When Tried and True Isn’t Tried and True

January 7, 2026 — Pat Bertram

One of the many irritating things about having lived so many years (and admittedly, not the worst thing by any means) is that tried-and-true products are no longer tried and true. People argue that we don’t remember things exactly as they were, which could be possible in some cases, but I don’t believe it.

For example, Hershey’s cocoa powder is not the cocoa of my childhood. I do remember that long-ago powder — dark and rich and a tad bitter. Back then, the powder could not be directly mixed with liquid, it had to be mixed with sugar and a little water, heated on the stove until a paste formed, and milk gradually added. A long drawn-out process, hence (perhaps) the proliferation of hot cocoa mixes.

Now, the cocoa powder easily mixes with water, no heat necessary. The few times I make hot chocolate, I merely add the powder to honey, add enough water to make a paste, add milk, mix, then stick it in the microwave, and it’s done. Simpler, actually than using a packet, and healthier.

That dissolvability is not really an issue. I seldom make hot chocolate, and anyway, for that purpose, the new cocoa is better than the old cocoa.

Also, although the flavor is much blander than the original cocoa, it’s easy enough to double the chocolate a recipe calls for to get the necessary richness.

There is one recipe where the modern cocoa makes a huge difference, so much so that I no longer make the meal. It’s a meat dish, where the meat is dredged in flour, browned, then water and a teaspoon of cocoa powder is added, and as my mother said when she gave me the recipe, “cooked forever.” That gravy cooked up so dark that when I was young, I called it “black meat.” And in my family, the name stuck. The last time I made the recipe, the gravy turned out to be a sickly greyish-brown with none of the rich flavor of the earlier dish. My siblings found the same issue. Which to me proves that the change in the product has nothing to do with a faulty memory, and everything to do with a tried-and-true product being not so tried and true.

I don’t know what the change in the cocoa is. Supposedly the company processes it the same way, but perhaps they press out more of the cocoa butter than they used to. Or perhaps the beans they use are different.

Years ago I read that cacao trees were becoming extinct. Since they are best grown on cleared rainforest land in the shadow of the forest, and since the clearing of the forests was supposed to be curtailed, the habitat the trees needed would supposedly disappear. So who knows why chocolate is still prevalent. Perhaps there is a chocolate bean scarcity and what we call chocolate is mostly something that can best be described as “not chocolate.” Or they found a way to grow the trees without clearing rain forests. Or . . . whatever.

While the difference in what is available today and what used to be available is sometimes an irritant, I’ve made accommodations, and anyway, it’s a small annoyance in comparison to the major irritants of age, such as joint issues and aches that don’t seem to want to go away.

Still, if you ever find yourself on a time machine, will you do me a favor and on your way back pick up a couple boxes of the old Hershey’s Cocoa Powder for me? I would surely appreciate that!

***

Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One.

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Changing Foods

February 2, 2021 — Pat Bertram

So many foods taste different from what I remember them tasting in my youth. Although people say it doesn’t matter where things are grown, it makes a huge difference. When I was young, most of our fruits and vegetables were grown in the United States, and were only available when they were in season. But oh, they were so worth waiting for! Oranges so sweet they put sugar to shame. Tomatoes so juicy and tangy and sweet it was easy to understand they were basically a fruit and not a vegetable. And now? Oranges that come from south of us are bitter, tomatoes are tasteless, and all manner of foods have depleted nutritional value.

Oddly, it works the other way, too. I first had kiwi fruits from New Zealand, and they were fabulous, but those grown in the USA are rather bland. Same with Granny Smith apples; when they came from New Zealand, they were sweet and tangy and crisp; often those grown in the USA are mealy and sour.

One thing that is vastly different from my youth is Hershey’s cocoa powder. Back then, because of the high cocoa butter content, the powder couldn’t be dissolved in a liquid. To make hot chocolate, you had to heat sugar and cocoa and a bit of milk, stirring constantly, to make a syrup, and then gradually add the rest of the milk, still stirring. I tend to think it’s one of the reasons powdered hot chocolate mixes became so popular — you just dumped the mix into a mug, add hot water, and instant hot chocolate! Now, cocoa is so devoid of fat that it is instantly dissolved in milk. It’s also much blander and the color is a lot paler.

My mother made a meat dish that I dubbed “black meat” when I was very young because of its intensely brown color. (When I asked her how to make it, she told me to “slice any cheap beef into thin strips, roll in butter mixed with paprika, salt, and garlic powder. Brown the meant, and a little water, finely chopped onions, 1 teaspoon cocoa, a dash of cloves, and a bit of leftover coffee. Then cook forever.”)

The last time I made this, the meat tasted sort of the same, but the color was a regular gravy color. The cocoa powder simply is not the same. I thought perhaps they’d been adding an alkali to neutralize the natural acids like a Dutch processed cocoa, but apparently not. Oddly, Dutch processed cocoa is supposed to be darker than the more acidic cocoas, but when I was young, it was the opposite — you could always tell the Dutch processed cocoas because they were lighter in color.

That’s the problem with having lived so many decades — too many things are vastly different, and the people who write the articles now to explain those differences don’t go back far enough, probably because they aren’t very old and can’t imagine the world being any different before they set foot upon the earth.

A brief stint on Google showed me a bunch of gourmet brands that have a high fat content and are darker in color that grocery store cocoa, so I might shop around and see if I can duplicate the taste and texture of the old Hershey’s cocoa. But for the other foods, such as real oranges and real tomatoes? I’m out of luck.

***

While sorting through her deceased husband’s effects, Amanda is shocked to discover a gun and the photo of an unknown girl who resembles their daughter. After dedicating her life to David and his vocation as a pastor, the evidence that her devout husband kept secrets devastates Amanda. But Amanda has secrets of her own. . .

Click here to buy: Unfinished

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