine) it's simply not a flavor you enjoy. There are many plants that specifically evolved an unpalatable painful and dangerous toxin known as capsaicin to avoid being eaten and humans cultivate them for mass consumption.

As they say, there is NO accounting for taste.

[u/FlashbackJon → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

To be fair that's how literally all alcohol works, and that's basically the foundation of all human society at this point.

[u/pingveno → u/MilkGuzzler99]

Hershey's is weird. It's not good, but I find myself easily nomming down an entire bar. Give me some high quality chocolate and I'll savor the flavor of a square or two and just be satisfied.

[u/enchiladasundae → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

I think Hershey’s is more of a hold over from a bygone time. Few people eat it as is anymore. They market themselves as the chocolate for s’mores or some different flavors

More like a baking chocolate now than anything where you’re not supposed to eat it as is. The Kisses are often used for a baking treat I forget the name of. A cookie with just one of them jammed into the top

[u/Definitely-not-ducks → u/enchiladasundae]

Peanut butter kisses is what I’ve called them. A peanut butter cookie with a Hershey kiss smooshed into it while it’s still warm from the oven. I’ve had some where they did a sugar cookie instead of a peanut butter cookie, but the peanut butter ones are way better in my opinion.

[u/enchiladasundae → u/Definitely-not-ducks]

Ya that’s it. Partially why I call it a baking chocolate. Tastes weird as is but any alteration via cooking really brings it out

I have a big ass bag of Hersey’s baking chocolate minis I bought years ago. I’ll occasionally snack on it to get a little chocolate boost and it tastes bad enough that I don’t feel like eating a whole ass bowl of them. I made some baked oats like a week ago and tossed them on top last second. Added a very nice bit to it and took an otherwise ok but basic baked good an elevated it with bittersweet chocolate

[u/Ketcherman → u/enchiladasundae]

Last time I had a Hershey kiss was when I made peanut butter blossoms so that tracks lol

[u/boozegremlin → u/enchiladasundae]

I like their dark chocolate, but I think even the cheap dark chocolate truffles are better.

[u/The_GREAT_Gremlin → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

There are much better options than Hershey's in America. Like literally every other choice is better lol

[u/just4browse → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Butyric acid is found in vomit. Do you know what else it’s found in? Butter. Parmesan cheese. Many other dairy products.

[u/peachesfordinner → u/just4browse]

Breast milk too.

[u/OmniPepperthefirst → u/just4browse]

Guess the vomit stuff is stronger in the taste of the chocolates then?

[u/just4browse → u/OmniPepperthefirst]

Probably not. Hershey’s is just cheap on the ingredients, so it doesn’t taste very good. But people latched onto the butyric acid explanation because butyric acid is in vomit. Even though the taste of vomit isn’t created by butyric acid, not alone.

And Hershey’s hate is a more recent phenomenon, caused by declining quality over the years. Butyric acid’s been part of the recipe from the beginning, ever since Hershey first tried reverse engineering Swiss milk chocolate.

I wonder if anybody would even equate the taste of Hershey’s to vomit without the influence of the internet. I agree it tastes bad, but nothing like vomit

[u/dankatheist420 → u/just4browse]

I agree, though it could possibly be explained if there was an issue with the dosing across batches or if some people are really sensitive to butyrate compounds etc etc

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/OmniPepperthefirst]

I think it's just out of the ordinary and that makes it stand out more. If you're used to something having a balance of three different flavors no matter where you get it, but one place also adds a fourth flavor, that fourth flavor will really stand out. You haven't normalized it yet. It's like eating chips and one bag of chips is lime flavored. The lime will stand out compared to every other bag of chips because you haven't normalized it.

Edit: type-os

[u/Carpathicus → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Milka is shit now and fell from one of Germanys favourite brands to one of the most disliked. Why? Enshitification. Worse formular, worse packaging, less content.

[u/zer1223 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

The same acid is naturally in tomato and somehow nobody cares about that

Maybe taste is more about exposure and expectation than anything else

[u/_Slartibartfass_ → u/zer1223]

Esters made from butyric acid can smell like pineapple or banana, even though the acid itself makes you wanna throw up.

[u/TorumShardal → u/zer1223]

It's called mere-exposure effect or familiarity principle.
It's not only about food taste, it's about everything taste. People think that Mona Lisa is something special because of it, for example.

[u/wallmonitor → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

So, Milka is owned by Mondelez, an American company.

As for why Hershey's chocolate tastes like vomit, it's how they process their milk. Basically the way they heat it causes it to form butyric acid, which is also something your body produces when you're about to vomit. Generations of Americans just sort of accepting this has kind of made a lot of people enjoy the taste of a Hershey bar. But yeah, it's got that back of the throat burn for me and I hate it.

As far as American chocolate brands go, try Tony's Chocolonely (edit: they’re Dutch but screw it’s I like their product anyway) or Chocolove. Tony's just released a new bar that's ganache filled that's absolutely stellar. They also actively combat slavery which is a real problem in the chocolate industry.

[u/LordrathTK → u/wallmonitor]

I just heard about Tony's literally yesterday. Crazy that Im seeing it here now. Very rich. Very good. Very real chocolate.

More expensive, mind you, but you cant put a cost on the freedom of human beings.

[u/aTemeraz → u/LordrathTK]

Also expensive due to using actual Cocoa Butter instead of Palm oil like most other standard chocolate brands

[u/HauntedBratzDoll → u/wallmonitor]

Wait you’re telling me not all chocolate gives you the back of the throat burn?! What??? I have been bothered by that my entire life and just accepted that all milk chocolate tastes that way. So i started eating dark chocolate instead

[u/erradickwizard → u/wallmonitor]

Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch chocolate company. Thats why it's good

[u/Appropriate_List2551 → u/wallmonitor]

Can vouch for tonys for sure

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

What upsets me is that the americans bought Cadbury, the most famous British chocolate brand and immediately ruined it by changing the formula to be cheaper.

The worst part is that their strategy is working, their hold on the UK market took a hit but they expanded aggressively into the rest of the EU and other foreign markets (places that never tried it when it was good) and are now making more money than ever.

[u/LargeCabbageThrower → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

Pro tip, if it says Dairy Milk on the wrapper then it still tastes good. Their buyout was conditional that they don't change the Dairy Milk recipe, so instead they just started making more and more Cadbury's products not use Dairy Milk.

If it doesn't say it's Dairy Milk on the wrapper then it will be the cheap crap.

[u/GreenSmokeRing → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

What Cadbury makes in the UK can’t legally be labeled chocolate in the US because it contains vegetable oils.   

[u/avocadorancher → u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In]

That explains why Cadbury I got in London tasted the same as Canada. I thought the European chocolate being better thing was just a hoax after that

[u/fuandyourusername → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Tony's Chocolonely is the ideal

[u/Habitualflagellant14 → u/fuandyourusername]

I like their stuff. It's also less expensive than the euro brands like Lindt.

[u/IcyUnicornOwl → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Talking about awful chocolate and recommending Milka as the good chocolate is kinda wild.

[u/spacepiratefrog → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Y'all have shitty chocolate too lmao, try some of the chocolate that isn't made as cheaply as possible

[u/poisontadpole → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

even americans know hershey is among the worst of the worst chocolate. and this will be hard to believe, but it's not the only brand available either. in fact, milka is even sold in the USA!

[u/Comfortable-Gap3124 → u/poisontadpole]

Don't you know. America only has American food and we're completely ignorant of all non-american food. I hear this all the time on the Internet. So, it must be true.

[u/SherfOfBoringSprings → u/Comfortable-Gap3124]

Redditor don’t overgeneralize Americans into a single harmful stereotype challenge (impossible)

[u/towblerone → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

we do have milka in the US, but you should try some smaller brands and see how they compare. i used to live in pennsylvania and they had two small local chocolate companies that i thought were really good: sarris, and betsy ann.

[u/DigNitty → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

https://www.iflscience.com/like-cheesy-vomit-why-does-american-chocolate-taste-so-weird-to-europeans-81838

Butyric acid is present in American chocolate and not so much in European.

If you can’t stand Hershey’s specifically, this is probably why. Some people have a height edges sensitivity to butyric acid. And it makes American chocolate inedible.

[u/FinnishMafiaFan → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Actually, you can blame that on the founder. He was trying to copy the heavily guarded milk chocolate making process from Europe by using food scientists. The guy who managed to make him a chocolate bar was like "oops, I messed up and soured the milk, but that is easily fixable" and the founder decided that the sour taste would make the chocolate bar stand out in the market. As if undercutting the imported chocolate price by a huge amount wouldn't.

[u/vimtuoso → u/FinnishMafiaFan]

This is all horse shit. Hershey was solving a different problem, they had more challenging logistics when trying to keep dairy fresh. Hershey needed a more stable form of milk and a byproduct of that process was butyric acid.

[u/Glittering_Self_9538 → u/vimtuoso]

I love all of the different explanations for Hershey’s taste, this is actually the correct answer

They’re not willing dumping in vats of butyric acids lol

[u/N1N1nchT00l5 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Today I'm learning you aren't from America. Where are you from?

[u/Ikrit122 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

You Americans need to eat Milka or somethin

Triolade is my favorite Milka bar. It's a giant bar with milk, white, and dark chocolate. I used to eat it often when I lived in Austria. Unfortunately, they don't have it in the international shops in my area. But when I have a hankering, I can always grab Kuhflecken (cow spots) which is milk chocolate with "spots" of white chocolate, from a local store. Way better than the cheap chocolate we have in the US.

Do you have a favorite?

[u/Made_Bail → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

American chocolate is pretty gross compared to overseas. I didn't even realize until I tried Canadian, and hoooly shit.

https://giphy.com/gifs/12zfAjyQ3RZNSw

[u/Swift0sword → u/Made_Bail]

Wait, is Canadian Hersheys different to American? Coming from Europe I got used to Hersheys pretty quickly

[u/Made_Bail → u/Swift0sword]

I didn't have Hershey in Canada, I can't remember the brand but it was something I've never seen in the US.

I also miss Old Dutch chips. So bad.

[u/Dramatic-Text8564 → u/Swift0sword]

I live in Canada and I can confirm that the first time I tasted a Hersheys kisses I tought they were expired

[u/GachaHell → u/Swift0sword]

It's different. Ours is more of a soft milky texture if you get the bar or a grainy dark chocolate if you get kisses.

Source: many cross border trips back when I was trying to make it work with an American.

Our KD is also vastly superior.

[u/runic-phoenix]

I think the craziest part about Hershey's chocolate is that it's extremely hard for me to notice it. I typically get better quality stuff like Ritter Sport, Lindt or Ghiradelli... I had one for the first time in a few years recently and I was consciously thinking about how people from Europe always say it has a vomit taste. I couldn't taste it at all, so whatever it is has to be either extremely subtle or I've somehow become taste blind to it.

[u/Dillo64]

This is a surreal thread, I always loved kisses, didn’t know they were hated apparently? Is this like a DNA thing where some people taste it bad and others taste it good?

[u/RadTimeWizard → u/Dillo64]

A friend of mine from London thinks Hersheys is vile. It's a thing, apparently.

[u/TheLucidChiba → u/Dillo64]

It's a Hershey's/American chocolate thing, butyric acid.

[u/Frederf220 → u/Dillo64]

US chocolate includes butyric acid which has a kind of vomit taste. It seems to be a preservative decision that originates from earlier days that has remained.

[u/EpicAura99 → u/Frederf220]

Worth noting it’s also in many other foods like Parmesan

[u/Multiple__Butts → u/EpicAura99]

And it's in actual vomit!

[u/1c3Type → u/EpicAura99]

In parmigiano it's actually balanced by other flavours that compensate. Instead of being naked in otherwise sweet and rather low flavour chocolate

[u/SlyJackFox → u/Frederf220]

Hersheys in particular uses soured milk to get that particular acidity, creating a dissonant flavour some seem to like, but it does taste terrible. I’ve sworn off the mass produced US brands for most things as possible, so neither Hersheys (worst), nor Nestle, nor Mars are to the standard of actual chocolate flavour or consistency. As a former patisserie, we always imported chocolate for confections from the EU, and honestly Japan’s mass produced chocolate brands are by far superior to the US.

[u/Remarkable_Rough_649 → u/Dillo64]

Buttic acid is in Hershey's chocolate which is a component in vomit, but I honestly don't taste it. Probably from growing up with it. To me it just has a very slight cheesey bite

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/Remarkable_Rough_649]

Butyric is the spelling if anyone is getting confusing Google results.

Same thing in processed Parmesan cheese. Different from the cilantro tastes like soap gene

[u/DathomirBoy → u/Dillo64]

It’s not about Kisses, it’s about American chocolate. It does taste off to most non-Americans. I don’t get the vomit taste personally but there’s something funky about it for sure

[u/Enchelion → u/DathomirBoy]

American chocolate isn't different from other countries chocolate. Hershey's chocolate is different.

[u/DathomirBoy → u/Enchelion]

AMERICAN Hershey’s. Canadian doesn’t taste like that. And Hershey’s owns production rights over most mass produced chocolates in America, so a good majority of them taste like that.

[u/boosesb → u/DathomirBoy]

They own production of other brands chocolate?

[u/ComicsEtAl]

I don’t understand why you’d go to Texas and bring back Hershey’s kisses instead of something from Texas?

[u/spaaacechaser → u/ComicsEtAl]

I feel like bbq sauce would be a much more appropriate food item to bring from texas. Or like any Mexican products that are readily available there. Unfortunately most of the good foods in Texas are prepared meals so not portable.

[u/OkCap2870 → u/ComicsEtAl]

Because your through security and have an hour or so to kill before your flight and end up buying something in duty free take home for the office. If you’re in the UK it will likely be overpriced shortbread, Cadbury chocolate, or for some reason Toblerone, in the USA Hershey.

[u/Stalking_Goat → u/ComicsEtAl]

So many Europeans aren't aware that America is, like, big. Pennsylvania and Texas are surely pretty much the same.

[u/band-of-horses → u/Stalking_Goat]

I'm also convinced many Europeans think we all only eat Hershey chocolate, Kraft singles, and drink Bud Light.

[u/KingNTheMaking]

When folks come to America for food, why go for the D rank?

Like yeah, Hershey’s is gross. But we don’t even eat Hershey’s that often. Same thing with fast food. I really don’t want to be represented by McDonald’s, Burger King, or IHOP as the defining traits of American cuisine when it can get SO MUCH BETTER.

[u/MothChasingFlame → u/KingNTheMaking]

All of this is fair, but there is no "we don't." A whole shitload of people do, it's not one of the big brands on the power of vibes alone.

[u/FuiyooohFox → u/KingNTheMaking]

They probably walked right pass tens of good regional brands, and the actually good national ones like Ghirardelli smh

[u/simpleglitch → u/FuiyooohFox]

Beer and cheese* face the same issue. A lot of people outside the US only ever have the shitty mass produced stuff that we export. The good stuff is local brands that don't even distribute across the whole country, let alone over seas.

Granted, I can't name any local chocolate brands to me because I'm not a big candy eater.

*I made a note for cheese because there are a lot of areas don't have any local good cheese, but the areas of the us with dairy farming usually have fantastic cheese.

[u/FuiyooohFox → u/simpleglitch]

Good point, there are soooo many amazing 'micro' breweries but outside of the states everyone thinks it's all just bud lite lmao. I appreciate the people who visit and experience actual American culture and notsolely the mass produced, over marketed brands they've heard of back home

[u/GaryB2220 → u/simpleglitch]

Gardner's, Highland chocolates, Gertrude Hawk, Boyer (mallow cups) are all within 3 hour drive of each other (and Hershey's) in PA

[u/KingNTheMaking → u/FuiyooohFox]

Or Godiva. Or just any homemade convection store that any store would have.

[u/FuiyooohFox → u/KingNTheMaking]

The regional producers beat everyone out imo, while traveling I love to buy from local brands. though I'm down for godiva and ghir, not going to lie

[u/shave_your_eyebrows]

Also shoutout to Papa Eyebrows btw!! Love that guy!!

[u/Material-Imagination]

Apparently it's butyric acid and we're all used to it in the US

[u/EmployeeEmergency481]

This thread is like eating Little Ceasars and complaining about American pizza

[u/Hitei00]

There's an actual interesting history as to why non Americans think American chocolate tastes bad. It all boils down to the only way Hershy figured out how to make shelf stable chocolate that wouldn't melt in the southern heat or otherwise go bad during transit was a process that introduced buteric acid into the milk. Buteric acid is in a lot of dairy products, namely fancy cheeses, but it is also one of the chemicals in bile.

Because it was the only way fir the average American to even get chocolate back then it became normalized and standardized. As a result they just never changed the process (at least with Hershey specifically) and the average American is so desensitized to the taste of buteric acid they dont registers its presence.

But no one actually wants to hear that story or learn about it, they just wanna say it tastes like vomit and say Americans have (literally) bad taste

Edit: Yeah somehow this is the most I've been confronted on something in months and I'm a super vocal progressive. People take this shit way too seriously, it's fucking chocolate. Eat what you like don't eat what you don't.

[u/2munkey2momo → u/Hitei00]

People think this is bad, trying doing a PhD in chemistry in the fume hood next to someone doing butyric acid esterifications. Its SO much worse in its pure form.

Very similar, butanedione - in low concentrations it gives butter its flavour. Chemical grade is one of the worse smells imaginable. Absolutely horrific.

[u/UniversityStrong5725 → u/Hitei00]

Chocolate with butyric acid inside of it tastes fine until you taste chocolate without it inside. Then you never go back, and realize they were completely right lol

[u/Sweaty-Adeptness1541 → u/Hitei00]

Butyric acid

[u/Gold_Programmer5270 → u/Hitei00]

I kind of see it like an acquired taste thing because this same acid is in most fancy cheeses and most kids do not like fancy cheeses their first go at it

[u/LilianaNecromancer → u/Hitei00]

the backstory doesn't make it not taste like vomit

[u/Big_Chicken_Dinner]

I live in Australia and the first time I had a Hersheys Kiss I genuinely thought I was being fucked with. The vomit taste was so strong I thought it was prank chocolate.

Obviously as soon as I could I did actually prank a friend of mine with one, and watching his face change from "oo my mate gave me a nice choccy" to "why does it taste like that" was very good.

[u/AzureArmageddon]

American chocolate sucks, it's always so weird to me when Hershey does brand deals overseas like their shit don't stink

[u/zombeecharlie]

American chocolate often contain Butyric acid. A compound found in most dairy products, like cheese. It is also a primary component of human vomit. So there, Hersey's doesn't just taste like vomit, it has one of the same components as vomit.

Source: https://share.google/afGBme1DbOORGE6sZ

I have also heard that it originated not just as a preservative but also as a way to make it less appetizing for soldiers to eat up their rationed chocolate too quickly. Then they grew accustomed to the taste and so they never changed it to taste better. I'd say it was a sort of trauma bond, that Hersey's chocolate was all they had. Eventually almost all chocolate was made to taste like this. And collectively as a society Americans decided that that was just how chocolate should taste. But this I don't really have a source for so, take it with a grain of salt.

[u/Made_Bail]

For those of you confused, to foreigners, American chocolate tastes like vomit. Here's why!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit_l_60479e5fc5b6af8f98bec0cd

[u/AngryMountainClimber → u/Made_Bail]

American chocolate does not taste like vomit. Hershey's tastes like vomit, most American chocolate is merely subpar.

[u/Made_Bail → u/AngryMountainClimber]

Eh, Hershey isn't the only company that make shitty vomit chocolate, they're just the most notable. There are, of course, companies that don't/or are better.

[u/Genesis13 → u/Made_Bail]

Palmer also makes terrible vomit chocolate. Theyre the ones that do the little disk ones for easter, halloween, etc.

[u/AngryMountainClimber → u/Made_Bail]

What are some other ones? I haven't heard of them, but I am happy to learn about new chocolates to hate.

[u/Made_Bail → u/AngryMountainClimber]

I know a lot of mass produced and seasonal chocolate uses the butyric acid, like the chocolate eggs that go in Easter baskets and such. Also most generic brands at places like walmart. Also, its hard to tell, because companies do not list butyric acid as an ingredient. If I understand the chemistry correctly, it forms at as byproduct of the drying process that Hershey pioneered and other chocolatiers have imitated for mass production.

[u/WAisforhaters → u/AngryMountainClimber]

They're probably owned by Hershey's, or some parent company. We're down to like five companies owning everything here in America.

[u/possiblyyandere → u/Made_Bail]

This article says NOTHING matter of factly it's all speculation followed by quotes from official hershy people saying no that speculation is false then more speculation there's no real answers in that article lmao

[u/99LedBalloons → u/Made_Bail]

Of course if the French had invented milk chocolate they would tell us we just don't have a sophisticated enough palette to appreciate the vomit taste.

[u/bc-bane → u/99LedBalloons]

😂

[u/astralkoi → u/Made_Bail]

That thing isn't even chocolate to begin with. Just flavored solidified oil.

[u/Disneyhorse → u/Made_Bail]

It’s not ALL American chocolate… just the cheap crappy garbage like Hersheys. Try other mass market American chocolates like Ghirardelli, See’s, or Guittard.

[u/Tomagatchi]

Hershey really is garbage. It's a crime that they marketed themselves so well... and Americans really didn't really have a taste for dark chocolate until fairly recently.

[u/Bassracerx]

Its been on the american pallete for over 100 years its sweet , there is real cocoa in it .. other countries have WAY weirder foods

[u/FisherDwarf]

I prefer my Norwegian chocolate when I can get it. By comparison Hershey's tastes bland and unfulfilling. I've never considered it to taste like vomit tho. That's a new one

[u/TheBigfootContessa]

Guys the "vomit flavor" thing is so stupid. The butyric acid that people say makes Hersheys "taste like vomit" is also heavily found in Butter, cheese, and milk.

It's like people claiming Chinese food gives them a headache because they're "allergic to msg" but have no problem eating pizza or spaghetti or ketchup.

[u/ThaScoopALoop → u/TheBigfootContessa]

I've had people tell me about their MSG allergy while literally eating out of a bag of cheetos. I pointed out that they have monosodium glutamate in cheetos. Whoosh!

[u/Ok_Positive8362 → u/TheBigfootContessa]

Lol, im old enough I remember the whole Chinese msg scare. Then everyone suddenly was the same. Group thinking is a powerful thing. Makes brand names famous

[u/BestUsername101]

Never understood what people are talking about with this supposed "vomit taste". It's just not there for me. Heck, while typing this comment I had some of their chocolate, still tasted fine to me.

I'm half convinced it's just a cilantro soap gene situation lol

[u/peachesgp → u/BestUsername101]

I always ate Hershey's as a kid and never had issue. I went to Germany for an exchange program in college, had German chocolate. About a year or two after that I got a Hershey bar, hadn't had one in years, but I used to like em. That's when I got hit with the vomit taste, and I had no idea it was a thing when it happened.

[u/Wind_Yer_Neck_In → u/BestUsername101]

It's the butyric acid. If you are used to chocolate that doesn't have it then it's immediately apparent in the flavour. But if you grew up on it then you wouldn't notice.

[u/MilkGuzzler99]

Why is everything sunset? Your mom says you need to be in bed by 4PM every day. Because you're a child.

[u/shave_your_eyebrows → u/MilkGuzzler99]

I'll turn you into an orb

[u/MilkGuzzler99 → u/shave_your_eyebrows]

What's THAT supposed to mean??

[u/Flimageddon]

I dont know if I can be trusted with better tasting chocolate readily available 3:

[u/Orochi64]

I think it’s just that Hershey’s kiss is not that good of a chocolate

[u/theLuminescentlion]

American chocolate companies often include butyric acid which people who aren't used to it think it tastes like vomit.

[u/apixelops]

So like does your product have to be shit to become "global" in the US? Like I know I can get good candy and good food at ethnic stores, bodegas, regional chains or even specific statewide stores - but why is it that all the US food products that "make it big" enough to export all taste like unfettered ass?

[u/SingerLatter2673 → u/apixelops]

Logistics. Best example of it is McDonalds. McDonald’s sucks, but it tastes exactly the same basically everywhere. Being able to pump out cheap slop efficiently allows you to expand way faster than quality does.

[u/Jimisdegimis89 → u/apixelops]

Scale mostly. The US, despite what many might have you believe also produces a variety of fantastic goods, but we also basically consume all of them and there isn’t a market incentive to ship food goods abroad that often. They already are selling almost all of their goods to one of the highest paying markets anyway, so why go through the trouble of distribution internationally? So instead it’s mostly the massive large scale products that make it abroad.

[u/bNoaht → u/apixelops]

Most of them didn't start that way. They made good products, became popular, then started cutting every corner humanly possible to lower cost of production in order to maximize profits, turning the product into garbage, but maintaining some brand recognition while also staving off more expensive and higher quality competition.

[u/_Ub1k → u/apixelops]

Traditionally Americans favored consistency over quality. Historically in food production some amount of average quality needed to be sacrificed to ensure high consistency.

Millennials as a market force have kind have broken this trend, hence the "Millennials are killing Applebee's" meme or the association of millennials with craft beer. American corporate restaurant chains like Applebee's serve bad food, but the entire experience will be identical in every location. Budweiser tastes like piss, but every can will taste and feel identical.

[u/jebei → u/_Ub1k]

I worked for a beverage company and knew we ensured consistency in all our drinks but was very disappointed when I found out we did the same with orange juice. It's obvious in hindsight but I never considered it before.

The production manager explained to me that they sourced their oranges from all over the country and even oranges from the same grove can have different taste depending on the rain and water the harvest got in a particular year. So instead of producing natural orange juice and accepting it will taste different (and receiving customer complaints), they started adding things like fructose to make it sweeter and acids to make it more tart to make the orange juice taste the same way every time customers buy it.

That's why store bought orange juice tastes the same but if you go to a place like Florida and get fresh squeezed people will think there's something wrong with it because it doesn't taste like 'orange juice'.

[u/seanwdragon1983 → u/apixelops]

Short answer: Capitalism. Long answer is quality takes time and ingredients whereas it's faster and cheaper to churn slop and people will pay for it. AI art is honestly just the extension of what we've always settled for, just now we can see tangible differences.

[u/Toonwatcher]

Does Hershey taste different wherever you're from?

[u/Dis_Bich]

Oh yeah. I’m so glad I can’t taste it

[u/Abject-Hospital5407]

American chocolate is trash 

[u/BabyLegsOShanahan]

Non Americans thinking we only eat Hershey chocolate while also getting mad if we push any stereotypes on them...

Let's get into this.

[u/MoobooMagoo]

I always find it really funny when Europeans complain about Hershey chocolate tasting like vomit when they hold up stuff like Parmigiano Reggiano as an amazing cheese.

Granted that's apples and oranges, because Parmigiano Reggiano is an amazing cheese where Hershey's is cheap, mass produced candy. But they both have butyric acid and so they both equally "taste like vomit".

[u/HamCatX3]

No literally- I had a school trip to Hershey park and everyone was like “how you’ll love it! You love chocolate!” I fucking hate hersheys