Hershey's Special Dark is a

chocolate bar A chocolate bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nut (fruit), nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily breakable, chocolate bar is also called a tablet. In some variet ...

manufactured by

The Hershey Company The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. T ...

History

In 1894, before the introduction of the milk chocolate

Hershey bar The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar (commonly called the Hershey's Bar, or more simply the Hershey Bar) is a flagship chocolate bar manufactured by The Hershey Company. Hershey refers to it as "The Great American Chocolate Bar". The Hershey Milk Cho ...

in 1900, the Hershey Chocolate Company manufactured and marketed "vanilla sweet chocolate" a semi-sweet chocolate. This bar has been described as the "first" American candy bar. The company continued to provide semi-sweet chocolate products and in the 1930s a Not-So-Sweet bar and in 1939, added the Bitter-Sweet bar to Hershey's Miniatures. The Hershey's Semi-Sweet bar was being sold in the market in the 1960s.

Miniatures

Hershey's Special Dark is a component of the traditional Hershey's Miniatures assortment first sold in 1939, when the Special Dark was called Bitter-Sweet. In 2006, Hershey's began selling ''Hershey's Special Dark Miniatures'', which included the plain Special Dark bar, along with dark bars with peanuts (similar to a Mr. Goodbar) and with crisped rice (similar to a

Krackel Krackel is a chocolate bar with crisped rice pieces made by The Hershey Company and first introduced on September 14, 1938. Overview Krackel contains milk chocolate and crisped rice. Krackel originally sold as an individual chocolate bar product ...

Hershey's Extra Dark

Hershey's Extra Dark, a product very similar to the Special Dark, was introduced in 2009, and discontinued in 2012. Three varieties produced were solid chocolate; chocolate with macadamia nuts and dried cranberries; and chocolate with cranberries,

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

, and almonds. Hershey's marketing emphasized the

antioxidant Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. Autoxidation leads to degradation of organic compounds, including living matter. Antioxidants ...

qualities of these bars' ingredients. Additionally, Hershey's Extra Dark contained 60%

cocoa solids Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of th ...

, while Hershey's Special Dark contains 45% cocoa solids.

Ingredients

Special Dark is similar to a standard

, but is made with a

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

(or semi-sweet) variety of chocolate, and contains a higher percentage (45%) of

chocolate liquor Chocolate liquor, also called cocoa liquor, paste or mass, is pure cocoa in liquid or semi-solid form. It is produced from cocoa bean nibs that have been fermented, dried, roasted, and separated from their skins. The nibs are ground to the point ...

and

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible Vegetable oil, fat extracted from the cocoa bean (''Theobroma cacao''). It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter h ...

than milk chocolate. Full ingredients include: Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Milk Fat; Lactose (Milk), Soy Lecithin, PGPR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycerol_polyricinoleate">Polyglycerol polyricinoleate">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyglycerol_polyricinoleate Natural Flavor, Milk

References

External links

* {{Hershey The Hershey Company brands Chocolate bars Products introduced in 1939