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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Hershey-ets
My personal memories of these candy covered chocolate lentils are pretty vague. I know that I could get them at Hershey Park in little vending machines for a dime or quarter for a handful. (Not to be confused with the machines that dispensed duck food.) The only reliable time, for many years, to find Hershey-ets was around the holidays when they were sold in Christmas colors and found in bags in the baking aisle or in these cute little clear plastic canes. Then the disappeared in 2006 with the introduction of Kissables (2005)... then Kissables were reformulated from their original candy-coated milk chocolate drops formula into candy-coating mockolate in 2008... then they were quietly discontinued in 2009. Earlier this year Hershey’s announced a new product line called Pieces, which would add to the existing Reese’s Pieces line three new products: York Peppermint Pattie Pieces, Almond Joy Pieces and Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces. One item missing from that list was a classic milk chocolate version ... the Hershey-ets.
So I can’t say I was surprised when I stumbled on a display of Hershey’s Canes at Target a few weeks ago. They featured the Hershey’s Canes I remembered from my childhood - a clear plastic tube filled with Hershey-ets (green & red) or Reese’s Pieces (in white, green & red). They were only 99 cents so I picked up a few. There’s not much to say about the construction of them, as most Earthlings are familiar with this candy construction. Milk chocolate ovoid covered with a brightly colored sugar shell. Are they just smashed Kissables or are they mini Hershey’s Easter Milk Chocolate Eggs? Kissables Original (2006) Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, nonfat milk, milk fat, lactose, soy lecithin, PGPR & artificial flavors), sugar, red #40, yellow #5, yellow #6, blue #1 & carnauba wax. Hershey-ets (2009) Ingredients: Sugar, milk, cocoa butter, chocolate, contains 2% or less of artificial colors (yellow #5, red #40, blue #1), corn syrup, corn starch, modified food starch, resinous glaze, soy lecithin, carnauba wax, vanillin. (Manufactured on shared equipment with peanuts). I don’t have a wrapper for the classic Hershey’s Eggs, but just by tasting these I’m going with a mini version of the Hershey’s Eggs. What’s weird is that there’s no PGPR in there.
Finally, since they look and act like M&Ms, I also did a little one-to-one comparison. Hershey-ets are little bulkier, a little less tapered at the edges. The shell is also thicker, so there’s more crunch. M&Ms milk chocolate is sweet and tastes a bit like cocoa with a light peanut touch and milk. Not intense and the shell is like a light crust. They’re very easy to eat, and keep eating though they never quite fill me up. Hershey-ets milk chocolate is classic Hershey’s tang. Honestly, sticking my nose in the little tube, it smelled like chevre, or at the very least, chocolate cheesecake. The tangy yogurt note cuts through the sweetness a bit, and the extra crunchy shell provides more than just melting protection. Still, they’re every sweet and after a handful they gave me a sore throat. I enjoy the fact that they’re so different from M&Ms, but they’re not quite the jumbo pop of the Easter version that I prefer which has more shell and more of an uninterrupted fudgy chocolate flavor and texture. I easily ate both tubes I had over two days. Lately I’ve found that Hershey’s chocolate has tasted a little rancid, a little more like burps than is considered polite for candy. I’ve been blaming it on PGPR, which I think either adds some sort of off flavor or allows the flavors to oxidize quicker. These don’t seem to have that problem. The flavor, though tangy with that slightly caramelized milk note is still there, but either sealing them in the little airtight candy shell or the lack of PGPR gives me back my classic Hershey’s chocolate. Though I don’t remember them, they were once available in single serve packages just like M&Ms, Candy Wrapper Archive has an image of them from the 60s. Retro Commercials remembers when Hershey-ets were sold by the bucket. Related Candies
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICEAll content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2012 by Cybele May Please do not use my photos without prior permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes. Design by Hop Studios & backend by Expression Engine
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These sound intriguing and I will have to try them. What I find so funny is that you say “what’s weird is that there?s no PGPR in there.” It seems we’ve gotten to the point where we’re perplexed if they haven’t shoved some artificial substitute into our candy! Glad to hear, despite these having more sugar and milk than actual chocolate product, that they are retro in their relative benign-ness.
Interesting. I might try these. I, like you, have had more than a few issues with the quality of Hershey’s chocolate lately.
This reminds me, have you seen these “Premium” m&ms;? I saw them for sale at the airport, and i would have bought them but they were like six bucks!! They looked quite nice, though—kind of fat m&ms; with a pearly, marbled look, in a stand-up package with a celophane window.
(P.S. I won NaNoWriMo! w00t!)
Lately I?ve found that Hershey?s chocolate has tasted a little rancid, a little more like burps than is considered polite for candy.
With that indelibly implanted in my flavor memory bank, I’m quite sure Hershey’s chocolate will never again pass my lips.
I don’t care what they are. I LOVE the Hershey’s chocolate eggs and, if these are similar, I’ll have to pick some up immediately.
Hmm, I think I’ll stick with M&Ms;. An interesting bit of trivia to add to your story: I don’t remember the original Hershey-Ets either, but in _Built on Chocolate: The Story of the Hershey Chocolate Company_, there is a description of their “distinctive football shape” when they were originally manufactured 1954-1978, also a picture of an ad and wrapper from that period which definitely has the shape of a football, not an M&M. It says they were made by bonding two chocolate chips together; that would account for the shape. Maybe they changed to the rounder shape when they brought them back into production.
I know for sure that they were M&Ms;-like in the 70s. The 60s wrapper I linked to also shows them as a lentil shape. Interesting bit of info, I am curious when they shifted that ... and whether the Hershey’s Eggs at Easter are closer to that.
I bug Hershey several times a year to come back out with Hershey-ets, not just at Christmas. I always preferred them to M&M’s. I buy so many tubes at Christmas my family threatens to have me committed. I actually stretched my supply to last week. It will be a long time til December for me.
I agree 100% with Bob - I buy as many tubes as I can afford to get at the holidays - and ask all my family to give me more as Christmas presents.
I don’t like M & M’ s at all. Why can’t they make Hershey’ets year round?
Is it possible to buy hersheyettes right now (not just at Xmas)? Is there a website or store where I can order them?
I also was a BIG FAN of Hershey ets I love them and it would be awesome to find them again. I used to buy a big bag of them? Where can I get them. NJ/NY area I MISS HERSHEY ETS they were my favorite, unlike M & M’s. Please email me where I can get these???
I found Hershey Ets at Ocean State Job Lot in Connecticut. They were in a glass jar labeled Angel Treats with the hershey ets name on the label. I was reluctant to buy them for fear that they were just an imitation, but they taste like the real deal. There were also jars with kissables as well. There were jars with the seasonal red and green and jars with yellow and blue which leads me to believe that they may carry them all year long.
I was just at Hershey’s Chocolate World today (for those who aren’t familiar it’s a Hershey Attraction) and they indeed had Hershey-ets in a sealed plastic bag. They were holiday green and red. I remarked to the cashier that I used to love the mint Hershey-ets when I was a child. She was unaware they ever made mint Hershey-ets. Here’s an online pic of the package for mint Hershey-ets (be sure to copy the entire URL): http://www.flickr.com/photos/60585948@N00/4562985557/
I remember Hersey-ets when they came in brown colored packages When my Mom was in the hospital in 1956 she would send a package home every day with my Dad. A great memory for me. I look forward to being able to buy them every Christmas and I always buy extra for my sisters and brother.
Remembered Hershey-ets from the early 70’s. The kissables were a nice substitute. Now I wait yearly for the Hershey Easter eggs with the candy shell. Very much like the Hershey-ets I remembered as a kid.
I clearly recall Hersheyettes (no hyphen) from the 60s and at least part of the early 70s.
Nothing described above is anything like the delicious pieces I enjoyed. The direct competition for M&Ms; could not be more clear. The candies looked nothing like a “bean,” as some people have asserted - I suspect that those shapes came later.
The difference between the 2 was that while M&Ms; were good old fashioned chocolate. (Yum!)
Hersheyettes had a slight flatter coating, and a hint of pepermint. My favorite summer activity ws enjoying a package or 2 while I read Perry Mason novels.
Am I only one in the world who loved the real Hersheyettes?
Cheers!
PS = I forgot to note that Hershyettes were not covered with primary colored shells. All were pastels, such as soft pink & purple (or lilac, as my mom would say!
Cheers!
I was just gobbling up my Hershey eggs left over from Easter (the ones with the pastal colored shell) - hard to stop at just one. And I remembered how much I loved those Hesheyettes from my youth. I prefer the Hershey milk chocolet to the M&Ms; and regret that we can’t get Hersheyettes anymore. I also loved those Kissables and wish they had not discontinued that one. Would choose them over M&Ms; any day!
Hersheyets were SO much better than M & Ms ever were, but Hershey never advertised them. No wonder they never caught on! If Hershey had been willing to take on its competition, they would have come out on top, for sure. What about Hershey’s candy shell coated, chocolate Easter eggs? Have those been discontinued, too?
Hersheyets tasted head & shoulders above M&Ms;, & were crunchier. If Hershey had only advertised, they certainly would have eventually beaten their competition. But without it, Hershey gave M&Ms; a free pass to win against their competition! :(
Great news hershey-et fans! Hershey’s is finally selling them again. (Hersheystore.com) I just purchased 25 lbs.
Hersheyetes were in I think boxes of K rations or Red Cross packages in Vietnam (can’t remember which but I remember a pyramid shape). Loved them then and love them now. Stumbled on the Hershey Easter Eggs years ago and recognized the taste. Buy them every year. Of course here on the west coast we had the Hersheyetes for a couple years and then they diasppeared….......
The Hersheyetes I cam across lookded like M&M’s but with an “H” mark. The came in SP (sundary packs) in Vietnam.
Remember Tropical chocolate
If you like Hersey-ets as I do you may enjoy
non-stops from Norway! They are very simalar with a thick candy shell. They also come in dark chocolate. Available on many Norwegian websites and of corse a must when in Norway!
I remember these from the 60’s and 70’s they were sold in a candy section of a department store and my favorite they were pastel in color and a slight mint flavor. I anyone knows where to purchase please post
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