Askinosie, ever so studious with the history of chocolate, plunders the headquarters at Hershey’s, the issuer of ‘Field Ration D’ to American GIs during WWII – a top secret weapon in the allies’ war against the original axis powers of evil. Whether dropped behind enemy lines as a civil engineer or at the front lines in the trenches, it provided vital ground support for the troops in Europe. Their generals understood Napoleon’s maxim: “an army marches on its stomach” (which the Corsican painfully learned to his chagrin in a bitter winter in Russia).

The D-Ration bar was the original ‘melts in your mouth, not in your hands’ (candy-coated M&Ms™ were introduced years later), reaching a melting point around 120ºF, some 25 or so degrees higher than regular chocolate. The cocoa butter—a type of fat derived from cocoa beans—primarily determines a chocolate’s melting point. So one technique to achieving a higher melting point simply plays with the proportions, starting with a reduction in cocoa butter. Then just add solid fillers (as Hershey did originally with oats) to soak up some of the fat, or use other stabilizing agents to keep the bar rigid. "Heat-resistant" meant the bar could withstand both withering battlefield temperatures & incoming enemy fire to stop evil in its tracks. To seal the deal, the bar came in a poison-gas proof wrapper!

Top military brass presented Hershey’s with one other criteria: that it taste “like a boiled potato” lest it was so good our fighting men would be tempted to eat them rather than save them when most needed in an emergency. Given its track record, this was an easy objective for Hershey’s to meet.

Indeed, the company exceeded expectations.

Resistance was immediate.

Completely unappetizing, jaw-breaking tough & bitter, hard as a bullet-proof flack-jacket tasting of clay, the D-Ration was universally detested, often discarded or traded to unsuspecting dupes. U.S. troops called it ‘Hitler's Secret Weapon’ for its side-effects on GI (in this case for Gastro-Intestinal) tracts.

Its only real use? Promoting dysentery.

Still, it reminded the guys & brought home what they were fighting for: their sweethearts, sisters, & mothers left behind.

Rather than desert the mission, decades after WWII the Army contracted out an even higher heat-resistant bar that could withstand up to 140ºF, dubbed the ‘Congo Bar’.

Likewise, Askinosie is never one to abort a mission. The ‘N’ in these N-Rations stands for how they Nibble the taste-buds off, then just Nukes 'em. These "Jungle Bullets' are infinitely more digestible. Moreover, they never melt! Yet small enough to put in the chest pocket & slip thru airport security.

If only terrorists were armed with these, the world could fly in peace. Imagine.