Hershey Park Part I: Tour of Hershey’s Chocolate World
If you have never been to Hershey Park, you may be wondering, “What does an amusement park have to with GrubGrade?’ Well, it’s pretty simple. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate (not to mention the numerous other candies made by Hershey or the several places to eat inside of the park). This park consists of so much grub, that I will be splitting it into several segments. The first is a tour of Hershey’s Chocolate World, where you can see how the chocolate is made, from the cocoa bean to the melt in your mouth piece of chocolate.
Walking through the doors of Hershey’s Chocolate World, brings you into the lobby where you can choose to view their 3-D Show, sign up for a Trolley Ride through Chocolatetown, USA, shop in their Market Place Shops, or create your own chocolate bar in Hershey’s Factory Works. They also have a new addition this year, the Kit Kat Café.
We will begin our tour with the famous Hershey’s Great American Chocolate Tour. Walking through the entrance to enter the tour, you get a mini history lesson:
As you continue down the walkway, you hear the sounds of the jungle. Tree branches reach down around you and the walls are painted with jungle scenery, including cocoa plants, to give you the feeling of being in the jungle.
Cocoa beans are what give chocolate its special flavor. The flavor or the chocolate depends on the country from which the cocoa bean came from. Deep in the tropical jungles, cacao trees grow melon-like fruit that contain about 20-40 cocoa beans. The fruit is harvested by hand, then put in large piles to ferment for about a week. This is when the shells harden, the beans darken and the rich cocoa flavor develops. After drying, the beans are ready to go the chocolate factory where they will be cleaned and stored.
You can’t make chocolate without milk, and milk comes from cows, Gabby, Harmony and Olympia begin your tour. So sit back, relax and enjoy your ride.
The cocoa beans are roasted at high temperatures, then go through a special hulling machine which separates the shell from the inside of the dry, roasted cocoa bean. This part of the bean is called the “nib” and it is the part of the bean that is used to make the chocolate. The nibs now go through milling which is a grinding process which turns the nibs into a smooth, dark stream of chocolate flavor called chocolate liquor (contains no alcohol).
Now the “chocolate liquor” is mixed with the other main ingredients: cocoa butter, sugar and fresh, whole milk. (A recipe developed by Milton Hershey in 1900). The fresh milk is tested, pasteurized and mixed with sugar, then slowly dried to a thick, taffy-like material. The chocolate liquor is now combined with the milk and sugar and dried into chocolate crumb, a coarse, brown powder. This powder is what is used to make milk chocolate. Cocoa butter is added to the crumb to bring out the rich taste and creamy textured. It is then sent through special steel rollers which grind and refine it, making it even smoother. It them becomes chocolate paste which is poured into huge vats called conches then rolled out by large granite rollers to smooth out the gritty particles. This takes from 24-72 hours to complete.
The chocolate paste now had the smooth familiar look of milk chocolate. It is tempered, or cooled to the right texture and consistency. Almonds, peanuts or other ingredients can be mixed into the paste during tempering or added to the moulds which the chocolate paste is poured into to make chocolate bars. The machines can fill more than 1,000 moulds per minute. They then take a bumpy, vibrating ride to settle the chocolate and remove any air bubbles. The chocolate is then gently chilled into a solid candy bar. It is now ready to wrap and package.
The famous Hershey Kisses are made a little differently. A special machine place a precise amount of chocolate paste on a belt that is cooled immediately forming the Hershey Kiss. Hershey makes over 80 million Kisses every day in the Pennsylvania and California factories.
The daily production of each type of chocolate produced shows up on a sign as you end your tour. It was 9:30am when I went on my tour and as you can see, production was already high for the day:
The tour ends with a souvenir photo and free sample of chocolate. Visit Hershey:Making Chocolate for the videos on each step of the chocolate making process. Look for Hershey Park Part II: Marketplace Shops-where you can buy every type of candy made by Hershey.
I went to Hershey Park with my class in Jr. High. I rode the Gravitron, which promptly caused my head to pop off and my stomach to flip inside out. I missed the chocolate tour, so thanks for the pics. Now my trip is finally complete after all these years.
1Jealous: Heather
I can’t believe it, that’s awesome. I want to go here SO bad….I mean with a name like Hershey’s Chocolate World how can it not be the coolest thing aside from touring the Wonka factory itself. This was a fantastic write-up. Who’d you go with?
I love the display of how many they’ve produced for the day…..I should do this with pizzas
I’m surprised they don’t sample more. Appartenly (I haven’t been but say a special on the Travel Channel) at the Ben & Jerry’s factory you get to sample 30 flavors as much as you want. And if I remeber correctly (I didn’t take them up on it) at the Coors factory you can keep going back for samples.
Ugggggggh, I’m still SUPER jealous! Can’t wait to read the next installment.
2I love the idea of this article! Can’t wait for more!
Ok how pathetic is it that I’ve lived in Baltimore MD my whole life and now I live in Dove PA and I still haven’t been to Hershey Park! One day Randy and I will take a trip up there.
@Heather is the chocolate discounted there? If it is I could stock up for baking
3@Bear-I went with friends. The sample is little, however, they have thousands of people who come through there each day, so I guess they need to keep it small. Don’t worry though, you can buy all the candy that you want before you leave. That is the next segment…:)
@Erin-Yes, the candy is somewhat discounted and you can buy some things in bulk as you will see coming soon.
4I want to ask u guys a question!!!!!!!!!!
OK!!! Is Hershey Park really made out of chocolate i mean like the rides and stuff……
I neverbeen to Hershey park but i hope someday i will go and see for myself if its true that the rides are made out of hershey park!!
I hope to see u there will talk when i go to hershey park!!!!
5I had the pleasure of working at Hersheypark for about 5 summers when I was in high school and college. It was actually a pretty awesome job… it didn’t pay great, but spending summers at an amusement park wasn’t so bad.
I worked in the games department; Frog Bog anyone?
6Growing up outside of Philly, I got to go to Hershey Park about once a summer.
Have some great memories of that place. But the best part was always the free chocolate at the end of the chocolate factory tour!
7Gotta love the free chocolate at the end of the tour. My kids keep running back on the get the chocolate again. Hershey Park is a great place, perfect for families.
PA is filled with great factory tours. It’s a fun and free activity for families and they also lean something along the way.
@Bear Silber Ben and Jerry’s only gives you a small sample at the end of the tour. They sell ice cream cones but the sample is tiny and limited to one.
8is hershey park made out of chocolate i mean like the rides and stuff?
9Uh… YEAH!!! It’s awesome. It even has a little zoo and the animals are made out of chocolate too!!!
You’ve got to come see!
Just messing with you. The answer is nope.
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