As a kid, I once received an extra-large Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Crème Bar as a gift (that’s the one that’s 2.5 times larger than your standard chocolate bar), and I’m fairly certain I ate the entire thing in one sitting. Nowadays, when I come across my former favorite candy, I’ll have a rectangle or two before putting it down because it doesn’t quite hit the same way anymore. In fact, it seems like most candy doesn’t taste as great as we remember.
This idea has actually been in the news in recently. In February, Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, called out Hershey for changing the recipe his grandfather created and replacing the ingredients with cheaper, less tasty ones.
But is this happening across the board? And is it only recipe changes that make our favorite candy taste different? Not necessarily! We talked to Michelle Schwenk, a candy scientist and the president of Bellis Food Solutions, a food and candy development firm, to get to the bottom of this phenomenon. Read on to find out what’s going on with the candy you once craved.
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Is today’s candy actually different than the candy we ate as kids?
The short answer: probably, but of course it depends on the candy in question. “Over my 30 years in the candy industry, I have seen so much innovation and change. This innovation has impacted the eating experience of our nostalgic candies,” says Schwenk. “At the same time, as an industry, we are still using candy-making methods developed over a century ago to delight our customers. There are still artisan candy stores making the old favorites. We can still buy the brands we grew up with. But the market has changed so much, a lot of the candies we enjoyed have too.”
Of course, “innovation” means “change,” and people often don’t love change when it messes with their childhood favorites. But it’s not as cut and dry as a tweaked recipe.
Why does candy taste worse than it did when we were kids?
The answer to this question is more complicated than you may think. Here are a few of the biggest reasons we’re complaining about today’s confections.
Companies alter their recipes
As much as we want the sweets we loved as kids to stay the same forever, candy is an industry just like any other. One key factor impacting the industry is that the group of people who hold the buying power has shifted from 30 years ago, and that group is increasingly comprised of Millennials, according to a recent report from the National Confectioners Association. Why is that an issue? Price is the No. 1 factor that influences what they decide to purchase. “Managing cost can lead to formula changes,” Schwenk says. Sometimes that means replacing milk chocolate with “chocolate candy” or another ingredient that’s cheaper but still delivers a flavor that’s very close to the old ingredient. Lately, FYI, cocoa prices have been skyrocketing due to poor harvests and other environmental factors.
Millennials are also more likely to ask for new flavors or limited-time tweaks to existing ones, both of which may result in a wider variety of products that taste slightly different than we remember. The Reese’s product Brad Reese was complaining about, for example, was Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts, which were released for Valentine’s Day. The response from Hershey was that the classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are made the same way they always have been, but that the company sometimes makes tweaks to the recipes for other products in the line.
“Brands are being driven to develop products that meet the consumer’s price point, satisfy their desire for innovation, bring new benefits and, oh yes, deliver the same eating experience from our childhood, warm glow and all,” Schwenk says. It’s hard to do all those things at the same time without one or two failing to meet expectations.
Trends and availability affect candy ingredients
Even if a company is not making a conscious decision to change a recipe, the most popular and available candy ingredients may change from year to year—and they’ve definitely changed from a few decades ago. “Today, we are in a much more connected global economy. When we are developing new products, we have the option to source from around the world,” explains Schwenk. “That can mean dialing into a very specific flavor profile in our chocolate or using monk fruit as an alternative sweetener. The palette of ingredients is more robust than ever and is still developing.”
In some cases, this can actually be a good thing for consumers. “Just as we saw a concerted effort by the FDA to reduce salt in the 1980s, we’re seeing efforts to reduce artificial colors and flavors today. We are also seeing consumer pressure to be more ‘clean label,’ which leads to formula changes in established candies,” Schwenk says. “It can be a very positive change, but sometimes it doesn’t match the candy in our memories.”
Our perception of taste changes with age
As we get older, sweet things taste sweeter. A study from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, found that children and adolescents need 40% more sugar in a food for them to detect the sweetness in it than adults do. That means a treat that you remember being deliciously sweet may taste much too sugary for you now.
What if your favorite childhood candy has less taste than you remember? Sorry to break the news to you, but that could be a result of aging as well. According to the National Institute on Aging, our senses of smell and taste change and fade as we get older, which can alter the way we perceive the taste of all foods. Additionally, things like medications, gum disease, smoking and drinking alcohol can alter how things taste, usually making them taste blander than they should.
Nostalgia plays a big role
It’s no secret that the world is a stressful place right now. When we’re surrounded by uncertainty, we often crave foods and experiences that remind us of a simpler time, to inject some joy and comfort into our daily lives. At the same time, we tend to elevate these nostalgic foods and experiences in our minds, possibly to heights they never truly achieved in real life—so much so that when we do reach for a candy that’s drenched in nostalgia and hope, it doesn’t quite live up to our expectations.
I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a lot of pressure to put on a candy bar!
Is it inevitable that our favorite foods will just get worse?
Not necessarily. While Schwenk reiterates that price is the No. 1 driver of decision making for candy consumers, candy makers really are trying to deliver the same comforting and nostalgic experience with their products. In the wake of Brad Reese’s statement, the blowback was harsh enough that Hershey announced about a month later that it would return to classic recipes for all Reese’s products starting next year. In other words, there’s hope (and some evidence) that candy makers do care.
“The candy industry is built on treating—something to eat to celebrate, to comfort, to make a moment, to enhance an experience,” Schwenk says. “At the end of the day, I love how the candy industry is evolving. While candy is always a treat, we have to work to make this treat something everyone can continue to enjoy.”
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Sources:
- Michelle Schwenk, PhD, food scientist, founder of Bellis Food Solutions and founder of Candy Mentor; email interview, April 2026
- Associated Press: “Grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups accuses Hershey of cutting corners”
- Nutrients: “Relationship between Sucrose Taste Detection Thresholds and Preferences in Children, Adolescents, and Adults”
- National Institute on Aging: “How Smell and Taste Change as You Age”
- Associated Press: “Hershey says it will shift back to classic recipe for all Reese’s products after criticism”
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