We were crossing Pennsylvania and couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit Hershey Chocolate World.
Hershey Chocolate
Milton Hershey lived from 1857 to 1945. He worked for a candy maker as a teen. Hershey attempted 2 candy businesses which both failed. He then learned to make caramels with fresh milk and grew the business. His interest was chocolate. At an 1883 Exposition in Chicago, he liked the German chocolate making equipment. He sold the caramel business for 1 million dollars. Hershey eventually mass produced milk chocolate. In 1900, he began manufacturing the Hershey’s milk chocolate bars.
In 1903, Milton Hershey broke ground on his new chocolate factory in Derry township, heart of Pennsylvania’s dairy farming. Later, the city would be called Hershey.
Hershey’s cacao is from 13% Americas, 69% West Africa, and 18% South East Asia. Each cacao pod is harvested by hand. Inside each pod there are 20-40 cacao beans. The beans are separated and fermented to develop the rich flavor. The beans are then bagged and shipped to Hershey to roast and make into chocolate products. 270 beans are needed to make 1 pound of chocolate. Hershey’s almonds come from California.
Hershey’s Kisses were introduced in 1907. Today, 80 million are produced each day. Hershey’s Syrup came out in 1926 and semisweet chocolate chips in 1928.
Milton Hershey married Catherine Sweeney. They never had children. They established a boarding school for orphan children. Before his death, he transferred the bulk of his wealth to the school to ensure its continued success.
Twin Grove RV Resort
We needed a place to stay for a couple of nights. The park was less than 1/4 full. Wifi was slow, at best a download speed of 2 Mbps and upload of 1 Mbps. The cable was good and had a nice selection. 2 bars on Verizon. Pedestal power and water pressure were both good. The park is large. It has a ferris wheel, carousel, movie theater, arcade, miniature golf, a recreation center, restaurant, ice cream parlor, 3 dog parks, volleyball, basketball, disc golf, and 2 pools. It was still early in the season, in the low 50’s, and rainy. Most of the amenities were still closed for the season. By Friday night the park filled up and most of the amenities opened for the weekend, including a band.
Troegs Brewery
After sampling chocolate, we really needed lunch and a beer. Troegs has a nice tasting room that also served food. The beer and food were quite good.
