Love Chocolate? You’ll love Hershey!

Chocolate Town, USA. The story of the American Dream. And a great place for a weekend getaway or a week-long vacation. Come touring with us, as we visit the unique town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. It’s the realization of Milton Hershey’s dreams.

He was born shortly before the Civil War (1857). His family’s frequent moves interfered with his schooling. He got no farther than fourth grade. At 14, he apprenticed with a printer and got fired. He then apprenticed with a candy maker.

Milton’s first business attempt failed, as did several others. In between, he worked for other candy makers, gleaning their secrets. In 1885, he and a partner opened a caramel company in Lancaster. The fresh milk he used in his confections was part of his secret recipe. Finally, the public responded with enthusiasm. Hershey caramels were shipped as far away as Europe, and the business expanded.

Milton traveled to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1892 to learn about European candy. While there, he purchased a German chocolate roller. He sold the caramel company to fund his new chocolate factory. After years of experimenting to find the right recipe, the Hershey Bar went on sale in 1900. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Hershey is a company town, designed for the employees of the chocolate company. Milton Hershey’s philosophy included taking care of the workers in his employ. When the depression hit, he kept his construction workers busy building the hotel and a school. The hotel’s design incorporated many of the places he and his wife had visited in Europe: Spanish tile, quarried stone, a massive circular dining room “with no bad views”, and lush formal gardens with fountains and reflecting pools. Unfortunately, Mrs. Hershey died before construction began.

Whether you stay at the Hotel Hershey or not, it is worth a visit to this grand dame of American Grand Hotels. Stroll the grounds. Sip a cocktail at the Iberian Lounge. If you are not a guest, advance reservations are required for gourmet dining in the Circular Dining Room.

Nearby, Hershey Gardens spreads across the hill overlooking the town. The Hotel grounds, the Milton Hershey School and the promontory border the gardens. Mr. Hershey started with just 3½ acres to “create a nice garden” of roses for his wife. Within five years, it included 23 acres. More than a dozen themed areas include specimen trees, unusual shrubs and seasonal floral displays. Tour the Children’s Garden and Butterfly House.

In June, the scent of the roses is so sweet, it overpowers the scent of chocolate that the town is famous for. The chocolate smell comes from the hulls of the cacao beans that are used for mulch – everywhere! Rain enhances the sweet, chocolaty scent. Admission to the gardens is only $10; it’s a wonderful way to wile away an afternoon. Special events are held throughout the year. Enjoy the Rhododendron Show in mid-May and a Wine & Roses celebration in early June.

Your tour to Hershey won’t be complete without a stop at Chocolate World. It’s a simulated tour of a chocolate factory. Nibble on a free sample at the end of the ride. Purchase chocolates at the Factory Store. Have your picture taken beside the giant Hershey’s Kiss. Even the streetlights in town are made to look like Hershey’s kisses.

Add a day at Hershey Park to your recipe for a great vacation. The combo ticket includes admission to the park, plus adjacent ZooAmerica and the Hershey Museum. Sixty rides delight every age. There is also a small water park, entertainment, and a variety of dining options. If you’re visiting at Christmas, be sure to see the display of lights throughout the park. It’s a winter wonderland.

There are dozens of other fun places to visit in the area: historic railroad excursions, local caverns, nearby Pennsylvania Dutch country, and the battlefields of Gettysburg. Whether you go for a mini-vacation, or stay for a week, Hershey, Pennsylvania is a sweet place to visit.

By: Ruth Seebeck

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Abstaining from chocolate is surely not an easy feat. The joy of chocolate is just too hard to resist even when it is loaded with sugar that obviously takes a toll on our health. Luckily, recent studies have shown that chocolate has tons of health benefits, particularly dark chocolate because it contains higher levels of cocoa and thus contain more antioxidants that’s even higher than black tea and red wine. Still, sugar levels in milk chocolate and white chocolate is enough to give the diabetic a heart attack. Even chocolates that are marketed as sugarless or sugar-free still contain maltitol, which is almost as bad as sugar. Is it possible to consume chocolate in its pure yummy goodness without consuming the carbohydrates and alarmingly high sugar? With a little ingenuity, it’s possible!

The Nutritious Content of Chocolate
Unsweetened chocolate contains about 8 grams of carbohydrate and around 145 calories, more than half of it is fiber, which is very good for the stomach and for aiding digestion. Chocolate, particularly unsweetened chocolate, also contains lots of minerals. One ounce of unsweetened chocolate contains about a quarter of the magnesium and iron, and about half of the manganese and copper that our body needs in a day. The fat contained in chocolate, when it is made of pure cocoa butter (and not animal fat or vegetable fat), is healthy fat-either stearic acid or monounsaturated fat, both considered to be “good saturated fat.” Three table spoons, or about 36 calories of unsweetened cocoa powder, has the same amount of fiber and carbohydrates as unsweetened chocolate but has lower levels of vitamins and minerals,. However, it also has much less fat content.

Appreciating Unsweetened Chocolate
The Maya and Aztecs, the earliest civilizations known to have consumed chocolate, used to drink unsweetened chocolate spiked up with some chili and spices. It was considered a drink for the royal family and was adopted by the Spanish courts. Unsweetened chocolate also makes a wonderful ingredient for unusual but interesting dishes such as Cincinnati Chili and Mexican mole sauces. It adds a fuller and richer flavor to dishes that blends well with sauces without being too distinct, plus it adds a wonderful aroma. When it comes to desserts and sweets, it’s harder to go totally unsweetened. Unsweetened cocoa has a really bitter taste that may be too string for most people’s palate. Artificial sweeteners are available, such as maltitol and other sugar alcohols. However, maltitol is about the same as regular sugar when it comes to its blood sugar impact, so using it as a sugar substitute may be defeating the point. While we want to find a healthy alternative to sweetening chocolate, we don’t want to sacrifice depth of flavor and mouth feel. Sugar alcohols can provide the same characteristics as regular sugar to chocolates. It counteracts the bitterness of chocolate wonderfully better than artificial sweeteners. Sugar alcohols are not all alike though. When buying sugar-free milk chocolates, use sugar alcohols that have the least impact on blood sugar such as erythritol. A healthy, but still yummy alternative is diabetic chocolate.

By: Chris Alleny

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