M&M Candy: The history of popular candy

Almost everyone knows them: The little colored chocolate balls with the M. They have been around for about 70 years. They are produced by the American company Mars Inc. And in Germany, three different varieties of this popular chocolate treat are available. This article is about the history of small chocolate lentils and chocolate balls.

At first they weren't that colorful

When the m&m's were first sold in 1941 in the United States, they were not as colorful as we know it today. At that time the chocolate lentils were still covered with a brown glaze. Until 1948, the packaging also looked different than it does today. It had a tube shape, which was replaced this year by the still known bag shape. In 1960 it became colorful. From then on there were yellow, green and red m&m besides the brown ones. In 1976 orange m&m were added. At the same time, the red ones were taken out of the product range due to a dye, even though the manufacturer did not use this dye in his product at all. Due to the high demand, red m&m were produced again in 1987. The chocolate lentils are especially well known for the fact that they do not melt so quickly, which also led to the well-known advertising slogan. In Germany they are distributed by Masterfoods.

The name and its meaning

The name m&m is the abbreviation for Mars and Murrie's, the name of the inventor Forrest Mars and his business partner Bruce Murrie. Typical for m&m is the m on the products, which was painted by hand in the first years. In Germany, mainly three different varieties are sold: Choco in the brown package, peanut with peanuts in the yellow package and crispy with crispy rice in the blue bag. In the USA and France there are some other varieties available besides these three. A few years ago, Masterfoods produced a similar article in two different varieties. Back then they were called Treets and Bonitos. The Treets were provided with peanuts, similar to the m&m's in the yellow package. The bonitos were comparable to the m&m in the brown pack. Both varieties were later replaced by the m&m. The bonitos had a printed smilie.