Military chocolate (United States)
artificial flavoring | |
Military chocolate has been a part of standard
When provided as a morale boost or care package, military chocolate is often no different from normal store-bought bars in taste and composition. However, they are frequently packaged or molded differently. The
When provided as an emergency field ration, military chocolate was very different from normal bars. Since its intended use was as an emergency food source, it was formulated so that it would not be a tempting treat that troops might consume before they needed it. Even as attempts to improve the flavor were made, the heat-resistant chocolate bars never received enthusiastic reviews. Emergency ration chocolate bars were made to be high in energy value, easy to carry, and able to withstand high temperatures. Withstanding high temperatures was critical since infantrymen would often be outdoors, sometimes in tropical or desert conditions, with the bars located close to their bodies. These conditions would cause typical chocolate bars to melt within minutes.
Logan Bar or D ration
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The first chocolate ration bar commissioned by the United States Army was the Field Ration D or Ration, Type D, commonly known as the "D ration."
Colonel Logan had four requirements for the D ration bar. The bar must:
- Weigh 4 ounces (113.4 g)
- Be high in food energy value
- Be able to withstand high temperatures
- Taste "a little better than a boiled potato" (to keep soldiers from eating their emergency rations in non-emergency situations)
Its ingredients were chocolate,
Logan was pleased with the first small batch of samples. In June 1937, the
After U.S. entry into the Second World War, Congress planned to shut down the candy industry for the duration of the conflict, deeming it non-essential.
The D ration was almost universally detested for its bitter taste by U.S. troops, and was often discarded instead of consumed when issued.[7] Troops called the D ration "Hitler's Secret Weapon" for its effect on soldiers' intestinal tracts.[7] It could not be eaten at all by soldiers with poor dentition, and even those with good teeth often found it necessary to first shave slices off the bar with a knife before consuming.[7]
Tropical Bar
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Hershey_Tropical_Bar_SI.jpg/220px-Hershey_Tropical_Bar_SI.jpg)
In 1943, the Procurement Division of the Army approached Hershey about producing a confectionery-style chocolate bar with improved flavor
The Tropical Bar (it was called the D ration throughout the war, despite its new appellation) had more of a resemblance to normal chocolate bars in its shape and flavor than the original D ration, which it gradually replaced by 1945. While attempts to sweeten its flavor were somewhat successful, nearly all U.S. soldiers found the Tropical Bar tough to chew and unappetizing; reports from countless memoirs and field reports are almost uniformly negative.[
In 1957, the bar's formula was changed to make it more appetizing. The unpopular oat flour was removed, non-fat milk solids replaced skim milk powder,
Hershey production
It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, over 3 billion of the D ration and Tropical Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world. In 1939, the Hershey plant was capable of producing 100,000 ration bars a day. By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week. For their service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued the
Postwar to modern day
The rhetoric of war rations aligned food consumption with the war in Europe and Asia but also with the vitality of U.S. agriculture and consumerism. While these campaigns aimed to conserve U.S. food surpluses for the purpose of providing food aid to overseas militaries and civilian populations, they also functioned to jettison certain foodstuffs.[14] Production of the D ration bar was discontinued at the end of World War II. However, Hershey's Tropical Bar remained a standard ration for the United States Armed Forces. The Tropical Bar saw action in Korea and Vietnam[15] as an element of the "Sundries" kit (which also contained toiletries), before being declared obsolete. It briefly returned to use when it was included on board Apollo 15 in July 1971.[citation needed]
"Desert Bar" (Congo Bar)
In the late 1980s, the
During
Since the war ended before Hershey's supplies of the experimental bar were shipped, the remainder of the production run was packaged in a "desert camo" wrapper and was dubbed the Desert Bar. It proved a brief novelty but Hershey declined to make more after supplies ran out.[18]
See also
- Energy bar
- Index of military food articles
- Soldier Fuel (formerly HOOAH! bar)
References
- ^ Picture of a Hershey military chocolate bar
- ^ "Hershey's Field Ration D bars did not melt in heat, and tasted "just a little better than a boiled potato"". Thevintagenews.com. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Posted September 7, 2018 (2018-09-07). "Ration D Bars – Hershey Community Archives". Hersheyarchives.org. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Ration D Bars – Hershey Community Archives". Retrieved 2019-06-15.
- ^ "Hogsalt". Hogsalt. 2015-05-31. Archived from the original on 2020-03-01. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Kruper, Jackie. "A Sweet Prison Camp". World War II. 20 (2): 58–60.
- ^ ISBN 1-85532-995-6, pp. 20–21
- ^ Logan Nye (2018-10-30). "This was the Hershey bar custom-built for World War II". Wearethemighty.com. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ "hold its shape after one hour in 120 degrees Fahrenheit"
- ^ Posted September 6, 2018 (2018-09-06). "Hershey's Tropical Chocolate Bar". Hershey Community Archives. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "The Price of Freedom: Hershey's Tropical Chocolate Bar". AmHistory.SI.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Butler, Stephanie. "How Hershey's Chocolate Helped Power Allied Troops During WWII". History. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ISBN 0-06-074638-6, p. 181
- ^ S2CID 144180770.
- ^ "Hershey's – Tropical Chocolate – candy bar wrapper proof – August 1969". CollectingCandy.com. 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Schmidt, Nicole (12 December 2016). "The Race to Create Chocolate That Only Melts in Your Mouth". TheWalrus.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Lucy S. (2016-05-11). "A Guide to Every Hershey's Chocolate Bar in U.S. Military MREs". The SITREP Military Blog. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
- ^ Stoneback, Diane (1991-06-26). "New candy bar defies heat". Archived from the original on 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- The Army Quartermaster Corps Museum homepage
- Price of Freedom: Americans at War Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine – Smithsonian Institution exhibit featuring the Hershey's Tropical Bar
- 69th Tank Battalion – Vietnam war veteran speaks critically about the Hershey's Tropical Bar