Category: News

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These 6 Popular Chocolate Candies Are Way Overpriced In 2026, According To Customers

These 6 Popular Chocolate Candies Are Way Overpriced In 2026, According To Customers

TASTINGTABLE.COM

A high price is a mark of good quality, right? In the chocolate industry especially, the more expensive a box, the more premium and high-quality the chocolate will be. Well, that should be the case, anyway. But unfortunately, shoppers have been noticing recently that many popular chocolate candies are increasingly overpriced. Even worse, in some cases, the quality of the chocolate is dropping while the prices are rising. Learn more, HERE.

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What Happened To Chocolate? Why Customers Think The Quality Isn’t What It Used To Be

What Happened To Chocolate? Why Customers Think The Quality Isn’t What It Used To Be

TASTINGTABLE.COM

Because of the effects of climate change and production issues within the cocoa industry, prices have seen a sharp increase, motivating the reduction of actual cocoa in many chocolate-based products. Customer backlash over Hershey recipe changes has even seen some companies attempting to reverse course.

 

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Can You Still Eat Chocolate That’s Turned White? Chocolatiers Explain

Can You Still Eat Chocolate That’s Turned White? Chocolatiers Explain

REALSIMPLE.COM

That chalky film on chocolate is from cocoa butter or sugar shifting to the surface, not spoilage, so the chocolate is usually still safe to eat. The white coating is called a bloom, and it can make chocolate look dull and taste less complex because it melts unevenly on the palate. Temperature changes, humidity, or skipping proper tempering can cause bloom, while a fuzzy texture, odor, or moisture exposure are signs it’s time to toss the chocolate.

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Hershey’s Will Switch Back to Real Chocolate by 2027 After Viral TikTok Backlash

Hershey’s Will Switch Back to Real Chocolate by 2027 After Viral TikTok Backlash

USMAGAZINE.COM

The Hershey Company announced it will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes” across its Reese’s and Hershey’s products by 2027 — a reversal driven by viral social media scrutiny and a public campaign by the grandson of the brand’s founder.

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Thieves steal 12 tons of KitKat bars in Europe chocolate heist

Thieves steal 12 tons of KitKat bars in Europe chocolate heist

CNN.COM

Thieves have stolen more than 400,000 KitKat chocolate bars weighing around 12 tons from a truck in Europe. The confectionery, which is manufactured by Swiss firm Nestle, was stolen when the vehicle was distributing the bars along a route running from a factory in central Italy to Poland, KitKat said in a statement. A total of 413,793 KitKat bars were stolen, said the company. Each one is traceable using on-pack batch numbers, and KitKat has asked anyone who finds a match to alert the company.

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The Most Famous Chocolate Bar In The US Isn’t Hershey’s Or Reese’s, According To Report

The Most Famous Chocolate Bar In The US Isn’t Hershey’s Or Reese’s, According To Report

THEDAILYMEAL.COM

In an online survey of 6,242 adults in 2025, the participants were asked, “Do you know this brand, even if only by name?” Statista reports that 94% of the respondents knew of Snickers, M&M’s at 93% and Twix at 92%. KitKat ranked highly, tying for second at 93%. Both Hershey’s and Reese’s ranked fourth, with 91% of the surveyed adults saying that they knew of the brands.

 

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What The Percentage On A Chocolate Actually Means

What The Percentage On A Chocolate Actually Means

TASTINGTABLE.COM

Whether you’re looking at bars labeled as 50%, 70%, or 90%, the percentage refers to the total cacao content in the chocolate, including cocoa solids and cocoa butter. For example, a 70% chocolate bar means that 70% of the bar comes from cacao components, while the remaining 30% is usually sugar. Cocoa butter is the fat found in cacao beans, while cocoa solids are all the “dry” parts of the bean that are not fat. With a strong, bitter, aromatic taste, solids supply that essential “chocolatey” flavor, while the butter creates the creamy, rich, and smooth-melting texture of good-quality chocolate.

 

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The Next Big Trends In Chocolate We’ll See In 2026

The Next Big Trends In Chocolate We’ll See In 2026

TASTINGTABLE.COM

Chief among these predictions, which no one should be surprised about, is price. Due to tariffs, changing supply chains, and other factors, we can expect to see chocolate costs rise for consumers — and for companies to rethink their ingredients in response. As a result, some mass-market manufacturers are adjusting formulations to manage costs, often using less cacao or alternative coatings.

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Popular chocolate brand says it will not make bars smaller despite cocoa crisis

Popular chocolate brand says it will not make bars smaller despite cocoa crisis

THE-INDEPENDENT.COM

Galaxy KitKat, Penguin, Quality Street and Freddo are among those to have made changes in recent years. Dutch chocolatier, Tony’s Chocolonely has vowed not to reduce the size or distinctive ‘chunkiness’ of its chocolate bars, even after raising prices due to escalating cocoa costs.

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This Fruit Has More Sugar Than A Hershey’s Chocolate Bar

This Fruit Has More Sugar Than A Hershey’s Chocolate Bar

THEDAILYMEAL.COM

Everyone knows that sweet treats like chocolate are a sometime food, but it might surprise you to learn that there are fruits that fall into this category as well, and that mango is near the top of the list. It turns out that when it comes to fruits that contain the most sugar, this tropical favorite’s sugar content rivals that of a classic Hershey’s bar. A single, medium-sized mango has around 46 grams of sugar. Meanwhile, a regular, 1.55-ounce Hershey’s chocolate bar contains just 25 grams. But hold your horses before you trade in your fruit for candy.

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Grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inventor accuses Hershey of “quietly replacing” ingredients

Grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inventor accuses Hershey of “quietly replacing” ingredients

CBSNEWS.COM

Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, is criticizing The Hershey Co. for “quietly replacing” the candy’s flagship chocolate and peanut butter ingredients. Reese claimed on LinkedIn last week that the company has replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut butter‑style crème across multiple Reese’s products, a move he alleges has eroded the Reese’s brand and jeopardized consumer trust.

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Why is chocolate getting more expensive?

Why is chocolate getting more expensive?

BBC.CO.UK

If you’re keeping a close eye on prices when your family goes to the shops or supermarket, you might have noticed that chocolate is more expensive than it used to be. The Office for National Statistics, who are the UK’s national body for facts and figures, say that the price of chocolate has risen by over 17% in the year to October 2025.

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What’s missing from your favorite chocolate bar? It may be chocolate

What’s missing from your favorite chocolate bar? It may be chocolate

NYTIMES.COM

Almost no one noticed when, sometime over the last few years, the packaging on Almond Joy, Mr Goodbar and Rolo was updated to remove the words “milk chocolate.” Experts say high cocoa prices have triggered a wave of “reformulations,” the industry term for recipe changes. As the Halloween season boosts demand, some candy companies are replacing expensive cocoa butter with other fats, a swap that means their products no longer meet the US regulatory definition of milk chocolate and can no longer be called that on packaging. That’s why milk chocolate (a Food and Drug Administration-regulated term) has become chocolate candy.

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Scientists claim to have unlocked ‘secret sauce’ needed for fine chocolate

Scientists claim to have unlocked ‘secret sauce’ needed for fine chocolate

THEGUARDIAN.COM

Results of studying cocoa bean fermentation in Colombia could pave way to manipulate flavor, say researchers. They claim to have discovered how and why the bacteria and fungi involved in the fermentation of cocoa beans influence the flavor of chocolate.

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Common chocolate ingredient could be potent flu treatment, scientists find

Common chocolate ingredient could be potent flu treatment, scientists find

INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

A new combination of drugs, including a compound present in chocolate, can treat several influenza strains, including bird and swine flu, a new study has found. The drug combination of chocolate ingredient theobromine, and the lesser-known compound arainosine, can be a potential gamechanger in treating flu, even outperforming the most widely used anti-influenza medication Tamiflu, according to the study published in the journal PNAS. The combination therapy works by targeting a key weakness in the influenza virus, a microscopic channel the virus uses to replicate and spread. Combination drug treatment outperformed most commonly used flu medicine Tamiflu, researchers say.

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The Staggering Number Of Hershey Chocolate Bars Made Each Year

The Staggering Number Of Hershey Chocolate Bars Made Each Year

CHOWHOUND.COM

The company’s website, Hersheyland.com, actually states that Hershey makes approximately 373 million of its classic milk chocolate bars each year. And while the company doesn’t reveal the exact number of bars sold annually (as it likely varies), one can surmise that it’s quite a lot.

 

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Hershey says it is hiking chocolate prices

Hershey says it is hiking chocolate prices

CNN.COM

Your Kit Kat bar and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are officially getting pricier. Hershey told its retail partners it is raising prices by a percentage in the “lower double-digit range” over what its chocolate products cost over the past couple years, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN. The culprit: high cocoa prices. Cocoa futures rose a whopping 178% in 2024 after a 61% increase in 2023, according to data from FactSet. That’s because Ghana and Ivory Coast account for almost 60% of the world’s cocoa production, and the region has been hit by poor harvests due to weather exacerbated by climate change.