Steven Gaydos

The grandson of the man who invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups used to eat Reese's every day. This year he threw a bag of them in the trash and said it wasn't edible. He wrote Hershey a letter about it, and Hershey basically told him to read the package. Turns out the package was telling him all along. The bag was the new Reese's Mini Hearts, and the label says "chocolate candy and peanut butter crème." Brad Reese, whose grandfather invented the cup in 1928, says several Reese's products made the same swap, milk chocolate out and compound coating in. Hershey says the classic cup hasn't changed. Those exact words matter because the FDA owns them. To print "milk chocolate" you need at least 10% chocolate liquor, 12% milk solids and 3.39% milkfat, and "peanut butter" has to be at least 90% peanuts. Fall short and you lose the word, so the wrapper says "candy" or "crème" instead. Grab a bag of Reese's Pieces and you'll see it. The front says "peanut butter candy." Flip it over and sugar is the first ingredient. Compound coating is the same trick as the Reese's Pieces center, by the way. Press the expensive fat out (cocoa butter in one case, peanut oil in the other) and put something cheaper like palm kernel oil back in. Reese's Pieces has run that play for decades. A lot more of the aisle followed after cocoa hit an all-time high in late 2024. Mr. Goodbar used to say "milk chocolate with peanuts" and now says "chocolate candy with peanuts." Almond Joy and Rolo got the same edit, with no announcement. And Hershey's CFO told investors the formula changes had "no consumer impact whatsoever." Cocoa fell 78% off that peak by March. If this was only about cocoa prices, "milk chocolate" should start showing back up on wrappers. Worth a look at the bowl before trick-or-treaters show up Saturday. On a candy wrapper, "candy" is the word you get after the FDA takes the real one away.