Milk Duds facts for kids
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Milk Duds
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| Type | Candy |
|---|---|
| Owner | Highlander Partners / Iconic IP Interests |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1928 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners |
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| Tagline | Chocolatey, Caramely, and Rich with Milk Chewy. Not Gooey. |
Milk Duds are a popular candy known for their chewy caramel center and chocolatey coating. They were first created in 1928. Today, The Hershey Company makes and sells them.
You can often find Milk Duds in a bright golden-yellow box, especially at movie theaters. Each candy is a chewy piece of caramel, not perfectly round, covered in a sweet chocolatey layer.
The name "Milk Duds" has a fun story! "Milk" comes from the milk used to make the candy. "Dud" was used because the candy makers tried to make them perfectly round, but they couldn't. So, the imperfect shapes were called "duds."
The Story of Milk Duds
Milk Duds were first made in 1928 by a company called Hoffman and Company in Chicago. They wanted to make a round, chocolate-covered caramel candy. But they couldn't get the candies to be perfectly round. Because they weren't round, they called them "duds." This is how the candy got its unique name, "Milk Duds."
Later in 1928, a person named Holloway took over Hoffman and Company. He continued making Milk Duds.
Over the years, Milk Duds changed owners several times.
- In 1960, Holloway sold his company to Beatrice Foods.
- Then, in 1986, a company called Leaf bought the Milk Duds business.
- In 1992, the making of Milk Duds moved to Leaf Candy Company's factory in Robinson, Illinois.
- Finally, in 1996, The Hershey Company bought Leaf's candy operations in North America. This meant Hershey started making Milk Duds.
More recently, in 2018, the ownership of Milk Duds changed again. A company called Highlander Partners bought the brand. They now let Hershey continue to make the candy.
In 2022, Milk Duds started a new way to connect with fans online. Their official website became a small window to view different social media sites.
What's Inside Milk Duds?
The ingredients in Milk Duds have changed a little over time. For example, in 2008, Hershey's changed the recipe to use different oils instead of a more expensive ingredient called cocoa butter.
Because of food labeling rules in the United States, if a chocolatey coating doesn't have cocoa butter, it can't be called "milk chocolate." Instead, it's described as "chocolate candy" or "candy made with chocolate and caramel."
Here are some of the main ingredients you would find in Milk Duds today:
- Corn Syrup
- Sugar
- Vegetable Oil (like palm oil or sunflower oil)
- Dextrose
- Nonfat Milk
- Reduced Protein Whey
- Chocolate
- And small amounts of other ingredients like:
* Brown sugar * Baking Soda * Salt * Lecithin (which helps mix ingredients) * Vanillin (for artificial vanilla flavor)
See also
