M&Ms: The Discussion

[Toliver]

Mars/M&M's have announced three new temporary M&M flavors (sort of like the Lay's Potato Chip new flavor campaign).

The public gets to vote which one they like best and the winning flavor will go into full production.

"Chili M&M's? CNET taste-tests three...new flavors"

Quote

Candy maker Mars first announced the new Coffee Nut, Honey Nut and Chili Nut flavors last fall, but they hit stores only this month.

Has anyone spotted the new flavors? If so, take some for the team and report back with your impressions!

[BeeZee]

someone brought these in to the office. I am still recovering from flu/crap and my sense of taste is sort of off so the nuances are lost on me. But I found the honey nut and coffee nut flavors to be pleasant. The chili nut gives a little burn after you chew it up (chili extract is the last ingredient). Most people in the office considered this the "gimmick" flavor. If I had to pick one flavor to keep, it would be the coffee one. Tastes like a sweet mocha latte.

[blue_dolphin]

Apparently the Coffee Nut flavor bested Honey Nut and Chili Nut and has been declared the winner.  

This morning's breakfast of champions:

Edited to add:  This is not a breakfast I plan to repeat but they did go well with a cup of hot black coffee.

Edited September 22, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[NWKate]

Darn it!  My two favorite things- coffee & chocolate.  There is no hope...

[scubadoo97]

Looks like some sampling is in order.   

[NWKate]

Just to clarify- when I was in grad school during the '80s, I was absolutely addicted to M & Ms.  When papers were due, I would brew a carafe of French Roast and throw a handful of M & M's in my mouth.  I would drink the coffee and thoroughly enjoyed the drip of chocolate down my throat.  I'm not sure it improved my papers but it sure elevated my mood!

[blue_dolphin]

A couple more M&M flavors.   Crispy S'mores M&Ms:

I have never had regular crispy M&Ms so I don't know how these differ but I didn't detect any burnt sugar or graham cracker flavors.  To me, the center of these is like a malted milk ball without any "malt" flavor.

 

White Boo-terscotch M&M's

I had hoped these would taste like butterscotch morsels.  I should have been tipped off by the word "white" being placed first in the name - they mostly taste of white confectionary product, with just a little butterscotch. 

I tasted both of these flavors but have no desire to eat more, unlike the coffee version which was rather nice.  They'll be OK to add seasonal color to cookies or something like that.

[MelissaH]

Are both the boo-terscotch and s'mores varieties unbearably sweet, or is there more to them?

[blue_dolphin]

6 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

Are both the boo-terscotch and s'mores varieties unbearably sweet, or is there more to them?

 

The boo-terscotch is very sweet, as is the case with many white confectionary items.  In my opinion, there's not enough butterscotch flavor to make them worthwhile.  For baking, I'd say they're an OK substitute for white confectionary morsels but not for butterscotch morsels.

The s'mores are a bit less sweet, because of the crispy, cracker-y center so they do add texture, even if they lack a distinctive s'mores flavor.  

I'll probably use either or both in a dark chocolate cookie or brownie that's not too sweet.  

[NWKate]

I have never really liked white chocolate so these would be a hard sell for me.  I'm more of a dark chocolate afficianato.

 

[MelissaH]

I'm with you, @NWKate. Cheap white chocolate is a no-go for me, unless it's white chocolate chips in a really dark, not-very-sweet chocolate cookie. I think I'll leave both of these on the shelf.

[Katie Meadow]

I can think of only one improvement on the original m & m, and that's the dark chocolate m & m. It comes in a purple package and you can't buy it on the west coast as far as I can tell. It isn't as if their dark chocolate is anything to write home about, in fact you can barely distinguish them from the original milk chocolate m & m's since the quality of both is so lousy, but I have to say that every time I am in NY I buy them and eat lots. It's all about color and textures. The blue ones make me insanely happy. 

 

As for white chocolate, what the hell is it, anyway? The only thing worse than cheap white chocolate is expensive white chocolate. When I receive white chocolate as a gift it goes right into the trash. If I was marooned on a desert island and the only chocolate available was white chocolate I would slit my wrists. Sorry to all who like white chocolate, you don't deserve this dopey rant, but truly the only pleasure I can glean from the stuff is bad-mouthing it.

[Lisa Shock]

The almond ones have always been my favorites, ever since they started out as holiday limited edition candy. I just wish they'd do other nuts, like hazelnut. The PB ones are ok, maybe they should try Nutella candies.

[rotuts]

TJ's has excellent semi-sweet  ' Chips '  both traditional shaped and ' rough cut '

 

they also have white CC 's :  its just sugars , imitation vanilla flavor and maybe imitation choc. flavor it any  tastes terrible.   

 

real white chocolate is fairly expensive and hard to get.  wonder by M&M even bothers to pretend.  as with other Industrial candy makers.

[lindag]

My preference these days is for the pretzel M&Ms. 

Of course, the more exotic flavors rarely  make their way to these parts.

In fact it took a very long time before we even got the pretzel ones.

Edited October 6, 2016 by lindag (log)

[MelissaH]

My favorites are still the peanut, with the regular milk chocolate not far behind. Almond isn't bad, but they're too big. I don't care for the crispy or the pretzel: not enough substance. Anything else falls under the "why bother" category. YMMV, of course!

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

My favorites are still the peanut, with the regular milk chocolate not far behind. Almond isn't bad, but they're too big. I don't care for the crispy or the pretzel: not enough substance. Anything else falls under the "why bother" category. YMMV, of course!

 

I concur.  I think the peanut version wins with me because of the sweet-salt combination, plus I can tell myself they have some protein !  I like the almond, too, but agree they are too big. 

[lindag]

I got off the peanut version (which had always been my favorite) because it seemed that frequently the peanut was bad and there's nothing worse that a peanut that doesn't taste right.

[Shel_B]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 7:37 PM, Katie Meadow said:

I can think of only one improvement on the original m & m, and that's the dark chocolate m & m. It comes in a purple package and you can't buy it on the west coast as far as I can tell.

 

I've purchased them a few times and have seen them a few times, but not recently, although I've not been looking for M&Ms in quite a while.

[Katie Meadow]

Yes, they were available for a little while when the co. tried to market them here, but it has been several years since then. I assume it was not a big seller, or they would have continued to distribute them on the west coast, or at least in the bay area.

 

Almost all of these newer m & m flavors seem awful, but that of course is without going anywhere near them, let alone having eaten any of them. S'mores? How do you get that hot roasted marshmallow in there? I'm starting to sound like my mother, who used to rail against Tootsie Rolls; apparently they went way downhill after the sixties and never lived up to her expectations after that.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The current NY Times magazine has an article on m&m's in particular, as well as the entire Mars product line for humans, making the transition from coal tar based dyes to colors of natural origin.

 

Apparently this is a significant undertaking.  The article also discusses how color affects taste.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

This is a very interesting, well-written and informative article in the NY Times about the Mars Company's "Quest to Ma ke a True Blue M ".

 

I especially identified with this part:

 

"Instead of continually reconstructing images of everything we see, our brains take shortcuts by creating color memories as filters. A ripe banana is assigned a particular yellow based on previous experience with bananas. Researchers call this the “memory color effect,” and not all cultures see and know colors in the same way. A global food conglomerate like Mars, which sells products in 150 countries, wants its goods to be uniformly recognizable anywhere in the world. Aided by marketing and chemistry, brands fight against the different experiences of individual retinas. Companies want their colors to become, in essence, memory colors for the entire species."

 

No wonder I get frustrated all out of proportion when companies change the familiar colors of their packaging, forcing me to waste extra time to locate them.

 

The above link works for me with out a subscription, but you can get behind the paywall by Googling:

 

natural dyes M&M Mars site:nytimes.com

 

if you have trouble.

 

 

[lindag]

And, that memory is more than just for color, case in point:

Recently I needed some French fried onions (the ones in the can) for a recipe.  I knew I had purchased some a couple months previous.  I searched and searched through my cabinets thoroughly, making several attempts.  I was so frustrated.  When I finally did find I realized that I'd been looking for the container that was in my memory.  But the product I had purchased was a house brand and not the French's that I was seeing in my mind.  Totally different in appearance.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Truly a wonderfully written article in the Times; hilarious and chilling, so thanks for the heads up. Today's NYT magazine special food issue includes that piece and several others. I haven't had the nerve to read them all yet.

 

Change is hard, we all know. Too bad the candy industry ruined us when it comes for color / taste memory. I would like to taste a bit of swamp in my green m & m's. We just need to reprogram ourselves and start to enjoy the flavors induced by m & m's with names like blue algae, winter white, sheep dip, alligator, red tide and fog (not mauve for god's sake!) Bring it on, but don't let's forget there's nothing that's actually good for you in a bag of candy.

[suzilightning]

On another site I frequent someone mentioned coffee M&M's which sound intriguing.  Haven't seen them which is a pain since I live less than 30 minutes from a main plant and used to work in that town.

 

On a side note for cocktail parties:  when airplanes are coming into NY or NJ airports from the interior  they receive their final approach instructions when over Hackettstown, NJ with the code name SWEET because that is where the M&M Mars plat is.

Edited October 11, 2016 by suzilightning (log)