M&M New Flavor Voting

The M&M turns 75 this year. Yep, it was three quarters of a century ago that Old Man Mars kind of ripped off the idea for encasing chocolate in a hard candy shell after he saw soldiers eating British Smarties during the Spanish Civil War. (Let’s just call it an “homage” and move on.)

My favorites, the Peanut M&Ms, were added to the line up in 1954 so this 75^th anniversary retro 1960s-style packaging I got today is accurate.

Except for the blue M&Ms inside, that is. Those didn’t come along until 1995 when customer voting replaced the old tan M&M with a new bright blue kind. (Don’t blame me, I voted for purple.)

For year number 75 (and, obviously, for advertising purposes) M&Ms is doing another vote. This time they’re looking for a new nut flavor. For a limited time, you can find all three choices in stores: Chili Nut, Honey Nut and Coffee Nut.  Let's take a quick look at each variety. 

Chili Nut

When it comes to sauces I like a little spice with my sweet so I expected to love these but they just left me cold. Not much extra taste at all – in fact, the nut actually seemed to get in the way of the chocolate – and, on top of that, the chili nut burn was mostly just a slight back-of-the-throat irritation. “Not as good and slightly irritating” probably isn't the advertising slogan they're looking for. Chili Nut does not get my vote.

Coffee Nut

If you like coffee the Coffee Nut kind are pretty good. I don’t like coffee so, no. No thank you.

Honey Nut

These are sweet and earthy and remind me of pancakes with chocolate chips. Oh yeah, Honey Nut M&Ms get my vote for sure. 

All voting is being conducted on Facebook, by-the-way (where I’m pretty sure real voting will take place any year now. ) Click the link if you want to cast your ballot: https://www.facebook.com/mms/app/1016130751780697

And remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

Here’s a bonus, advanced technique. Mix the Honey Nut and the Coffee Nut kinds together for Coffee and Pancakes M&Ms. 

But you have to do it before 11:59 pm on June 17^th. That’s when voting ends and all but the winner will be gone from stores. Well, the winner and the Chili Nut kind. I can’t imagine those disappointing bastards will sell out any time soon.