# Non-Melting Chocolate **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500 "2006-07-14T18:11:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/1 "2006-07-14T18:11:53Z")
They claim to have developed a non-melting chocolate that tastes good. It seems to me that I’ve heard this same announcement several times in recent years. And, back when I was a kid, I knew there was something called a **Hershey’s Tropical Bar**. Was the problem that all of these previous incarnations were just awful in taste and texture? Do these multiple announcements mean that they’re getting incrementally better? If so, how far do they have to go.? [http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060714/sc\_space/scientistsconcoctchocolatethatwontmelt](http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060714/sc_space/scientistsconcoctchocolatethatwontmelt) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/2 "2006-07-14T18:24:04Z")
Well, about the WW2 D-bar… \*One of the earliest of these culinary offensives occurred in the midst of World War II, when the U.S. Army commissioned research into the creation of a chocolate that soldiers could eat on the go. The bar wasn’t set very high, though, and the army captain who oversaw the project had only four requirements for the military chocolate: that it weigh only about four ounces, be able to withstand high temperatures, have high food energy and taste “just a little better than a boiled potato.”\* This one seems to be better than that, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/3 "2006-07-14T18:38:36Z")
IIRC the WW2 “tropical bars” were mostly dried fruit and nuts, with only a small amount of chocolate mixed in. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/4 "2006-07-14T19:07:29Z")
Tastes good is way different from being creamy in the mouth, because it melts in your mouth. I can’t eat a Hershey bar, it has an awful waxy texture. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/5 "2006-07-14T21:28:08Z")
That chocolate melts at a temperature just below blood heat isn’t an inconvenient failing - it is one of the most significant aspects of its allure; melting in the mouth to create the silky mouthfeel and release the sugars, aromas and buttery fats. Chocolate that doesn’t melt is a stupid, stupid, stupid, pointless idea, like… I dunno… alcohol-free vodka. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/6 "2006-07-14T21:29:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper] IIRC the WW2 “tropical bars” were mostly dried fruit and nuts, with only a small amount of chocolate mixed in. [/QUOTE] And wax. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/7 "2006-07-14T22:28:48Z")
I don’t know, but I did eat some “Desert Storm” Hershey’s bars at that time and they were unfortunate. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/8 "2006-07-14T22:42:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper] IIRC the WW2 “tropical bars” were mostly dried fruit and nuts, with only a small amount of chocolate mixed in. [/QUOTE] There must have been something else, because we got something called “Jungle chocolate.” These were small cubes about the hardness of a diamond. You could not bite a piece off at all, cut it, mash it or do anything else that would permit you to eat it. The only thing we did was sort of gnaw at it like a rat, using our front teeth to shave off little flakes. Nobody would do this except it was the only chocolate we had, and even though it tasted horrible, it was better than nothing. At least it met one criteria: it would not melt in anything cooler than a blast furnace. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/9 "2006-07-15T02:56:39Z")
The cheap bulk chocolates available for holidays is so bad. It resembles eating chocolate only in a few points. It’s dark brown, smells vaugly of cocoa, and is a solid. I figured out as a kid that they were only useful as a brown crayon, and not much good for that. I supose you could melt them down for making candles. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/10 "2006-07-15T03:01:04Z")
Bleh. Chocolate is _supposed_ to melt. One of the best parts of eating chocolate is licking the melted chocolate off your fingers after. Or some incredibly hot guy’s fingers. Or his chest, or stomach, or…uh…what were we talking about again? ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/11 "2006-07-15T03:36:05Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] It seems to me that I’ve heard this same announcement several times in recent years. And, back when I was a kid, I knew there was something called a **Hershey’s Tropical Bar**. Was the problem that all of these previous incarnations were just awful in taste and texture? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=] **Sandra Boynton, _CHOCOLATE: The Consuming Passion_** If you love wilderness exploration, your nature is not easily compatible with something as delicate as chocolate. Yet there is a chocolate bar made especially with the outdoor adventurer in mind: Hershey’s Tropical Bar. Whereas conventional chocolate bars are too frail to withstand heat, moisture, and proximity to baked beans, the Tropical Bar has been formulated for endurance: it has substantially less cocoa butter than ordinary chocolate bars. This gives it the keeping qualities of wax. Also the taste. [/QUOTE] tried one once. Sandra hit it right on the nose. very waxy. \*“CHOCOLATE: The Consuming Passion” was published in 1982, and is worth trying to find. It is quite witty and rather informative. ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2006, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-melting-chocolate/364500/12 "2006-07-15T07:08:25Z")
I remember, about 12-14 years ago watching the Discovery channel(i think) which was showing a ‘Beyond 2000’\* type show where they would showcase tomorrow inventions _ **today** _. Anyway the woman host had a khaki coat and was in simulated desert, she reaches in her coat pocket and pulls out a chocolate bar, unfortunately it’s all goopy, _damn you the sun_! It’s a good thing she’s really thinking ahead as she reaches into the other pocket and pulls out another chocolate bar, perfectly fine in the mid-Sahara. This chocolate bar was special, as all of the cocoa butter was contained in tiny little spheres which allowed the butter to melt without making the bar lose its nice bar-ness. I wonder what ever happened to this modern marvel of cocoa bliss. \*I also remember the male and female hosts absolutely fawning over a device could record onto a CD, in real time, in your very own home no less. It was an unwieldy large box, think two large VCRs stacked on top of each other, but it could do what professionals could do for thousands less! Today it seems silly and commonplace, but at the time amazing! Price: a mere $5000