Hershey will begin using original recipes for all of its products after the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups criticized the company.
Brad Reese accused Hershey of replacing real milk chocolate and peanut butter with cheap artificial flavors.
After the public backlash, Hershey said it will revert to using classic recipes for all Reese’s products starting next year.
“Hershey is committed to making products consumers love and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hershey acknowledged some recipe changes but said it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices also led Hershey and other manufacturers to experiment with using less chocolate in recent years.
In a LinkedIn post in February, Brad, the grandson of H.B. Reese, said Hershey replaced real milk chocolate and peanut butter with compound oil-based coatings and imitation peanut butter to cut corners and save money.
“How does The Hershey Company continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built Reese’s trust in the first place?” Brad Reese wrote.
“Reese’s became iconic because my grandfather built it on real ingredients and real integrity,” Brad added.
H.B. Reese invented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in 1928 in the basement of his Hershey, Pennsylvania home. The candy originally sold for between 1 and 2 cents. Reese’s sons sold the company to Hershey in 1963.
The original Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups label from 1928 contained only 5 ingredients: peanut butter, milk chocolate, cane sugar, lecithin and dextrose (a form of glucose).
Today’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups label contains 15+ ingredients including sugar, peanuts, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, lactose milk, various preservative and emulsifiers, and 14% milk solids.
Most people alive today have never tasted Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with the original real ingredients.
