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Behind Hershey’s familiar milk chocolate bar lies a history of industrial determination, scientific breakthroughs, and cultural transformation.
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Milton Hershey, a candy entrepreneur, tested out some new German chocolate-making tools at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
Risking his fortune, he sold his successful caramel business for $1 million to pursue mass-market milk chocolate production.
Through years of technical experimentation—including overcoming milk souring issues—Hershey developed a shelf-stable, affordable milk chocolate formula by 1900.
He called it Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar.
With the initial success of his chocolate, he was able to build a factory in rural Pennsylvania.
The milk chocolate bar was able to turn a European luxury into an everyday American treat accessible to all.
After studying Swiss techniques, Milton Hershey developed the “Hershey Process”. Which was a method using fresh Pennsylvania milk instead of the condensed or powdered milk European chocolatiers relied on.
This innovation created chocolate with a distinctive flavor profile while significantly reducing production costs.
In 1900, he launched the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar for just 5 cents.
Hershey’s distinctive milk chocolate flavor comes from butyric acid, a compound also found in Parmesan cheese and vomit.
Milton Hershey started using the notorious ingredient in his late 19th-century manufacturing process. It was designed to stabilize milk before modern refrigeration.
The acidic tang became Hershey’s signature taste in America, though Europeans often find it off-putting, even to this day.
This led to different formulations for different markets—the Canadian version was modified in 1983 to match European preferences, while the American recipe maintained its original character vomit aftertaste.
During World War II, Hershey Chocolate Corporation developed the D Ration Bar at the U.S. Army’s request. It was a four-ounce emergency ration designed to taste “a little better than a boiled potato” to prevent recreational consumption.
Chief chemist Sam Hinkle created a dense formula with chocolate liquor, sugar, skim milk powder, cocoa butter, oat flour, and vitamin B1. It resulted in a mixture that was so thick that each bar required hand-kneading.
Between 1940-1945, Hershey produced over three billion of these bars, which soldiers found so difficult to eat they often shaved off pieces with knives.
The Army later commissioned the improved “Tropical Chocolate Bar” in 1943. However, it remained unpopular despite better heat resistance.
After the success of the D Ration chocolate bar, the military later found it could be used in space exploration, with Apollo astronauts carrying modified Hershey’s chocolate bars during lunar missions in the 1960s-70s.
The tradition continued as NASA expanded its space cuisine to include various chocolate forms, from pudding to brownies, providing both nutrition and psychological comfort.
S’mores can also trace its origins to the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar.
Graham crackers originated in the 1830s as part of minister Sylvester Graham’s dietary reform movement.
Marshmallows evolved from ancient Egyptian medicinal plant extracts to French confections in the mid-1800s.
However, once mass-produced Hershey chocolate bars became widely accessible—S’mores was born.
The first documented “Some More” recipe appeared in a 1927 Girl Scouts manual.
The simple combination—toasted marshmallows sandwiched with chocolate between graham crackers—has remained essentially unchanged to this day.
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