It was bound to happen (again!): Hershey’s announced last Friday that, effective immediately, it’s raising U.S. prices on its wholesale products by about 13%. They cited the higher cost of ingredients like cocoa, milk, corn sweetener, sugar and peanuts.

The mega-chocolate maker said its 2008 profit will be at the low end of its forecast range and they have cut sales growth projections for 2009, sending its shares down more than 4%.

This further cements my decision that if I’m spending the money on chocolate it’s going to a quality brand, which Hershey just hasn’t been for a while.

Do you think this will hurt or help Hershey’s?

[image: flickr]

I’ve been looking for these everywhere and finally found a box last week!

Snickers Charged is a limited edition 1.83oz bar that includes 60 milligrams of caffeine as well as taurine and B-vitamins in addition to the milk chocolate, peanuts, caramel and nougat of a regular bar.

The packaging, which I assume is supposed to portray power and energy, is silver with a charging rhino. My first impression was that it was leaning a little too much toward a power bar look, something I’m not interested in, so it didn’t appeal to me much at all. If it weren’t for the mention of caffeine on the box and wrapper I probably would have bypassed them altogether!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the bar itself! I’ve been disappointed with past limited edition chocolate and candy bars, but I liked the Snickers Charged. While I’ve never been a huge Snickers fan - if given a choice at the checkout or candy aisle I’ll usually go for some Reese’s - and it’s been a while since I’ve had a regular Snickers, it tasted pretty much what I remember Snickers tasting like in general - a, well, satisfying mix of smooth chocolate, peanuts, nougat and caramel.

I didn’t find it to have a metallic taste or bitter aftertaste and while caffeine doesn’t affect me to the point that I walk around wired I did notice a bit of a pick-me-up not longer after I was finished. In all, I really liked the Snickers Charged and think I might pick up another box next time I’m out before Mars yanks them from the shelves!

[images: personal collection; all rights reserved]

Shrek has infiltrated M&M’s now too. Their new “ogre-sized” green and yellow peanut M&M’s claim to be 55% bigger than regular peanut M&M’s by using larger peanuts.

After some exhaustive and grueling investigative research, however, I’ve found that that is not necessarily true.

Though I can see this being an issue for peanut connoisseurs, I really have no problem with it.