The Reason British Kit Kats Taste Better Than America's
"Gimmie a Break, gimmie a break — break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar." Who doesn't know that jingle? Coming to the United States in the 1970s, Kit Kats are still considered a newcomer on American store shelves when compared to older brands like Hersey's Milk Chocolate Bar, which first appeared in 1894 (via Oldest.org).
To say it has been a true success is an understatement. According to Statista, over 11 million Americans eat a Kit Kat five times a year. That is a lot of chocolate wafer going down. The thing is, these are American Kit Kats, and as wonderful as they are, it seems that Kits Kats manufactured in the U.S. can't compare to their British counterparts.
In a taste test performed by the International World of Snacks, over 60% of the participants preferred the taste of the European chocolate bar over its U.S. competition. How can the same candy bar produced under the same name cause such a division? Let's take a deep dive into the subject.
The same Kit Kat but different
To begin with, American Kit Kats and their U.K. cousins (spelled KitKats in Britain) are not identical. In fact, U.S. Kits Kats are different from any other sold in the world. The basic construction — chocolate-covered wafer cookies — is the same, but Kit Kats served on the western side of the pond are made by a different company. Unfortunately for us, they are also produced under different laws.
Reading from Legislation.gov.UK, we learn that British law mandates that milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 25% cocoa solids. In contrast, In contrast, the U.S. FDA only requires American companies to use 10% chocolate liquor. According to Business Insider, the difference is made up of sugar and fillers. Less pure cocoa means less chocolatey goodness and more sweetness. For true chocolate lovers, this is anything but a fair trade-off.
To further confuse the matter, an entirely different company produces the Kit Kats sold in the U.S. versus the rest of the world. To understand how this occurred, we have to look at a bit of history.
A tale of two Kit Kats
While a relatively recent arrival on American shores, KitKats have a history going back to 1935 in England. Reading on the American Nestle website, we learn that the original name of the candy bar was Chocolate Crisps.
In reality, though, the candy goes back to 1911. It was created by Rowntree's, a York confectioner, at the suggestion of one of the company's workers (via Snack History). In 1970 to broaden the reach of the company's top-selling product, Rowntree's struck a deal for manufacturing and distribution rights of Kit Kats in The United States. Subsequently, in 1988 Nestle bought out Rowntree's but was legally bound to honor Hershey's exclusive rights.
According to a New York Times article, there have been efforts to bring U.K. KitKats and other chocolates to America, but the Hershey company squashed these with legal actions in 2015. So, you can blame Hershey and the U.S. court system for denying you the joys of real chocolate as produced in the old world. For the time being, you will have to content yourself with Hershey's inferior products unless you can find someone to smuggle in some Nestle KitKats from abroad.