Hershey Chocolate Bars for fountain?

12 years ago

We are having a party at our house this weekend for 50-75 people. We will be having a chocolate fountain (borrowed) and someone told me once (but can't remember who) that their favorite chocolate to use was hershey bars--melted of course. I cannot find anything about using these in a fountain--only chips and the chocolate made specifically for fountains and fondue. Has anyone done this before? Is this chocolate different than the "chips" they refer to in the instruction booklet? Would I still use vegetable oil and if so, how much? Any tips on melting? I've had difficulties melting chocolate and butterscotch chips in the microwave in the past.

Thanks for any tips and suggestions any of you may have!

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Comments (4)

lakeguy35
12 years ago
I was gifted with a Rival Chocolate Fountain when I moved back to the city a few years ago. Hershey bars are milk chocolate so milk chocolate chips should work as well. The addition of oil is a must for the fountain to work. It kind of freaked me out when I read the instructions when I first used it....all that oil. If you are not comfortable using the micro just melt over a double boiler.

Here are the ratios that my instrunction book have.

13 1/3 chips (80 oz.) and 2 1/2 cup oil (20 oz.)

For Premium chocolate. ( premium chocolate contains 30% - 40% plus cocoa)

13 1/3 cup chips (80 oz.) and 1 2/3 cups oil (13 oz.).

The above quanties are the max for my machine and says it will serve 25 - 30 guests. You could double this for your event and refill the fountain as needed unless it can handle the amount you need for your number of guest. You will have a lot leftover as you need a good amount to keep the fountain flowing. Also, dipping items that create crumbs or chunks that can break off will mess with the fountain. We had to clean out around the bottom of the augor(Sp) part more than once during one party due to crumbs from pound cake and rice krispy treats that we had available for dipping. The next party we had a slotted spoon available to scoop out the floaters that would sink to the bottom and mess with the machine. (had a couple of peeps in charge to keep an eye out for that challange)

Hope this helps you out a little. Have a great time/party!!

David
kel3
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you so much David for your reply! Great tips! You're right--that seems like SO much oil but I will trust what you say. I will look at the hershey bars for the weight and use accordingly. I looked and they don't say what % of cocoa they are, so I will assume they are not considered "premium" chocolate.

I'm a little worried about needing more than I start the fountain with as I won't be available during the party to melt more chocolate if we run out, and I don't really see how I can have this done ahead of time--guess I will just remove the fountain if we run out.

Thanks again--and I will definitely have a slotted spoon ready! :)
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I thought it was a Wilton but when I got it out of the box it says Nostalgia on the actual fountain. It was in the Kohl's circular 40% as a Wilton model, but I don't see anything saying Wilton on the actual machine. I would say if you're not opposed to heating in the microwave, buy one like I have. I have since learned of a couple of friends who have them and they have the same idea. Small, melt the chocolate in the microwave. It is more convenient if you can melt it in the actual fountain, but you are definitely paying 3x as much. As for the chocolate I have to respectfully disagree about the craft chocolate. I used 1/2 craft, 1/2 Williams Sonoma fondue chips and it was delicious. I did have to use twice the amount of recommended chocolate to come up to close the rim of the bowl of the fountain which is recommended and the fountain didn't work properly until I added more chocolate, it didn't flow right, spaces where there was no chocolate flowing if you know what I mean. I would think if the craft chocolates were that bad, I wouldn't have gotten as good of a result. I will say that if I were doing a party focusing on the fountain I would use dark chocolate for all adults. Williams-Sonoma chips were $14 a pound and I used 2 pounds of W/S and 2 pounds of milk chocolate craft. Post if you buy one and use it. I think the above posts probably avoided some problems for me. I set it up on a glass topped tea cart. I had plenty of plates. We talked to the two youngest kids about using the plate plus they had a fountain at a wedding they participated in as attendants. No chocolate on clothing. I bought the W/S extra long skewers. Make sure your fruit is dry. I cleaned the strawberries in the morning and sat them on paper towels, changing them 2x in order to get them dry and to let them come to room temperature for serving. I think if your guests have never experienced a fountain you do have to let them know that the chocolate takes a minute to set up, thus holding it over a plate or napkin - don't try and eat it the second you pull it out of the fountain. I am actually going to try the cheese despite the bad experience of the guy at W/S. We occasionally have cheese and fruit for dinner as a treat with a good bottle of wine. I think I might give it a whirl some Sunday afternoon when the game is on. Sounds kind of crazy tho. Football game with a cheese fountain:-,) That I definitely would do a dry run on before I spring on a group of friends...
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lakeguy35
12 years ago
You are welcome Kel!

Not sure, but you might be able to keep/hold some extra melted chocolate in a crock pot on the low setting. I can't verify that it would work though. I know the newer ones run on the hot side so be aware of that. Although once they are heated up they do retain the heat for awhile...so you could turn it off and hope for the best. : )

Have a great time and I hope you come back and enjoy the cooking forum when time allows.

David
kel3
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks David. Someone else just told me at the store that they've heard of people using a crockpot to actually melt the chocolate. I might experiment with that tonight if I have time. That would be a great help too, and then just leave the extra in there warming. I agree, the newer ones do seem to run hot so I'll have to see if the extra one I have available for this will work.

Thanks again David--your replies are much appreciated and very helpful!

Hershey Chocolate Bars for fountain?

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Hershey Chocolate Bars for fountain?

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