In a state with no shortage of candy makers and consumers, does one confection reign supreme?
Pennsylvania lawmakers have announced in a memo that they will introduce legislation giving the commonwealth its own official candy: the Hershey’s Kiss.
According to the memo, the project started with a student initiative by children in Bucks County.
“Pennsylvania is home to a wealth of candies and treats that we all enjoy, and everyone has their personal favorite,” read the memo, launched by state Sen. Frank Farry, R-Langhorne. “After researching and considering various options, the students selected Hershey’s Kisses because of the iconic shape recognizable around the world and uniquely associated with Pennsylvania. The students chose a candy that represents many industries and values important to Pennsylvania’s past, present, and future.”
The law would make the Hershey’s Kiss a “first-in-the-nation” state candy, according to the memo, in hopes that it will “promote Pennsylvania as a great place to do business, visit, and enjoy delicious treats,” adding that the positive attention received by creating a state candy “would create opportunities for all of Pennsylvania’s confection and snack companies to partner to promote statewide tourism,” such as through a “Sweet & Salty Trail.”
Pennsylvania already hosts several popular sweet foods trails, including “Scooped: An Ice Cream Trail,” and “Tapped: A Maple Trail.”
Valerie Schultz, the proprietor of Ballyhoo Candy Counter, says it’s no surprise that the Hershey’s Kiss could be the first official candy of Pennsylvania.
“I’m not surprised they want to make it the state chocolate, because it is everywhere,” she said, adding that her store doesn’t sell Kisses, because of how easy they are to acquire, but sells other Hershey’s products.
“We sell a lot of regular plain Hershey bars,” Schultz said, noting her store focuses on carrying “unique” candies, as well as nostalgic selections. “You can get Hershey’s Kisses everywhere,” she said.
While she wouldn’t confess to Kisses being her personal favorite, she can’t contest their popularity, even for her own tastebuds, when asked if she’d eat a Kiss if someone handed her one.
“I would absolutely put it in my mouth; yes, I would eat it,” she admitted. “Who doesn’t love Hershey’s Kisses?
The brainchild of Milton Hershey’s 130-year-old Pennsylvania-based business, Hershey’s Kisses hit the market in 1907. Today, they are “sold and enjoyed around the world,” the upcoming bill’s memo explained, with up to 70 million manufactured in the state every day, using “fresh fluid milk” that is shipped to the production plant in Hershey on a daily basis, and bringing in upward of 3.2 million visitors a year to Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania has the second largest number of dairy farms in the U.S., and is ranked eighth in milk production nationally, according to pa.gov.
