A neighbor just told me that Hershey has announced they might not be able to get enough chocolate to get us through Halloween and Christmas!!!
Okay, this is too awful to contemplate. I’ve coped with Covid, I’ve weathered the war in Ukraine so far, but NO CHOCOLATE?
I just can’t.
Hershey makes chocolate?
Yes, you snob! The Hershey Kiss is THE iconic chocolate. So I declare!
My thought exactly. But maybe the shortage is due to my love of brewed cacao. Um, sorry.
From the articles I’ve seen, it seems to only be Hershey’s that is affected, not chocolate in general.
Personally I’ve never found much difference in taste in the similarly priced competitor brands. Just the stuff that is no-name or higher end is different.
In addition, it’s just the specialty Halloween stuff like those candy pumpkin things. Supply issue have forced them to focus on regular rather than seasonal items.
I wasn’t sure if it was only Halloween themed stuff, or the miniature stuff in general, since I’d expect they sell less of those throughout the rest of the year.
Since other makers haven’t chimed in with ‘here are the components that are now hard to get’ (etc.), I can’t help wondering if this announcement is an initiative by Hershey to get consumers to accept noticeably-inflated prices for their products.
I sure can tell some of them apart. Ghirardelli is the best, among the ones available at mainstream grocery stores.
I once baked some brownies from a boxed Ghirardelli mix and took them to a meetup, where they were met with raves. I replied that they were from a mix, and another woman there said, “Some single mom was able to buy dinner for her kids because you bought this box!” and I replied, “and her ex was able to pay child support because he drove the truck that delivered it…” and we kept joking from there.
As long as Belgian chocolate is available, I’ll be fine. 
The Hershey Kiss is food of the gods. I could eat them all day, every day. But I am on a diet so the shortage won’t hurt me.
And my daughter considers me a food snob. So there.
The Hershey Kiss, not unlike the old gray mare, just ain’t what it used to be.
I could eat them mindlessly all day, I admit. But next time you pop one, pay close attention to how it really tastes. They’re not really all that.
mmm
ETA: I should put a YMMV in there, as tastes differ and I shouldn’t speak for everyone
Two Hershey kiss flavors you need to watch for:
–cherry cordial (supposedly seasonal, Christmas and Valentine’s Day)
–truffle
The truffle one is painfully RARE. The first bag we bought, I got into it on the drive home from WallyWorld. I raved and raved, and Mr VOW seemed indifferent. I unwrapped one and shoved it into his mouth, and he almost wrecked the car! “What is that??!?!”
~VOW
You can get the cherry cordial ones on Amazon now.
I haven’t eaten Hershey’s since reading this article.
Once you notice that Hershey’s tastes like vomit, you can’t untaste it. We like Lindt and the (very expensive) chocolates from our local chocolatier, Stowaway Sweets in Marblehead, Mass. If I’m going for cheap store-bought, I stick with Mars.
I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavored one, and since then I’m afraid I’ve rather lost my liking for them.
Are crunchy frogs and cockroach clusters still available in the USA? In Europe the dearth is painful.
And just TRY to find anthrax ripple or spring surprise!
I just don’t taste that, and I eat a lot of Hersheys.