A word about M&M’s
M&M’s are total junk as far as chocolate is concerned. Artificial flavors and colors. Trash.
That being said, I like them. Alot. They are one of those long-lived staples in the world of candy and somehow that makes it special. Maybe eating M&M’s is not about fine chocolate, but more about having some junk food that tastes like chocolate and reminds me of my childhood.
So, M&M’s.
M&M’s are made by Mars, who makes everything from dog food, to Uncle Ben’s Rice, to coffee.
According to the M&M website, M&M’s were the “invention” of Forrest Edward Mars (like a box of chocolates, right?), who spotted candy coated chocolate being eaten by soldiers in Spain. He came back to the US and made his own version and contracted to the US military to give to soldiers in WWII in 1941. There is some debate about whether the idea was actually stolen from Smarties made by Nestle, which were on the market in 1937. Forrest had worked for his Dad making Snickers bars in the 1930’s, before leaving to go work for Tobler and Nestle in Europe, and eventually opened his own candy factory in England, making Mars bars.
Another little bit of trivia, guess who’s chocolate was inside the M&M’s initially. Hershey’s! Yup, chocolate was rationed during WWII except for Hershey’s. The second M in M&M’s stands for Bruce Murrie, who was the son of the President of Hershey’s. Mars & Murrie’s. Murrie put up some money and materials through Hershey’s, about an 80-20 split favoring Mars (crafty old bugger). Hershey’s supplied chocolate for M&M’s into the 1960’s.
Rumor has it that Batelle developed the technology to coat the chocolate using freezing techniques. I haven’t been able to confirm it, other than rumor on some websites. A friend that works there has said the same thing, but it could be a corporate legend.
There’s alot about Mars (and Hershey too) in The Emporer’s of Chocolate, which I plan to purchase very soon. Lots of corporate espionage and nasty business dealings in the candy world. I guess business is business, whether its cars, IT, or chocolate. Looking at the Amazon page for that book, I see several books I want to buy. I already have The True History of Chocolate by Coe and Coe, but the others look very interesting.
Mars died in 1999 at 94. Before he died he founded another chocolate company in 1993 after his retirement, Ethel M. Chocolates, which was named for his mother. Ethel M. Chocolates was aquired by Mars in 2003. Something funny at the Ethel M. site is their description of the waste water treatment plant.
Two of the M&M products that I picked up included these:
The MEGA M&M’s! In these days of corporate downsizing, its nice to know that something is getting bigger. Jumbo sized M&M’s (note ruler for scale) are just that, bigger. Same M&M taste but larger. Although, I have to say that more chocolate makes less candy coating (the ratio anyway) and it does end up having a slightly different flavor. Still very hard to resist. And I still like biting them with my front teeth and peeling off the shell.
This next one is NOT an M&M’s product!
This is the generic brand purchased at Kroger. Let me say, YUCK! You wouldn’t think it would be that easy to screw it up, but it is. These were absolutely disgusting. “For Maximum Value”? It should say “For Maximum Vomit”. Blech!
Here’s a new one that I hadn’t seen before.
They are crispy M&M’s. Little bits o’ rice inside. They are definately crunchy, and more crunch than chocolate. If you like M&M’s but not so much chocolate, these are a nice alternative. Again, addicting. I think because there’s less chocolate, you can eat more and not feel it so fast. Deadly for those of us trying to cut back.
Those are all I had for M&M’s. I was looking for the dark chocolate ones but they seemed to have vanished from the stores. All I can find now are the Star Wars milk chocolate ones that have the expensive label and different color schemes.
Secret dream of Jon’s: Work in product development at Mars or Hershey. :)
July 29th, 2005 10:28
A fun chocolate Friday! Though, I’m not a big M&M fan myself…unless we’re talking about the mint or peanut butter ones. Then, I’ll definitely indulge :-)
July 29th, 2005 12:45
Thanks for chocolate fridays. Should we have a blue book handy in case of a pop quiz sometime next week?
July 29th, 2005 13:46
I’m SO glad to see another person who cares about the inside to outside ratio on candy. my roommate thinks I’m nuts, but I tell her I just don’t like the king sized snickers, kitkats, etc. because the ratios just aren’t right!
personally, though, I can’t get enough of the peanut butter M & M’s. Great blog, and thanks for the interesting trivia!
July 29th, 2005 14:02
LOL about the generic M&Ms and “maximum vomit” description. Happy Friday.
July 29th, 2005 14:48
M&Ms kept in the fridge are sooo goood. I haven’t had M&Ms in a while…mmmm…
July 29th, 2005 17:50
LOL love this post jon. i love M&M’s, they taste even better when you shove a massive handful in your mouth at once and you spend the next 10 minutes trying to chomp thru them! I do this in private…it’s not very ladylike!
I live for the day that Mega M&M’s reach our shelves - we should be so lucky
July 29th, 2005 20:14
Hi!
I found this site searching for Dagoba Chocolate - I love it and swear it has boosted my running times more than any other brand. Real chocolate, lost of cacao makes the difference. Their site should link to here so we can all experience the difference.
thx
Stephanee
July 30th, 2005 06:17
I must be out of it, but I don’t think I knew there were dark chocolate ones. My favorite is peanut, but I could be swayed.
July 30th, 2005 21:54
Good thing you don’t have that secret job…can you imagine how much running you would have to do after testing all that chocolate…lol. :-)
July 31st, 2005 13:42
Great Post!! Peanut M&M’s are my favorite.
July 31st, 2005 16:20
forget buying books on chocolate - when are you writing one!?
August 1st, 2005 10:22
Oh damn it, man. Great - and how am I supposed to- Guh…just - damn it.
Where’s my @#$%*&! change….
August 1st, 2005 19:31
Jon,
I thought back to this post while running the other day. I was listening to a podcast of Science Friday from NPR in which a bomb expert was telling us that there is more stored energy in a snickers bar than in an equivalent weight of TNT. Its just that the energy in the explosive is released a tad bit more quickly.
Chocolate is my motor.
August 2nd, 2005 12:36
You almost broke my heart when this entry started with, “M&M?s are total junk”. I’m totally addicted to peanut M&M’s. I always have a supply at home and at the office.
I have to bite the top off, eat the peanut and then eat the rest, otherwise it’s just not right. Thanks for the history!
August 3rd, 2005 16:05
Have you tried Smarties? I find them vastly superior but, then again, that could well be my childhood speaking. Same M&M flavor, but made with real decent chocolate!
August 4th, 2005 18:15
But Peanut M&Ms taste so good!
August 7th, 2005 10:49
Hey, I found a small green marble inside the mega bag of peanut m&m’s. Did I win a contest or does this sound like a lawsuit?
August 7th, 2005 21:36
I’m thinking it might be both, Maureen. :)
August 18th, 2005 03:56
I too was looking all over for the Dark M&M’s, only to be told by the company they were only released for a “limited” time. Aargh! But they will be released once more in the Fall of 2005 when the DVD is released, so be on the look out then. I guess I’ll have to buy a box of Ethel M’s Lemon Creams to get over my Dark M&M withdrawal.