The Discontinued Hershey's Chocolate Product That Fans Hated After An Ingredient Change

History has shown us time and again that chocolate with a candy coating is a winning combination. Would an M&M ever lie to you? Of course not. Which is why Hershey thought it could throw its chocolatey hat in the ring back in 2005 with the advent of Kissables. These were tiny Hershey's Kisses with a colorful candy coating. Seems like a match made in heaven, right? Things were good for a while, but eventually the candy's taste took an abrupt left turn and had a lot of fans hating the result. It seems that, in an effort to save money, Hershey stopped making Kissables with cocoa butter and instead swapped in vegetable oil.

Kissables switched from cocoa butter to vegetable oil in 2007. The change caused consumer complaints because it was never publicized. The packaging remained the same, so only careful readers of the ingredient list would notice. Instead of raising prices, Hershey quietly swapped to a cheaper ingredient. While some people disliked the taste, TODAY ran a blind taste test and said about half of participants preferred the new version. Of course, that means about half preferred the cocoa butter version. At least one person claimed the vegetable oil version tasted musky.

In 2008, Hershey responded to criticism by pointing out that most of their products, such as Hershey bars, were still made with cocoa butter – about 85% in fact. Still, that didn't apply to the Kissables, which had fallen into the 15% of products that no longer used cocoa butter.

Most people familiar with Hershey don't need to be convinced that the iconic brand makes tasty chocolate; it's what they're known for. But chocolate must be made with a specific amount of cocoa butter and other ingredients for it to even meet the legal definition of chocolate. When Hershey removed the cocoa butter from Kissables, the candy no longer met FDA requirements. Instead, it had to use some of the shady terms you might see on products like "chocolatey" or "made with chocolate" instead of just the word "chocolate" by itself.

Kissables were discontinued in 2009, which means that the switch from cocoa butter to oil was probably not worth it for Hershey's. While the company argued that there are vegetable oils that are just as good as cocoa butter, the fact remains that chocolate is a very specific sensory experience for consumers. It's not just the taste and the smell, but the feel. Cocoa butter is essential for the mouthfeel of good quality chocolate. We've all tried chocolate made with oil instead of cocoa butter, and the difference in texture is noticeable. That's not to say some people won't like it, but if you're expecting real chocolate, receiving an altered version can be a letdown. That said, if Hershey's ever decides to switch back to the cocoa butter recipe, this is one discontinued candy we'd love to have back again.