Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
Encyclopedia
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are a brand of candy
Candy
Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...

 filled with peanut butter
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...

 and 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...

 cover, marketed 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...

. They were created in 1928 by H. B. Reese
H. B. Reese
Harry Burnett "H. B." Reese was an American inventor, and founder of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and of the H. B. Reese Candy Co., he was born in York County, Pennsylvania on a farm. Said to have worked odd jobs such as butcher or salesman in his youth, he eventually married around 1900 and went...

, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey
Milton S. Hershey
Milton Snavely Hershey was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania....

. Reese was inspired by Hershey, so he left the dairy farm to start his own candy business. The H. B. Reese Candy Co. was established in the basement of Reese's house in Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...

, and used Hershey chocolate in his confections. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were his most popular candy, and Reese eventually discontinued his other lines. Several years after his death, Reese's company was sold to The Hershey Company, then known as Hershey Foods Corporation, in 1963 for $23.5 million. The H.B. Reese Company is maintained as a subsidiary of Hershey because the Reese plant workforce is not unionized, unlike the main Hershey plant.

Variations

Hershey's produces "limited editions" of the candy that have included:
  • Miniatures - bite-size versions available year round in bags. These chocolates come in a black paper cup wrapped in gold or colored foil.
  • Dark Chocolate - peanut butter filling in a dark chocolate cup
  • White Chocolate – peanut butter filling in a white chocolate
    White chocolate
    White chocolate is a confectionery derivative of chocolate. It commonly consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids and salt, and is characterized by a pale yellow or ivory appearance...

     cup
  • Big Cups – an oversized version of the traditional cup (also available in white chocolate, with peanuts, mixed nuts, and with a combination of nuts and caramel)
  • Peanut Butter Lovers – a layered cup with top peanut butter layer, thin chocolate layer and peanut butter filling
  • Chocolate Lovers – a thicker chocolate cup with a thinner layer of peanut butter
  • Inside Out – chocolate filling in a peanut butter cup (a reversal of the traditional version)
  • Caramel – the traditional cup with an added layer of caramel filling
  • Marshmallow – the traditional cup with an added layer of marshmallow
    Marshmallow
    The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavourings, and sometimes colouring, whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow recipes call for egg whites...

     filling
  • Peanut Butter & Banana Creme – a layered cup with a top chocolate layer, bottom banana
    Banana
    Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

     creme layer, and peanut butter filling; released in summer 2007 in tribute to Elvis Presley
    Elvis Presley
    Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

    . It was available in standard, Big Cups and Miniatures sizes
  • Crunchy Cookie Cup – a layered cup with crushed chocolate cookies and peanut butter filling (discontinued in 1999, but was brought back in 2008 as a limited edition)

  • Honey Roasted - a traditional cup substituting honey roasted peanut butter
  • Fudge - a thicker, darker chocolate cup with peanut butter filling
  • Hazelnut Cream - hazelnut
    Corylus avellana
    Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...

     cream instead of the standard peanut butter filling
  • Double Crunch - a traditional cup with peanut filling similar to a Snickers
    Snickers
    Snickers is a brand name chocolate bar made by Mars, Incorporated. It consists of peanut nougat topped with roasted peanuts and caramel, enrobed in milk chocolate. Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion....

     bar, released in the fourth-quarter of 2010
  • Minis - Unwrapped Mini Cups
  • Crunchy - a traditional cup with crunchy peanut butter, as opposed to the smooth peanut butter in the original
  • "'World's Largest'" - World's largest cups weighing in at 8oz each.
  • Half-Pound Cup - a single cup weighing 226g; released in Canada in 2011

Other Reese's products

Other candy products of the Reese's division of Hershey include:
  • Reese's Bar - a chocolate bar with squares of chocolate with a peanut butter filling
  • Reese's Brownies
    Chocolate brownie
    A chocolate brownie is a flat, baked square or bar introduced in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and popularized in both the U.S. and Canada during the first half of the twentieth century. The brownie is sliced from a type of dense, rich chocolate cake, which is, in texture,...

  • Reese's Cookies
  • Reese's Cremes
  • Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar
    Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar
    Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar is a candy bar similar to the Butterfinger, Clark Bar and 5th Avenue but differs by adding peanuts and peanut butter. It has a middle section made of flaky peanut butter, a layer of peanut butter, is covered with chopped peanuts and then coated with milk chocolate...

    , a chocolate bar with 5th Avenue
    5th Avenue (candy)
    The 5th Avenue is a candy bar currently marketed by The Hershey Company.The candy bar was reportedly introduced in 1936 by Luden's, at the time a subsidiary of Food Industries of Philadelphia...

    -esque crisp, peanuts and Reese's peanut butter
  • Reese's Fast Break
    Reese's Fast Break
    Reese's Fast Break is a candy bar similar to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It is coated with milk chocolate, and filled with peanut butter on top of a nougat layer. While the bar initially had a blue and orange wrapper, the color scheme has since been inverted. Later formulations of Fast Break...

  • Reese's NutRageous
    NutRageous
    NutRageous is a candy bar made by the Hershey Company. It consists of Reese's Peanut Butter topped with roasted peanuts, caramel and a chocolate flavoured coating....

  • Reese's Peanut Butter Bars (with either chocolate or fudge
    Fudge
    Fudge is a type of Western confectionery which is usually very sweet, and extremely rich. It is made by mixing sugar, butter, and milk and heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency...

     coating)
  • Reese's Peanut Butter Bites
  • Reese's Pieces
    Reese's Pieces
    Reese's Pieces are a peanut butter flavored candy manufactured by The Hershey Company for the North American market; they are also available in Ireland & The United Kingdom. They are circular in shape and covered in candy shells that are colored either yellow, orange, or brown. They can be...

  • Reese's Pieces with Nuts
  • Reese's Puffs
    Reese's Puffs
    Reese's Puffs is a breakfast cereal manufactured by General Mills. Originally consisting of Hershey's chocolate with Reese's peanut butter flavored corn puffs, the two flavors were later separated as individual puffs in the same cereal. The cereal is based on the original candy...

     Cereal
  • Reese's No Bake Bars
  • Reese's Select Cluster
  • Reese's Snack Barz
  • ReeseSticks
    ReeseSticks
    Reese's Sticks, originally called "ReeseSticks," are wafers filled with peanut butter and covered in milk chocolate. First introduced in 1999, they are manufactured by The Hershey Company and are currently still available...

  • Reese's Swoops
    Swoops
    Swoops were a Pringle shaped chocolate candy manufactured by The Hershey Company. They were found in the following flavors: Hershey's Milk Chocolate, Reese's Peanut Butter, Almond Joy, York Peppermint Pattie, White Chocolate Reeses, and Toffee and Almond...

  • Reese's Whipps
    Reese's Whipps
    Reese's Whipps is a candy bar similar to the 3 Musketeers but differs by adding peanut butter. It has a center made of fluffy peanut butter nougat, a layer of peanut butter and is then coated with milk chocolate...

  • Sweet 'n' Salty Bar
  • Reese Mini's
  • 100 Calorie Peanut Butter Wafer Bars
  • Oh Henry!
    Oh Henry!
    Oh Henry! is a chocolate bar containing peanuts, caramel, and fudge coated in chocolate. It was first introduced in 1920, by the Williamson Candy Company of Chicago, Illinois. According to legend, Oh Henry! was originally named after a boy who frequented the Williamson company, flirting with the...

     bar with Reese's Peanut Butter
    (sold in Canada only)
  • Chips Ahoy With Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
  • Selecta Ice Cream With Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (sold in Philippines
    Philippines
    The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

     only)


In September 2007, Hershey's began producing a new Reese's bar called Reese's Whipps. Featuring peanut butter-flavored nougat
Nougat
Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and...

 with a chocolate coating, it has been likened to a peanut butter-flavored 3 Musketeers candy bar.

Hershey also produces several "pantry" items under the Reese's brand, such as Reese's peanut butter chips (analogous to 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 for baking), Reese's premier baking pieces (tiny cup-shaped pieces of chocolate filled with peanut-butter, also for baking), Reese's jarred peanut butter (though without the chocolate, it tastes largely similar to regular peanut butter), and Reese's toppings (including peanut butter syrup, peanut butter and chocolate topping, and Reese's Magic Shell
Magic Shell
Magic Shell is an American dessert product produced by Smucker’s. It is a syrup that quickly hardens into a crispy shell when poured onto a cold surface, which is the origin of the product's name. The syrup is primarily designed for use on ice cream...

) and sprinkles
Sprinkles
Sprinkles are very small pieces of confectionery used as a decoration or to add texture to desserts—typically cupcakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, frozen yogurt, and some puddings...

 for ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...

.

For the July 2008 release of the Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

 feature film The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...

, Reese's released two limited time products: blue and black Reese's Pieces with Batman's likeness on the packaging, and Reese's peanut butter-filled chocolate Batman logos which were sold individually and roughly the sized of two Reese's cups combined.

The fact that Reese Sticks digressed from the normal Reese's naming pattern was pointed out by Paul Lukas in his zine Beer Frame. As Lukas noted, even though the official name was Reese Sticks, most people he casually surveyed pronounced it unknowingly as Reese's Sticks. In 2009, Hershey's changed the name officially to Reese's Sticks.

Holiday editions

During the seasons when retailers offer holiday candies, Reese's Peanut Butter candies are available in various shapes that still offer the standard confection theme of the traditional Reese's cup (peanut butter contained in a chocolate shell). They are sold in a 6-pack packaging configuration, but are usually available as individual items as well. Recently, larger (roughly twice the size of the 6-pack item) versions of the various shapes are available at certain retailers. Exterior packaging is altered to reflect the theme of the representative holiday.

Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts - Available mainly during January and February, these are heart-shaped confections representing Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

. At various retailers, an individually-packaged, larger heart is available as well. These are packaged in a red and white exterior packaging theme.

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs - Available mainly during March and April, these are egg-shaped confections representing the holiday Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

. Exterior packaging is usually yellow and orange (milk chocolate), white and orange (white chocolate), or dark brown and orange (fudge-flavored chocolate). This is the only holiday-themed item available in three various chocolate varieties. A larger, individually-packaged Easter Bunny
Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, who sometimes is depicted with clothes...

 Reese's peanut butter item, known as Reester Bunny, is available as well.

Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins - Available mainly during September and October, these are pumpkin-shaped confections representing Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

. The packaging is purple and orange.

Reese's Peanut Butter Trees - Available mainly during November and December, these are evergreen tree-shaped confections representing the holiday Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

. At various retailers, these may be available in standard milk chocolate or white. The packaging was green, white, and orange, but has been changed to the traditional orange packaging with an evergreen tree on the cover.

In December 2005, it was noted that some of the holiday shaped Reese's candies (such as the Bells) contain gluten
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye...

, unlike the standard peanut butter cups.

Licensed foods

Hershey licenses the Reese's brand (name, logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

, etc.) to various companies for the production of other products beyond the traditional realm of candy. For example, General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...

 produces Reese's Puffs
Reese's Puffs
Reese's Puffs is a breakfast cereal manufactured by General Mills. Originally consisting of Hershey's chocolate with Reese's peanut butter flavored corn puffs, the two flavors were later separated as individual puffs in the same cereal. The cereal is based on the original candy...

, a brand of peanut butter and chocolate flavored breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...

. Several companies, including Breyers
Breyers
Breyers is a brand of frozen dessert and ice cream owned by Unilever . They have a large plant in the town of Framingham, Massachusetts, outside Boston....

, Baskin-Robbins
Baskin-Robbins
Baskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irvine Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlors, in Glendale, California. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are...

, and Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen
Dairy Queen, often abbreviated DQ, is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen, Inc, who also owns Orange Julius and Karmelkorn. The name "Dairy Queen" is taken from the name of their soft serve product, which the company refers to as "Dairy Queen" or...

, produce various licensed Reese's ice cream products.

Marketing and advertising

In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups typically come in two-, four-, and eight-packs in distinctive orange packaging, set on thin but rigid paperboard
Paperboard
Paperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...

 trays. The "Classic" two-pack is a .75 oz. cup, the "King Size" four-pack is a .70 oz. cup and the "Lunch" eight-pack is a .55 oz. cup. "Large Size" packs of three .70 oz. cups are also available. The "mini" cups come in various bag sizes and foil colors around seasonal themes like red, gold and green for the Christmas holiday season. In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, where they are packaged as Reese Peanut Butter Cups (except Reese's pieces), but still widely referred to by their American name, they come in a standard pack of three cups or the king-size variation with four cups. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, they were originally available only in two-packs, though are now only available in three-packs, imported from Canada. In 2007 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were made available in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 by Hydro Texaco and 7-Eleven
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...

. In Australia, Reese's products can be found in many specialty candy stores, as well as from American stores such as Costco.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a series of commercials were run for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups featuring situations in which two people, one eating peanut butter
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...

 and one eating 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...

, collided. One person would exclaim, "You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" and the other would exclaim, "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!". They would then sample the mixture and remark on the great taste, tying in with the slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...

 "Two great tastes that taste great together." These commercials were parodied in an episode
PTV (Family Guy)
"PTV" is the fourteenth episode of season four of the FOX animated series Family Guy. The episode sees the FCC censor the shows on television after a controversial wardrobe malfunction at the Emmy Awards. Peter starts to create his own TV network which he calls PTV, broadcasting classic shows...

 of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

.

In the 1990s, the product's slogan was: "There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's." The current slogan, introduced in the mid-2000s, is: "Perfect."

Reese's was a sponsor of NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 driver, Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick is an American stock car auto racing race car driver and car owner currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing, driving the No. 29 Budweiser/Jimmy John's/Rheem/Okuma/Realtree Outdoors/Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet Impala...

from 2007-2010.

External links

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