Hersheys Extra Dark 60%

Even though I’ve lived in NYC for nearly six months (momentarily shocked at this realization) it wasn’t until last night that I went to the Hershey’s store in Time Square. Elaine and I were in the area and since she hadn’t been there either we decided that it’s time we pay a visit to the infamously touristy shop.

Surprise! Upon walking in I saw a stand full of “Extra Dark- Pure Dark Chocolate”. Since when did Hershey’s make 60% chocolate? I was absolutely curious if it’s good or not.

There are three varieties: plain, cranberry/macadamia, and cranberries/blueberries/almonds.

Plain: Smells pepperminty. Identical to the Special Dark as far as the cocoa aroma goes. Milky all the way. Nothing surprising. A little disappointing. Tastes like milk chocolate. What the… (I check the ingredients)… go figure. They put milk fat in it. That would make it milk chocolate. Do they think no one’s going to notice? It tastes sweet sweet sweet and milky milky milky. And that’s about it. How unfortunate- they make a 60% chocolate and it tastes just like their special dark (their cheating version of dark chocolate) except a tiny bit less sweet and tiny bit more cocoa flavor. This chocolate is flat and excessive with the sugar. Very unfortunate indeed.

If it becomes accessible enough then maybe it’ll be the stepping stone of refining America’s taste for chocolate. However, their marketing strategy is “eat chocolate and be healthy” and I see it fizzling out as soon as they realize that no matter how much antioxidants are in chocolate, people don’t eat chocolate to be healthy. The candy chocolate lovers will stick to their kisses and the real chocoholics will stick to their gourmet bars. If they did something risky, like use less sugar and eliminate the milk, then they would have a real chance of success by widening America’s love for real chocolate but as Hershey’s priority is sales and not chocolate, and Americans love their super sweet milk chocolate, it’d be extraordinary if that ever happened.

Thanks to them I know now that a serving of their chocolate gives you antioxidants equivalent to 3 cups of tea, 2 glasses of wine, or 1 and 1/3 cups of blueberries.

Cranberries/blueberries/almonds: This one is just like the plain but clad with extras. The fruits are nice, but the almonds are overpowering. In the xocolatl post I briefly mention how I hate getting a mouthful of “stuff” and not chocolate. Well, this is a prime example of that.

Cranberry/macadamia: Best one of the three. Either the macadamia cuts down the sugar factor or they use a different and better chocolate. Simple and mild. Non intrusive. I would snack on this often. Kind of surprising next to the other two- they did this one right. I hope this one sells enough that it’ll show up in the convenient stores. It’s good but I probably won’t make a trip to Time Square just to buy it.

Overall, I’m glad a big company like Hershey’s is making real chocolate but it’s kind of sad that they’re trying to sell their product by saying it’s healthy. Everyone knows that refined sugar is terrible for you. In this respect it shows how much integrity they lack. If I wanted antioxidants I’d pop a vitamin E or better yet, drink green tea and eat salmon.