Peanut Butter and Coconut M&M's

Peanut Butter M &M's.

So we talked about the history of M&M's in a previous post while discovering the joys of pretzel filled M&M's which I still pine for by the way, in case anybody reading this has access to them and feels compassionate.

Coconut M&M's

Mars is very fond of messing with their product, sometimes it rings with the pleasant sound of success.  Other times is rumbles with the unhappy sound of failure.  Two products which regrettably fall into the latter category are the Peanut Butter M&M's and Coconut M&M's, the PB ones are a regular line feature in the USA but can be purchased in Australia at specialty candy retailers.  The Coconut ones are a limited edition that first appeared in 2009, from what I gather they had a bit of a break and came back for the northern 2010 summer.

Note the irregular shapes.

But anyway, in all honesty the PB version should have worked.  I like peanut butter, in moderation and in the correct places.  Like a satay sauce.  Or on crackers.  But what I dislike is peanut butter as an overpowering flavour and pastiness in consistency.  In fact while we're on the subject what is with the American peanut butter obsession?  Can someone enlighten me?  These M&M's had both an overwhelming peanut butter taste and a pasty middle that stuck to teeth and mouth in a most unpleasant fashion.

A gooey peanuty centre.

The candies themselves had the usual hard shell and milk chocolate interior, but beneath the chocolate was a oval of peanut butteryness that was very bland.  The end result was the pasty texture and a peanut flavour but none of the enjoyable saltiness that peanut butter normally has.  I think I ate two and gave them to my brother's girlfriend, she downed the packet in one go (bear in mind it was a little single serve packet).

For some reason I got no flowers or anything in this shot.

I got the coconut variety not long after the pretzel ones, I was initially disappointed that it was such a small bag.  Man, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise!  These are the same size as a regular milk chocolate M&M, maybe a little puffier, and feature the M on some candies and little summery images on others, like palm trees and flowers.  Unlike the PB ones which contain actual peanut butter, these contain no coconut at all except for artifical

Insidey bits - it shattered when I cut it.

flavouring.  I was hoping for some coconut embedded in the chocolate much like a coconut rough but with a crunchy sugar shell.  The only thing I got was the sugar shell.  They're pleasant, I ate more than the PB ones but after a few my throat was burning from the flavouring and I felt slightly sick.  I wouldn't buy these again.

The Final Verdict: 2 - Both were more upleasant than enjoyable, the Peanut Butter needed salt, the Coconut needed ACTUAL coconut.  Don't buy either, especially if you can't stand imitation coconut flavouring.

Pretzel M & M's

I always like products that faced with their success decide to become mad with power and start pumping out different variations in order to maximise both their dominance and their profit.  Most of the time it doesn't work, I direct the jury to view exhibit A 'New Coke' of the 1980's.  It's nice to see when a company brings out new flavours and variations I'm interested to try.

M & M's are produced by Mars, you know the people with the planet named after their bar?  Anyway back in the 1940's Forrest Mars Sr was trying to figure out how to stop soldier's chocolate from melting, seemed that a colourful and tasty candy shell was the order of the day, so he teamed up with fellow chocolate entrepreneur William F. R. Murrie, President at the time of Hershey's Chocolates.  Figured out why they're called M & M's yet?

Anyway, fast forward 60 odd years and the original candy is still a hit.  But now with fun new flavours!  Regionally speaking there are over a dozen flavours available dependent on where you live.  Australia has things like mint, orange and crispy.  America has options like wild cherry, coconut and the topic of today's post, pretzel.

I got these in another swap, a private swap this time so the person knew to specifically get me things.  I got a very big bag (even though the bag says 'medium') of pretzel M & M's and even after travelling for two weeks in the post they were in perfect condition (Forrest can rest assured his plan worked).

Upon opening the bag they have a very distinct scent, different to the Aussie M & M's, much more cocoa sort of smell.  Pleasant though.  Pretzel M & M's are also HUGE.  About the size of a malteaser, but heavier.  They're incredibly easy to eat, the shell is slightly thicker than I'm used to but whether that's an American thing or specific to the pretzel variety I don't know.  There's a good layer of chocolate underneath, could be thicker but I'm not complaining.  Then comes the best bit, a solid ball of very crisp salty pretzel.

Now in my experience either you love salty/sweet candy or you don't.  I was introduced to the concept late in life, but it turns out I LOVE IT.  These pretzels are so morish, I had to put the packet away!  They also got the thumbs up from family members, M, E and B, which is encouraging as none of them have nearly the adventurous candy palate that I possess.

The Final Verdict: 4 - Tasty!  Mr Mars should be pleased with his legacy, I would love to receive these again.  Sadly I doubt they'll become available in Australia as the sweet/salty thing never really took off here.  Hence why I have to put my own chocolate into my popcorn at the movies.