Reese's Pieces

Reese's Pieces are a peanut butter candy manufactured by The Hershey Company for the North American market; they are also available in Ireland and The United Kingdom. They are circular in shape and covered in candy shells that are colored yellow, orange, or brown.[1] They can be purchased in plastic packets, cardboard boxes, or cup-shaped travel containers. The candy was introduced in 1978[2] [3] and introduced to Canada in 1980.[4] The relatively new product became very popular with the 1982 release of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, in which the candy is featured.[5]

Reese's Pieces are a product extension of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups line; this new product was designed to capitalize on the success of the chocolate-covered peanut butter cups. {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents

 * 1 Manufacture
 * 2 Product line expansion
 * 3 See also
 * 4 References
 * 5 External links
 * }

Manufacture
The candies were first manufactured using panning machines that had been used to make Hershey-ets, a chocolate-filled candy that had been discontinued. Designers knew that they wanted a peanut-flavored candy but had some problems with the filling. Original plans called for filling the candy shells with peanut butter, but the oil leaked out into the shell, leaving it soft, rather than crunchy.

The developer of the project turned the problem over to a team of outside scientists, who created a peanut-flavored penuche filling.[6] More experimentation was needed to determine the correct thickness of the shell. Finally, the colors of the candy coating were designed to coordinate with the color of the Reese's package. The goal color distribution is 50% orange, 25% brown, and 25% yellow.

Product line expansion
In 2010, The Hershey Company expanded the Pieces line to include York Peppermint Pattie Pieces, Hershey's Special Dark Pieces, and Almond Joy Pieces.[7] Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds Pieces became the fourth expansion of this line in 2012.[8]