In my recent reading of The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars, I learned that before there were machines to produce Hershey’s Kisses, the line-people (almost always women) in the factory had to lay that little strip of paper (the “plume”) down on the foil, put the chocolate on it, and then wrap it.
But sometimes the plume blew away before they could set the chocolate on it and wrap it. Because it happened enough, and because there was a lot of pressure to maximize their productivity, the women sometimes licked the chocolate and stuck the plume to it to keep it from blowing away before they could wrap it.
Reading that caused me to muse about, realistically, how important that plume is to the consumer. Please take this brief survey to let us know.
I’d rather not have my chocolate pre-licked.