What happened to Whoppers?

What happened to Whoppers?  No, not the Burger King burgers.  The other Whoppers. "THE ORIGINAL MALTED MILK BALLS (Naturally and Artificially Flavored)," product of The Hershey Company!  Those Whoppers.  The chocolate covered balls that crunch when you bite them, that have that indescribable flavor with a hint of chocolate and something else (that presumably is associated with the crunchy part).

According to Wikipedia, the history of the Whoppers dates back to 1939, and that Hershey acquired the manufacturer of them only in 1996.  Wikipedia also informs us that the ingredients of Whoppers (for those who care about such things -- and you know who you are), listed in decreasing order by weight are: sugar, whey (milk), partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, corn syrup solids, corn syrup, malted milk (barley malt, wheat flour, milk, salt, sodium bicarbonate), cocoa, resinous glaze, sorbitan tristearate, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavor, calcium carbonate, tapioca dextrin, and salt.

Personally, I was never a big fan of Whoppers.  Certainly I never had them except when they were part of my Halloween cache.  I don't recall ever having purchased them or even sought them.  But again, as part of my Halloween booty, once a year they were dutifully eaten.

So why the fuss?

Halloween morning I placed a basket of candy outside my front door before heading to the office.  The basket was filled with two full bags of an assortment of four Hershey's products:  Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat Bars and Whoppers.  Here's what one of the bags looked like:

And I taped a sign above the basket of candy, welcoming Trick-or-Treaters.  I've been putting the sign up and leaving a basket of candy out every Halloween when I can't be home to greet the Trick-or-Treaters personally.  Here's what the sign looks like (which I re-use every year):

When I got home at 7:30 p.m., the only thing left in the basket was the Whoppers!!  The Milk Chocolate Bars?  ALL gone!  The Reese's?  ALL gone!  The Kit Kats?  ALL gone!  Granted, of the four choices, I'm sure a poll would show us that Whoppers are the least favorite of the four.  Nonetheless, here's how I found the basket:

In Halloween's past, since I've been leaving the basket outside, I have never, ever returned home with ANY candy remaining in the basket.  However, this was the first time my basket included Whoppers.  In years past, I've always wondered if the first pack of Trick-or-Treaters emptied my basket (or maybe it was the portly mailman).  Now I'm wondering, how many discriminating Trick-or-Treaters visited by house, only to turn up their noses at the Whoppers.  After the Milk Chocolate Bars, Reese's and the Kit Kats were picked clean, how many Trick-or-Treaters came to my front door and left disappointed -- "Ugh! Whoppers!?! What is this guy trying to pull? What's next, pocket change?"  Has my Halloween image been tarnished by the Whoppers in my basket?  Oh the shame.

As I was typing this, I've had a set of three Trick-or-Treaters ring my bell.  I sheepishly gave them fistfulls of the leftover Whoppers, hoping they wouldn't notice what I was quickly dropping into their pillowcases, hoping they wouldn't realize when they got home and dumped their candy hauls on their parents' kitchen tables that the guy on Elaine Terrace unloaded the Whoppers on them.  I avoided eye contact.  As generous as I was with the three, my basket still isn't empty.

Well, the sight of the Whoppers so ingloriously left behind in the basket gave me a chuckle, but also got me wondering, what happened to the Whoppers?  How is it they could be completely abandoned on Halloween of all days?  It would seem, that Whoppers exist at all could only be because of Halloween -- the one day out of the year when they are supposed to actually get eaten.  But, alas, no.  I guess that's why Hershey packaged them with three clear favorites, hoping that Whoppers would be taken along with the others.  But, again, no.

So, I wanted to share this story of the Whoppers.  I hope everyone’s families have had a fun Halloween.  By the way, my 13 year-old daughter went trick-or-treating in Paramus.  No word yet on how successful she was.  But now, of course, I am curious whether she received any Whoppers, and even more curious if she eats them.

Greg