Visions of Sugar Plums

Left over thoughts of holiday sweets led me to wonder about some familiar candies.

The 3 Musketeers bar was originally split into three pieces with three different flavors – vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. When vanilla and strawberry flavoring became hard to come by during WWII, Mars decided to go all chocolate.

When M&Ms were first introduced in 1941 they were red, brown, yellow, green and violet. The first M&Ms came in a cardboard tube and were given to soldiers in their rations, because the chocolate was a good energy source, and the candy-coated shell kept the chocolate from melting in their hands.

Milky Way was the first commercially distributed filled candy bar in 1923. It came in chocolate and vanilla flavors. The vanilla version came covered in dark chocolate. They were sold separately for several years, then sold as a two-piece candy bar just like 3 Musketeers was sold as a three-piece candy bar. Mars continued to sell the vanilla and dark chocolate version under a new name – the Forever Yours bar. It was rebranded again as the Milky Way Dark, and these days you’ll find it on shelves under the name “Milky Way Midnight.” The name of the bar was inspired by the flavor of a milkshake.

Starbursts were originally named Opal fruits and came in four flavors: orange, lemon, lime, and strawberry. When the name switched to Starburst in 1967, lemon and lime were combined into one flavor so blackcurrant chews could be added to the mix.

When Jelly Bellys were first launched, there were eight flavors; Very Cherry, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Grape Jelly, Licorice, A&W Root Beer, and A&W Cream Soda. Now Jelly Bellies have 50 official flavors, nine rookie flavors, five Cold Stone Creamery-inspired flavors, and lines that include soda flavors, sour beans, sport beans, Harry Potter’s Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, and smoothie blends.

Life Savers first came in Pep-O-Mint when they were introduced in 1913 Later they added Wint-O-Green, Cl-O-ve, Lic-O-Riche, Cinn-O-Mon, Vi-O-let and Choc-O-Late. The familiar fruit flavors of today were developed in 1925: grape, orange, lemon, and lime.

PEZ gets its name from the first flavor it ever came in – Pfefferminz, German for peppermint. They came in little cigarette lighter-like cases to conveniently dispense mints to smokers. In the 1950s PEZ decided to expand their market to children and used the fun dispensers to do so. Santa, a robot, and a Space Gun were the first dispensers for children.

Tootsie Pops started with Chocolate, Cherry, Orange, Grape and Raspberry. There is a sixth flavor that alternates between Lemon Lime, Blue Raspberry, and Banana.

The first Mentos flavor was a peppermint flavored caramel candy when it was introduced in 1932. Cinnamon Mentos in the US and fruit-flavored Mentos in Europe came 40 years later. Mentos around the world now come in raisin, lemon yogurt, cola, grape ‘n’ cream, black licorice, red orange and others.

What's in a Name, M&Ms

Forrest Mars, Sr., the founder of the Mars Company, got the idea for the confection in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell of tempered chocolate surrounding the inside, preventing the candies from melting.

Mars received a patent for his own process on March 3, 1941. One M was for Forrest E. Mars Sr., and one for Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey's Chocolate president William F. R. Murrie. Murrie had 20 percent interest in the product. The arrangement allowed the candies to be made with Hershey chocolate which had control of the rationed chocolate. During the war, the candies were exclusively sold to the military. Mars bought out Murrie after the war, but kept the name. Murrie was also the guy who came up with the Mr. Goodbar (chocolate with peanuts) idea.

You can special order M&Ms with a saying or name on them from its web site. I did this for a birthday present. It is a bit pricey, but much fun, especially for children to see their own name on the little goodies.