AMNA NAWAZ: Earlier this week, The Hershey Company announced that next year it's returning all of its classic brands back to earlier milk and dark chocolate recipes, impacting about 3 percent of its Reese's products.

The move comes amid a growing backlash over recipe changes and the use of chocolate alternatives in some of its candies.

Deema Zein explores what's behind this latest battle in the chocolate wars.

HYACINTH MOYA, South Dakota Resident: Kit Kats, I have literally eaten them my whole life.

When I was in high school, I used to have one of those extra large Kit Kat bars like once a week.

I would just carry it around my backpack.

DEEMA ZEIN: As a teenager, Hyacinth Moya had a serious sweet tooth, but these days she's noticed a change in the chocolate she grew up loving.

HYACINTH MOYA: The main thing is that it feels really waxy.

Yes, it just wasn't the same.

DEEMA ZEIN: And it's not just Kit Kats, says Philip Dennison, a former Snickers fan from Minnesota.

PHILIP DENNISON, Minnesota Resident: It's kind of the big name brands here in the U.S.

under like Mars and Hershey's.

We grew up eating them back in the '80s and '90s as a kid, and the flavor profile has changed.

DEEMA ZEIN: Professed chocoholic Julia Alvarado agrees.

JULIA ALVARADO, California Resident: I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, all those.

And, honestly, over like the last few years, I have just found myself avoiding them.

PHILIP DENNISON: It's kind of disappointing because there's that sense of nostalgia that's lost.

Like, I know what this should taste like, but it doesn't anymore.

DEEMA ZEIN: Amid a course of these disappointed customers, Hershey announced it would adjust the ingredients in some of its classic brands to include more of the costly raw ingredient that makes chocolate, chocolate, the cocoa bean.

Cocoa prices have swung sharply in recent years, driven by climate change and production issues in West Africa, where most cocoa is grown.

Prices hit a record high at the end of 2024.

And although they have fallen since, candymakers, who buy months ahead, are still feeling the impact.

RICHARD HARTEL, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Candy industries are profit-driven.

And as the cost of ingredients go up, they have got to figure out ways to either reduce costs or raise prices.

DEEMA ZEIN: Richard Hartel, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, has studied chocolate for 35 years and has kept records of ingredients and popular chocolate candies for more than a decade, and he's noticed some changes.

RICHARD HARTEL: Here, we have the 2015 version.

Here's the 2025 version.

They have actually reduced the amount of chocolate ingredient in the chocolate product.

DEEMA ZEIN: Last fall, a New York Times investigation found major chocolate brands were using less cocoa in their products and that popular candies like Rolo's, Almond Joy, and Mr.

Goodbar, had quietly dropped the term milk chocolate from their labels.

Under FDA guidelines, candy labeled milk chocolate must be at least 10 percent chocolate liquor, a liquid made from cocoa beans, which contains cocoa butter.

When it drops below 10 percent, companies have swapped in terms like chocolate candy and chocolate tea, a subtle shift that most consumers won't notice.

They're taking away some of that chocolate.

What are they filling it with?

RICHARD HARTEL: The standard in the industry these days is palm kernel oil, because it mimics cocoa butter's properties quite well.

We have got a bunch of chocolates here to taste.

DEEMA ZEIN: Hartel says, in taste tests, high-quality compound coatings, or chocolate alternatives, can often trick even his savvy food science students.

RICHARD HARTEL: Most people cannot tell the difference.

One article I was reading suggested that by 2050 there would be no chocolate production, no cocoa production, that all of those plantations would go away.

That's kind of kind of doomsaying, but people are looking like that, talking like that.

DEEMA ZEIN: But these tweaks to candy ingredients have sparked criticism from some unexpected corners.

BRAD REESE, Grandson of H.B.

Reese: They're really using inferior, cheap ingredients.

DEEMA ZEIN: Brad Reese has a last name chocolate lovers might know.

His grandfather H.B.

Reese, created the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup nearly a century ago, and Brad's always been an unofficial and unpaid brand ambassador.

BRAD REESE: My whole life, I have been very proud of the Reese's brand.

My Web site and my LinkedIn profile were Brad Reese Growing Reese's Worldwide One Peanut Butter Cup at a time.

DEEMA ZEIN: That changed on Valentine's Day, when Hershey's launched a new product.

BRAD REESE: The Reese's Peanut Butter Mini Hearts, I took two bites and I hadn't spit it out.

And, of course, then I dumped all the contents in the garbage and I saved the wrapper and I looked at the wrapper and realized it didn't say milk chocolate.

DEEMA ZEIN: He shared his feelings in a viral LinkedIn post, writing; "How does the Hershey company continue to position Reese's as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, loyalty and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients that built Reese's trust in the first place?"

The Hershey Company declined a request for an interview, but in a written statement to the "PBS News Hour," they said -- quote -- "Hershey is committed to making products consumers love.

And that means continually reviewing a recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences."

It's a change Julia Alvarado welcomes.

JULIA ALVARADO: I just kind of wish that company is prioritized quality over course in a lot of situations, because you're going to lose the loyalty?

I would have stayed loyal to Hershey's, honestly, forever.

DEEMA ZEIN: She says she's willing to taste it again before confirming if it's too choco-lite for her.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Deema Zein.