7 Facts About Reese's Candies Every Fan Should Know

There's a type of candy out there for everyone. But if you're the kind of person who loves the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, then Reese's is probably one of your favorite candy labels. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the original version of the chocolate and peanut butter treat, but there are now a wide array of other delicious candies that embrace those same flavors under the Reese's label.

Even if this is a candy you eat on the regular, though, there's probably a lot you don't know about the brand and all of the different treats it offers. That's why we're doing a deeper dive of what Reese's has to offer. Whether you're a big fan of the original candy or you prefer one of its many offshoots, these facts may help you gain a deeper understanding of what the candy brand has to offer and where it came from. It may also help you enjoy that next delicious bite of chocolate and peanut butter just little a bit more.

Although prices of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups vary depending on where you're buying them, you're looking at around $1.80 for a pack of two cups these days. Of course, your budget determines whether you consider that a decent price or not. But when Reese's Peanut Butter Cups first entered the market, they were significantly less expensive, and for good reason — they were created all the way back in 1928. At this time in history, essentially everything was less expensive than it is now. That's why Reese's cups were priced at only one cent each.

You might assume that this price is roughly equal to what we pay for a Reese's cup today, considering how much inflation has affected the price of common goods. But in reality, 1 cent in 1928 is only equal to 19 cents now. Since a pack of Reese's comes with two cups, that equals about 90 cents per cup, making this candy a lot more expensive than it once was. However, now that it has some serious name recognition, it may be justified to charge more for it.

These days, Reese's is known as a Hershey's candy brand. But it actually didn't start out under the Hershey's label. The founder of the candy, Harry Burnett Reese, got his start in the industry by working at a Hershey dairy farm. But when the dairy farm closed in 1919, he decided to try doing his own thing in the candy business, creating a few different types of candies before he really hit it big with his now-famous peanut butter cup in 1928. The candy became Reese's most beloved and recognizable creation.

It was a long time before Reese's Peanut Butter Cups finally came under the banner of the iconic Hershey brand, though. After Reese's sons took over the business, they eventually sold it to Hershey ... but not until 1963. Reese found success in the candy business alongside Hershey — not because of it. It's his legacy, then, not Hershey's, that successfully catapulted the candy to fame.

It's no secret that Reese's is a candy brand that's universally recognized. That signature orange color and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate itself are symbols that many candy lovers could recognize at first sight. So, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are one of the most popular candies in the country, according to some accounts. Hershey claims that it's the country's top-selling candy. Specifically, it's been cited before as the most popular Halloween candy in the U.S., which is probably why you'll see more of a few of the cups in any kid's Halloween stash after an evening of trick-or-treating.

But Reese's isn't only sold in the U.S., and it has truly proved to have global appeal. Not only is it an incredibly popular candy selection within the country of its origin, but it's also known as being one of the most-sold candy brands in the entire world. Whether you love or hate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, they seem to be just about everywhere.

There are a ton of different Reese's candies and Reese's snacks on the market these days, so if you want to taste those beloved chocolate and peanut butter flavors together, there's more than a few ways to do so. But arguably the most recognizable Reese's candy beyond the iconic peanut butter cups themselves is Reese's Pieces, the colorful, candy-coated confections that resemble M&M's. Because of their prominence, it may seem like they've been around for just as long as the original candy, but they actually only came onto the market in 1978.

However, the candy really gained prominence when it made an important Hollywood appearance. When E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came out in 1982, it depicted the main character giving a piece of candy to E.T. That candy was Reese's Pieces. Apparently, M&M's passed up on the opportunity, and it went to the then-newfound candy instead. Perhaps we wouldn't still be eating Reese's Pieces today if it weren't for that fateful movie shot.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are delicious on their own, of course — they don't need to be combined with any other ingredients to really make them shine. However, that still hasn't stopped creative chefs and home cooks from coming up with a wide variety of ways in which to use the peanut butter cups, generally to enhance other decadent sweet treats.

For example, some have baked Reese's Peanut Butter Cups into the bottoms of cupcakes. This gives the cupcakes a richer, more intense chocolatey flavor while infusing them with just the right amount of salty peanut butter. They can also be incorporated into brownies for more moisture and a unique texture that'll have chocolate lovers going back for more. They've even been used to make rich, peanut butter-forward ice cream and other frozen treats. If you thought these candies tasted good on their own, just wait to see how they perform when they're baked into one of your favorite desserts as well.

You may have heard that chocolate prices are on the rise in the last few years. Candy companies looking to cut costs might understandably want to reduce the amount of chocolate they use in their products. That doesn't mean that these changes are going to be popular with candy fans, though. In fact, Hershey has recently come under fire for reducing the chocolate percentage of some of its Reese's products.

But you may not have realized that Reese's Pieces don't contain any chocolate at all. Instead, you'll find an ingredients list that includes sugar, partially defatted peanuts, and hydrogenated vegetable oil, among a few other additions that don't exactly sound as delicious as actual chocolate. Sure, they might have that distinctive cocoa flavor you know and love, but that's not actually coming from real chocolate at all.

Don't worry, though — the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cups do, in fact, contain real chocolate, and we doubt that's changing anytime soon, especially considering the backlash the company faced about its decision to reduce the amount of chocolate present in its other products. It even says that it will reverse this decision by 2027. Still, though, Reese's Pieces are likely to remain chocolate-free.

If you walk into any grocery or convenience store in the United States and head to the candy section, you're essentially guaranteed to find Reese's Peanut Butter Cups there. The fact that the company produces so much of this type of candy indicates that they're made in a factory, just like every other industrially produced candy out there. But once upon a time, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were actually handmade, according to a company employee.

"Originally, the candy was coated by hand on marble slabs, four ladies at each table," the employee told Pop Sugar. "The candy was packed in five-pound boxes and sold to department stores for resale by bulk weight."

These days, the candies are definitely not seeing this kind of handmade attention, which admittedly makes them seem less premium than they once were. The good news is that you can make your own peanut butter cups from scratch that taste just like Reese's and feel good about the fact that you're eating something not produced in a factory.