# A looming chocolate shortage? Noooooooo! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 29, 2022, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810 "2022-07-29T23:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/21 "2022-07-30T20:04:54Z")
There have been several cases recently of companies warning of upcoming shortages that magically result in increased sales now. Nothing suspicious about these at all. And of course no company has announced they will stop selling a popular product only later to “relent to the popular outcry” and continue making it. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/22 "2022-07-30T20:07:08Z")
Just like the Jiff PB recall, a problem at Hershey will cause a run on Nestle. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/23 "2022-07-30T20:11:38Z")
Try eating a really good Belgian chocolate, then take a bite of Hershey’s. The vomit taste will be obvious. Of course, if you like Hershey’s, you may prefer to leave well enough alone. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/24 "2022-07-30T20:19:38Z")
They (the Belgians) are having… issues: > **[Enormous chocolate factory shuts over salmonella outbreak | CNN Business](https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/30/business-food/chocolate-factory-shut-belgium-salmonella/index.html)** > > A chocolate factory in Belgium has temporarily shut its doors after discovering salmonella in a production batch. It is not the [only](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/08/belgium-shuts-kinder-chocolate-factory-over-salmonella-outbreak) case in the [last](https://www.politico.eu/article/125-salmonella-cases-ferrero-factory-belgium/) months, unfortunately. It is still fantastic chocolate, but the small artisanal producers are the real good ones. And difficult to find abroad. Very unfortunate. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/25 "2022-07-30T20:30:42Z")
I’ve eaten fine European chocolate many times also. It tastes different from Hershey’s, but they both taste good to me. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/26 "2022-07-30T20:34:18Z")
But have you tried the Hershey’s right after the European? That really highlights the difference and, to me, the vomit taste. But, and I mean this seriously, not snarkily, if you like it, that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/27 "2022-07-30T20:38:34Z")
Maybe I just don’t know what vomit tastes like, because I just don’t taste it. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/28 "2022-07-30T21:57:24Z")
Hershey’s uses a process that turns the milk slightly sour. Sometimes it is more sour than others, but I can pretty much always taste it in their bars and the plain chocolate kisses. They’ve come under a lot of criticism about it so maybe they’ve been trying to tone it down a bit in the last few years. Costco carries a Belgian brand of bittersweet chocolates called Bouchard that I love. They are small tablets and are very chocolatey and not sugary. They make a fantastic dessert for me because they cut my desire for sugar, and the intensity delivers really great flavor. If you prefer milk chocolates, these are not the treat for you. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/29 "2022-07-30T22:38:29Z")
isn’t the vomit taste due to Hershey’s using curdled milk? its why Europeans used to/still do complain that it tastes like spoiled milk? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/30 "2022-07-30T22:40:23Z")
Hersheys is and has always been a favorite for me, so if they’ve changed, it isn’t clear to me. And I also like fine chocolate. Maybe it’s like the cilantro thing where some people just taste soap? ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/31 "2022-07-31T01:33:53Z")
You could start stocking up on Hershey (and other) Halloween chocolates; the manager at the local grocery store was opening up and setting out boxes of bags of Halloween candy today, specifically KitKat bars. Too early! But perhaps not. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/32 "2022-07-31T22:19:24Z")
Not to early because they will get the panic buyers, but mainly the back-to-school-shopping crowd. For so many things, Marketing is way ahead of the average consumer. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/33 "2022-07-31T22:27:40Z")
Do you have Trader Joe’s? Because they do little bite size truffles rolled in unsweetened powdered chocolate and OMG. I have to stay away from them, they’re TOO good. Also the dark chocolate peanut butter cups. TJ’s is evil. Then again they also have 70% cacao dark chocolate sweetened with erithrytol that is very very good and keto friendly so they are forgiven. ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/34 "2022-07-31T22:33:23Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Hershey’s uses a process that turns the milk slightly sour. Sometimes it is more sour than others, but I can pretty much always taste it in their bars and the plain chocolate kisses. They’ve come under a lot of criticism about it so maybe they’ve been trying to tone it down a bit in the last few years. > > Costco carries a Belgian brand of bittersweet chocolates called Bouchard that I love. They are small tablets and are very chocolatey and not sugary. They make a fantastic dessert for me because they cut my desire for sugar, and the intensity delivers really great flavor. If you prefer milk chocolates, these are not the treat for you. Whoa! $50 for two pounds? Is that right? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/35 "2022-07-31T22:43:20Z")
> [@Kelby](#): > > Whoa! $50 for two pounds? Is that right? Online it might be. I haven’t bought any in a few months, but I think the last 1-lb bag I got in-store, was priced at about $11.99. But inflation. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/36 "2022-07-31T23:37:54Z")
@Kelby I double checked. It’s a 2.lb bag I got for that price. Now, they may have been clearing out holiday stock foods, but $50 is maybe an indication that good chocolate is going to be expensive from here on out. Yes, it’s a tropical food, but cacao can’t handle super high temperatures and even needs shade depending on location. Climate change sucks in even more ways than we are aware of now. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810/37 "2022-08-03T15:47:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > From the articles I’ve seen, it seems to only be Hershey’s that is affected, not chocolate in general. Probably a shortage of PGPR then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-looming-chocolate-shortage-noooooooo/968810.md?page=1)