Some Reese’s treats drop milk chocolate. Mr Reese disapproves

Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, took to LinkedIn last week to defend his family’s candy name.

- CLAIRE BROWN

He wasn’t happy about a bag of Valentine's Day Reese's Mini Hearts, a seasonal peanut-buttery treat covered in chocolate. Except the covering was not actual milk chocolate.

Hershey’s, which makes Reese's brand candies, was using a chocolate-flavoured coating that can’t legally be referred to as milk chocolate, a term that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Thad to actually throw it in the garbage,” he said in an interview. “That's the first time in my life I’ve ever thrown a product of Reese's out without consuming it”

As it turns out, it wasn’t just Valentine’s Day hearts. Reese’s foil-wrapped Peanut Butter Eggs no longer contain milk chocolate, either, The New York Times found on Thursday after an investigation that involved going to a drugstore near the office to buy a bag and read the ingredients.

It's the latest of the recipe changes that have been spreading across the candy business as prices for cocoa have climbed in recent years, driven by a confluence of factors including drought, financial speculation and labour shortages.