Hiro11

To defend Hershey's:

Irony #1: Hershey's, which everyone has been picking on, does not use vegetable fat to replace the more expensive cocoa butter in their chocolate. Cadbury does. This is the reason why European-formula Cadbury Dairy Milk could not be sold in this country as "chocolate", it would have to be sold as "chocolate flavored candy" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury_Dairy_Milk ) and why it has to be reformulated for sale here. Hershey's definitely doesn't taste as good as Dairy Milk, but it's undoubtedly more "real" chocolate than Dairy Milk.

Irony #2: Hershey chocolate is produced in a unique method that deliberately introduces butyric acid into the chocolate. This acid is also found in sour milk and vomit. Why the hell would Hershey do this? Hershey started doing this because their process formerly used deliberately soured milk as a cost-saving measure back in the 20s. Americans got used to the taste and Hershey's continued to add the flavoring even after they stopped using soured milk. So, that weird tang to Hershey's is, in fact, deliberate. Also, it's worth noting that Hershey's owns many other smaller brands of chocolate (Scharffen-Berger, Dagoba etc) that produce world-class, weird-taste-free stuff. They know what they're doing.

Irony #3: Kraft is going to be a much tougher parent for Cadbury's UK operations than Hershey's would have been. Hershey's is famous in this country for being an early advocate for worker's rights and occupational safety. Even now, they're owned by a trust that is much more driven to "do good" than Kraft's shareholders. Cadbury would have been lucky to be taken over by Hershey.

AdobePinon

OK, time to stop whining about Cadbury's, and go eat some real chocolate. Here are a couple to help you get started.

another bloody yank

That stuff is good on s'mores.

The Horticulturalist

Nom Nom Nom.......

http://britishexpats.com/forum/attac...1&d=1265393892

Poppy girl

Just saw this on Yahoo homepage this evening
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/...-sheet-577106/

sime303

I used to buy Milka in Walmart, but can't find it now. Tastes a lot like Lindt milk choclolate.

Ash UK/US

Ghiradelli mint squares are yum!

Poppy girl

Yes Milka is nice Choccie you should be able to get it in Walgreens

nettlebed

MSDS for butyric acid.

When I was doing my PhD in Chemistry somebody in the next lab was doing research that involve butyric acid (which was first isolated from rancid butter, hence the name). She sometimes had to shower and change clothes when she left the lab, because she stank so bad.

AdobePinon

Also a major component of body odor, IIRC.

Patrick Hasler

Doing well then ....... the shares have dropped by 5 pounds each since the take over ..... no doubt Kraft will ruin the best chocolate company on Earth just as Unilever have ruined good companies here such as Good Humour / Breyers (being shut down) and Ben & Jerry's cutting back on ingredients and changing the flavours, thus dropping sales by huge amounts.

melody32

Oh the guilt that hung heavy on my shoulder when I cashed my husband's $.29 check from Kraft

Scouse Express

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8507066.stm

Jim.

im9907620

and far quicker than expected Jim.....almost hurricane-like. The chocolate has definitely started to melt

Mallory

I blame Cadbury. They planned to close Keynsham, they planned to lay off 400 workers, they spent millions on a new plant in Poland. They then sold off the very British Cadbury, and let Kraft take the blame. Oh well, the stockholders were already 50% American, so blame all round, eh.!