Chocolate-lovers’ dreams become reality in Union

Tables topped with peppermint patties and Reese’s Peanut Butter eggs stood beneath the bags of… Tables topped with peppermint patties and Reese’s Peanut Butter eggs stood beneath the bags of caramel Kisses flying through the air.

This isn’t the beginning of a child’s fairy tale, but the scene in the William Pitt Union Ballroom on Monday night.

The Pitt Program Council, with the help of Hershey Foods, hosted a chocolate-tasting seminar.

Former Pitt student Ryan McMichael graduated and became a retail sales representative for Hershey Foods Corporation. McMichael and Human Resources Manager Ole Juve gave the group a short — and sweet — lesson on Hershey’s.

While students munched on their first helpings of snacks, Juve told them a little Hershey history. Milton S. Hershey opened his first candy shop in 1867. He failed twice before moving to Lancaster and founding Hershey’s.

The company moved to Hershey, Pa., in 1905 and opened a factory in 1909. Nine years later, Hershey established the Hershey Industrial School for orphaned boys, with a trust worth sixty million dollars. Today, that trust is worth more than $ 3.5 billion.

The billion-dollar company boasts that they have “great people building a great brand,” Juve said. He spoke about Hershey’s marketing strategy and said that Hershey Foods is a great career path.

McMichael took over the presentation, asking, “Who would like some caramel Kisses?” The student who knew that Hershey’s middle name was Snaveley took home the bag.

Throughout the night, answers to various questions were rewarded with bags of caramel Kisses. But those who didn’t answer questions had no reason to feel deprived — the whole group got to sample four new Hershey products.

“We had to make a low-carb bar for those people on the Atkins Diet,” McMichael said of the 1 gram Sugar Carb bar, available in chocolate, chocolate with soy crisps, and chocolate with almonds.

Next, samples of milk chocolate and Reese’s Swoops were passed out.

“They look like chocolate Pringles,” one student said. The idea behind Swoops is that a person can eat a Swoops now and save some for later, since there are 18 in a cup, McMichael explained. Mouths watered as the last samples were passed out — York Peppermint Patty truffles and a white chocolate almond bar.

Juve and McMichael welcomed and encouraged feedback about the candy. They were not surprised when there was an overwhelming negative reaction to the cocoa powder placed in front of each student.

“It’s bitter — that is what pure cocoa tastes like before we add the sugar,” Juve said. Tom Misuraca, the director of Pitt Program Council, jokingly told the students that the cocoa was the reason bottles of water were provided.

Misuraca was given a Hershey’s hat and T-shirt. As a “thank you,” every participant left with a bag full of treats.