Hershey Archives - Candyrageous

June 24, 2021 Michael

Reese’s White – A Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

The three major types of chocolate, ranked: dark chocolate > milk chocolate > white chocolate. I’m sorry, but that’s just a fact. White chocolate is okay, but if you prefer it to milk or dark then you need to come to terms with the fact that your opinions are bad.

But of course, like so many would-be white chocolate confections from the major candy-makers, this isn’t actually white chocolate — it’s “white creme.” There’s no cocoa butter in the ingredients, so the word chocolate does not apply.

It’s fine? I guess? Even if it were great quality white chocolate, I don’t think this would have been anything too special; the chocolate/PB combo is magical for a reason, and removing the cocoa flavour from that equation diminishes it quite substantially.

Still, it’s tasty enough. The salty peanut butter does a great job of balancing out the sweetness from the white creme, and with the quantity of PB here, the waxy texture from the fake chocolate isn’t all that noticeable. The whole thing is a clear downgrade from a standard Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, but it’s not bad.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 cups, 39 grams): 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 150 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), skim milk, dextrose, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of: salt, lecithin (soy), TBHQ and citric acid to maintain freshness, vanillin, artificial flavor, PGPR.

May 16, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces – A Very Tasty Combo

Candy Bars

Though Reese cramming their Peanut Butter Cups with stuff has become old hat at this point, I’m pretty sure that Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces was the first time they did this. So basically, it’s the Neil Armstrong of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Unless I’m wrong about it being first, in which case I guess it’s the Buzz Aldrin of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?

It’s easy enough to see why this thing kickstarted a trend — it’s delicious. The Big Cup itself is quite good, with a much more peanut buttery flavour than a standard Reese Peanut Butter Cup, and a very satisfying balance of sweet and salty.

The Reese’s Pieces bring a nice bit of crispiness that compliments the creamy cups really well. And they aren’t just there for texture; they add a decent amount of their very distinctive flavour. It all adds up to something that seems like it should just be a novelty, but is actually quite tasty.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 cups, 79 grams): 390 calories, 22 grams of fat (10 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 230 mg of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 gram of fibre, 41 grams of sugar, 8 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, lactose, lecithin (soy), polyglycerol polyricinoleate), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, partially defatted peanuts, modified and hydrogenated palm kernel oil and hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, salt, colour, corn starch, confectioner’s glaze, lecithin (soy) modified corn starch, corn syrup, THBQ, carnauba wax, artificial flavour.

May 2, 2021 Michael

Almond Joy – Crunchy, Coconutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Almond Joy is basically Mounds, but with the addition of almonds, and with milk chocolate instead of dark. It’s fine, but Mounds is clearly the superior of the two.

The milk chocolate actually makes a pretty huge difference. The dark chocolate on a Mounds bar gives it a more pronounced chocolately flavour, and its slight bitterness contrasts very nicely with the very sweet coconut. The milk chocolate here is decent, but it’s just sweet on sweet; I missed the dark chocolate.

Then, of course, there are the almonds. You’d think they’d be the star of the show; they’re right there in the name. Oddly enough, they don’t add much — they bring some crunchiness, but their flavour is completely lost. If they had a toastier flavour they might have been able to nudge through, but alas, they’re fairly bland.

You’d think the coconut would be exactly the same as in a Mounds (they’re both made by Hershey, after all), but the coconutty centre here seems a bit more dry. This emphasizes the problem coconut desserts tend to have, where you’re still munching on coconut bits long after the flavour has disappeared.

Still, the chocolate/coconut combo continues to be delicious, and while I prefer Mounds (and Bounty, the king of the chocolate/coconut castle), Almond Joy is tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 45 grams): 220 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, coconut, almonds, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and/or palm kernel oil) chocolate, milk, contains 2% or less of: lactose (milk), milk fat, skim milk, cocoa, whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), PGPR, hydrolyzed milk protein, sodium metabisulfite to maintain freshness, vanillin, artificial flavor.

April 14, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Pieces Peanut – A Big Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

Cramming a peanut into Reese’s Pieces seems like it should be a match made in heaven — Reese’s Pieces are one of my favourite candies, and Peanut M&M’s are objectively the best M&M’s. So combining the two must be the greatest thing ever, right?

You’d think.

In practice, these things just aren’t that great. It’s weird; adding a peanut seems like it could only enhance an already delicious candy, but it throws off the balance. It muddles that distinctive Reese’s Pieces flavour. It does add a nice roasted nuttiness, but it turns out Reese’s Pieces doesn’t need that. It was already perfect on its own; the presence of a whole nut waters down what was already great about it.

It doesn’t help that the candy shell is slightly thicker than a standard Reese’s Piece (what, isn’t a single one of these a Reese’s Piece? Or does this always have to be plural?), which gives it an unpleasantly assertive crunchiness that’s a bit over-the-top. It’s not a big deal, but again, the balance is thrown off. The addictive, “just one more piece” quality of the original is diminished.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (13 pieces, 39 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, corn syrup solids, dextrose, corn syrup), peanuts, partially defatted peanuts, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, palm kernel oil and hydrogenated soybean oil, confectioners glaze, corn starch, modified corn starch, salt, lecithin (soy), carnauba wax, artificial flavour, titanium dioxide, tartrazine, sunset yellow FCF, allura red, brilliant blue FCF, milk ingredients.

April 4, 2021April 11, 2021 Michael

Mounds – A Tasty Combo of Coconut and Dark Chocolate

Candy Bars

Mounds and Bounty are weirdly similar. They both feature sweet coconut covered in chocolate, they’re both divided into two bars, and both feature distinctive rounded edges. Mounds is the original, however. It was first released in 1920; Bounty didn’t come out until 1951.

I’ll admit I have a soft spot for Bounty thanks to a childhood fondness for the stuff, but the two are very, very similar.

The biggest difference is that Mounds is covered in dark chocolate versus Bounty’s milk chocolate (apparently there is a dark chocolate version of Bounty, though I don’t recall ever seeing it). I think pretty much every candy bar is improved by subbing dark chocolate for milk; it delivers more chocolatey flavour than its milky counterpart, and its slight bitterness balances well with the sweetness of a candy bar. So that’s definitely a point in Mounds’ favour.

The coconut portion of Mounds seems slightly creamier, but I think the coconut itself is a bit more roughly chopped, which means that you’ll still be chewing it even after the coconut flavour has mostly faded away. Point: Bounty.

Still, that’s a fairly minor complaint; both are delicious and extremely similar. I prefer Bounty, but I think that has more to do with childhood nostalgia than anything else.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 49 grams): 230 calories, 13 grams of fat (10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, semi-sweet chocolate (chocolate, sugar, milk fat, lecithin (soy), PGPR, vanillin, artificial flavor, milk), coconut, sugar, contains 2% or less of: salt, hydrolyzed milk protein, sodium metabisulfite to maintain freshness.