In 1919, Harry Burnett Reese, former dairy employee of the Hershey Company, was so inspired by the Milton Hershey and the need to provide for his wife and children that he decided to create his own candy company. The H.B. Reese Candy Company made different candies with ingredients such as coconut, caramel, and molasses, but in the mid 1920’s a special candy made from local Hershey chocolate and specially processed peanut butter was born. Simply known as peanut butter cups back then, as its popularity grew, it became known as the famous Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. During World War II, sugar became rationed and Reese decided to only produce one candy. He chose the one with least amount of sugar which was, you guessed it, the peanut butter cup!
In 1963, the Hershey Chocolate Company bought the H.B. Reese Candy Company for $23.5 million after Reese passed away. In 1969 Reese’s became the best seller for the Hershey Company, selling over 300 million cups each year. In 1978, Hershey’s created the iconic Reese’s Pieces, which were featured in the famous movie E. T. the Extraterrestrial. After the movie became a hit, Reese’s Pieces sales increased by 60 percent.
Some researchers estimate that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy. Throughout the whole year, Hershey sells over $500 million worth of Reese’s. The cups can be used as a delicious treat themselves, or baked into other treats and desserts. There are a great number of cookbooks online describing the many ways to incorporate the candies into other desserts, such as cheesecakes, brownies, cookies, doughnuts, etc.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are certainly a favorite among my friends. Whenever we would go trick or treating in the past, I remember we would always fight for the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. They always have and always will be simply delicious!
Fun Fact: Peanut Butter was first introduced in 1904 at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis.
I really like the section Fun Fact that you add to every one of your blogs. Reese is one of my favorites. The third paragraph which introduces Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as the most popular Halloween candy is very interesting to read and I can also get a lot of information about the background of the foundation of the company.
I wonder why Reese only chose to sell one candy with the least amount of sugar during WWII; that’s really interesting. It’s also interesting that E.T. contributed to the success of Reese’s Pieces and increased its sales so much!
Reese’s Cups and offshoots are also some of my favorite types of chocolate. One funny thing I’ve found while eating them are the ones that are supposed to look like a certain object, such as pumpkins during Halloween, trees during Christmas, and rabbits during Easter. Whenever I open up one of these, I not only anticipate eating them but I also find it hilarious that they all just look like an amorphous blob rather than what they are advertised to be.
The history of these chocolates is also very interesting. Thinking of making a candy out of peanut butter during a shortage of sugar is ingenious, and has lead to me loving the mixture of peanut butter and chocolate.