Hershey's Special Dark is a chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 candy bar

Candy bar

A chocolate bar is a confection in bar form comprising some or all of the following components: cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The relative presence or absence of these components form the subclasses of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. In addition to these main...

 manufactured by The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...

.

Special Dark is similar to a normal Hershey bar

Hershey bar

The Hershey's chocolate bar is a flagship chocolate bar described as "The Great American Chocolate Bar" manufactured by the Hershey Company, invented by Logan Hall and Zach Phillips. Hershey Milk Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with almonds and peanuts were both introduced in 1894...

, but is made with a dark

Types of chocolate

Chocolate is a range of products derived from cocoa , mixed with fat and finely powdered sugar to produce a solid confection...

 (or semi-sweet) variety of chocolate, and contains a higher percentage of cocoa solids

Cocoa solids

Cocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao....

, chocolate liquor

Chocolate liquor

Chocolate liquor is pure chocolate in its liquid form. Like the cocoa beans from which it is produced, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly equal proportion....

, and cocoa butter

Cocoa butter

Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, pure edible vegetable fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, biscuits, and baked goods, as well as some pharmaceuticals, ointments, and toiletries...

 than milk chocolate. The Special Dark bar replaced the similar, if not identical, Hershey's Semi-Sweet bar in the company's product lineup in the early 1970s.

Hershey's Special Dark is available in a variety of sizes. There are also Special Dark versions of Hershey's Kisses, chocolate syrup

Chocolate syrup

Chocolate syrup is a chocolate flavored condiment. It is often used as a topping for various desserts, such as ice cream or mixed with milk to make chocolate milk.-Basic ingredients:...

, chocolate chip

Chocolate chip

Chocolate chips are small chunks of chocolate. They are often sold in a round, flat-bottomed teardrop shape. They are available in numerous sizes, from large to miniature, but are usually around 1 cm in diameter.-Origin:...

s, baking chocolate, cocoa, and Hershey's Nuggets.

Miniatures

Hershey's Special Dark is a component of the traditional Hershey's Miniatures

Hershey's Miniatures

Hershey’s Miniatures are packaged assortments of miniature-sized candy bars sold by The Hershey Company.-Description:Hershey’s Miniatures were originally packaged as an assortment in 1939, and featured the most popular Hershey chocolate bars of that time. The product currently contains traditional...

 assortment, first sold in 1939.

In 2006, Hershey's began selling Hershey's Special Dark Miniatures, which included the plain Special Dark bar, along with dark bars with peanuts (similar to a Mr. Goodbar

Mr. Goodbar

Mr. Goodbar is a chocolate-flavored candy bar containing peanuts, whose packaging can be easily identified by its distinctive yellow background and red text. It is manufactured by The Hershey Company and was introduced in 1925...

) and with crisped rice

Crisped rice

Crisped rice refers to a method of cooking rice which leaves the grains with a crisp, airy texture.It is created in much the same way as popcorn; in short, the reaction of both starch and moisture when heated within the shell of the grain...

 (similar to a Krackel

Krackel

Krackel is a chocolate candy bar made by The Hershey Company.Krackel contains crisped rice, and is similar to the competing Nestlé Crunch bar made by Nestlé. Krackel originally sold as an individual candy bar product, and is now only available as one of the four varieties of Hershey's Miniatures. ...

).

Hershey's Extra Dark

Hershey's Extra Dark is a product very similar to the Special Dark. The three varieties are solid chocolate; chocolate with macadamia nuts and dried cranberries

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

; and chocolate with cranberries, blueberries, pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...

, and almonds. Hershey's marketing emphasizes the antioxidant

Antioxidant

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...

 qualities of these bars' ingredients. Additionally, Hershey's Extra Dark contains 60% cocoa solids

Cocoa solids

Cocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao....

while Hershey's Special Dark contains 45% cocao solids.