Munson’s and the Dark Side of M&M’s
Dianna gave me a box and bar of chocolate while were in New Haven, from Munson’s Chocolate’s. Munson’s is a manufaturer that is local to Connecticut and, in fact, they are CT’s largest retail chocolate manufacturer. Take a look at their virtual factory tour too. There’s some nice shots of their enrobing layout and the packing department reminds me of that Lucy episode.
The box was a their 6 piece assortment box and the bar was their dark chocolate. Thanks, Dianna!!
Unfortunately, once again these chocolates appeared to be defective. As you can see from the wrapper, there was actually no chocolate inside. I discovered about an hour into my drive back to NY. The box suffered a similar fate as well. One might think that I had actually eaten them and enjoyed the smooth yummy dark chocolate, and the delicious little assorted flavored chocolate candies (even the peanut one!). But that would mean I was a total pig about chocolate and we all know that’s not true. No, these must have been defective from the start. :)
The thing that caught my eye about Munson’s when reading the little history sheet that came in the box, was that this is the fairytale story of a small chocolate company. They started a little shop in the ’40’s behind a tailor shop, and then moved to a horse barn (hopefully the horses were gone). Since this was during wartime, they were using sugar rations to make the candy (remember M&M’s were being manufactured by Forrest Mars at this time, using Hershey’s chocolate because chocolate and sugar were rationed). All the work was hand done ofcourse, and in those days, your reputation spread my word of…well…mouth. Munson’s remains a family company today after growing to multiple stores throughout CT.
I finally found some dark chocolate M&M’s in MA at a drug store in Webster. They only had the dark in peanut, but I will take what I can get. Sorry the pictures aren’t so clear, but the package gave off tons of glare.
These were all funky colors too. The “good” side M&M’s were all light pastel colors and stuff like that, but the dark side ones were all dark colors like dark purple, maroon, grey and black. Oooohh! Scary chocolate colors! Heh, heh. It just kinda made me chuckle, and it was clever to change the colors too.
The dark chocolate was very gross tasting. Mars makes bad dark chocolate (as does Hershey’s) so putting it in peanut M&M’s just came out bad. I would not buy these again except for the “circus value” of the packaging. The “good” side M&M’s were the standard flavor so they are all gone now, like you would expect.
Inside the wrapper they had little fun facts, and one of them I thought was interesting. They mention Franklin C. Mars (Forrest’s dad) and said that he started making candy in his home in 1911, which was probably before Forrest came along or very close to it.
And lastly, this is a souvenir bar of chocolate I bought in NY. Nothing really special about it except it was from NY and I miss NY.
Its made by Astor Chocolates of NJ (although they were originally found in NY). They are another family owned chocolate company, but they mostly make chocolate like this for specialty things. They did just aquire Le Belge Chocolatier of Napa, CA, which is a new small chocolate company making truffles.
Ok, that’s it for this week. Hope you all are having a fun week and the running is going well!
September 30th, 2005 13:43
It never ceases to amaze me how much of that wax (er, chocolate) the Big Two US companies manage to sell on a daily basis. Its not like you can’t get decent stuff over here, even relatively cheaply… Do you know what ingredient/proces contributes to that waxy flavor, by the way? Or is it just me?
September 30th, 2005 15:33
wow,, you never cease to amaze me with your never ending chocolate knowledge. Great Chocolate Friday post!!
Heather
September 30th, 2005 16:46
Oooohhhh….a Chocolatey-Friday! Glad you enjoyed the Munson’s; I still haven’t had any of they’re stuff and I’ve been here almost 3 years (!!). Have a good weekend and tons of luck with the long run :-)
September 30th, 2005 18:32
I’ve been waiting for the Munson’s report. It’s just a shame that Dianna evidently ate all the chocolate and then gave you the empty wrappers.
October 1st, 2005 00:33
When I first saw the words ‘Dark M&Ms’ I freaked out! I was really excited.
But then, yes, reality struck. I don’t know why I would’ve assumed they would’ve been good. :( I just adore dark chocolate I suppose. :)
October 1st, 2005 07:02
Yes, Dianna must have eaten the Munson’s, it couldn’t possibly have been anyone that we know;-) I just finished a 2 1/2 hour long run, read your report and discovered we have no chocolate in the house - I’m starting to get the shakes, time to go shopping.
October 1st, 2005 09:02
I guess I am the only human that liked the dark side of M&Ms. Check out my double photo of myself “running” the Boston Marathon, maybe you could run the 2006th with me. Munson’s chocolate is awesome! Thanks for the chocolate briefing. I need some chocolate culture, you know I am a white trash chocolate lover. M&Ms rock!
October 1st, 2005 13:45
So, lots of Sundays after church we head over to the local tourist trap, er, shopping area to eat at a place called Ten Clams. Decent fried seafood, absolutely off-the-hook hot lobster rolls, and nothing over $10 on the menu. There’s a duck pond amongst the shops, etc.
I mention this only because there’s a Munson’s outlet where we get dessert in the form of factory seconds to eat while we watch the ducks.
Tough life, I know.
October 1st, 2005 17:54
I Just saw a commercial (yes on TV…shut up) for really HUGE M&M’s..I’m not an M&M fan myself..I favour the Canadian smarties WAY more.
October 1st, 2005 21:24
Neat–I’ve been reading your blog for a while–seeking running information, and being a chick, I’m naturally drawn to chocolate, much like a moth to a flame… I just moved from the New Haven area to northern VT and reading about Munsons’ made me smile.