When I reviewed the upcoming Hershey’s Special Dark Pieces, I didn’t realize how crowded the field of dark chocolate lentils was getting.

Mars has expanded their line of M&Ms Premiums (which is barely a year old) with a new variety: M&Ms Premium Dark Chocolate.

The package calls them deeply decadent, rich and intense dark chocolate. They do look deep and dark, the package is a stirring red and brown affair that really jumped off the shelf at me at Target last week.

Like many mass-marketed dark chocolates these days the semi-sweet chocolate is more than cocoa beans, sugar, emulsifiers and vanilla. Inside these little morsels are three different kinds of dairy: milkfat, skim milk and lactose.

The deep maroon/purple metallic coating looks like food (the blue almond ones don’t actually look like something you’re supposed to eat, they look like fingernail polish).

As a solid chocolate piece, they’re not terribly large like some of the other layered versions, most are about the same size as the Peanut Butter M&Ms.

The scent is a soft cocoa, sweet and woodsy. It’s a mellow chocolate with a decent soft melt, but a not-quite-smooth texture. It’s a little chalky and has a bit of a dry aftertaste. They’re pleasant and certainly attractive but don’t quite hit me with a strong premium taste or texture. (This is the hazard of eating stuff like this after an Amano bar and an Askinosie.)

They don’t taste that different from the Dark Chocolate M&Ms either, they just lack that crunchy shell, so they’re a bit less sweet. (There’s also salt in there.)

They’re a great candy to chose for aesthetics over taste, but I admit that the field of good chocolate in lentil form is pretty narrow. (If you’re really looking for great little morsels, go for the Valrhona, they’re not little tiny pieces but they are awesome.)

Related Candies

1. Limited Edition M&Ms Coconut
2. M&Ms Memorable Moments (Disney)
3. Head to Head: M&Ms vs Koppers Milkies
4. UK Smarties (no artificial colors)
5. Peruvian Candies
6. M&Ms Line

If there’s one thing I think that’s might pull our government out of the red, it might Mars excessive registration of trademarks for their limited edition & marketing tie in candies.

For the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie this summer, Mars has created a line of collectible M&Ms packages that feature different characters from the Transformers pantheon plus M&Ms in Transformers-styled outfits.

The seven packages:

(Yeah, I’m missing some package images, but that’s all that came with the press kit Mars gave me ... how odd.)

What I think is most interesting about this is that the package is the only thing that’s different (besides, of course the Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms). Open up the packet of the M&Ms (mine was Bumblebee 2 of 7) and there’s no fun new design of the M imprint with a twist on the Transformers like they did with Pirates of the Caribbean Pirate Pearls, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and Shrek II (basically Mega M&Ms).  The Star Wars ones, though introducing Dark Chocolate M&Ms, did not have fancy imprints.

What is good news is that the packages are no smaller. With many of the limited editions what you get in addition to “specialness” is less. The Milk Chocolate Chocl-O-Bots packages have the same 1.69 ounces as the standard Milk Chocolate M&Ms.

The only truly transformed product for the movie tie-in is the Snickers Nougabot (tm). Due to physical laws of the conservation of matter, the energy required for the transformations, the bar is smaller than an unTransformerized one. *

From the outside the packages look rather similar. (Click to enlarge to read the ingredients if you wish.)

This isn’t the first time Mars has mucked with the nougat for a movie. Back in 2007 they turned it green for Shrek but left it the same size, because really, how could a Shrek-ified candy be smaller? The traditional bar is 2.07 ounces and the Nougabot is 1.83 ounces.

The difference, otherwise, is really just the addition of Yellow #5. Considering how much some parents hate Yellow #5 (hint: enough to get it banned in Europe), it’s hard to understand why a candy which was formerly artificial coloring free would add it. Further, the Snickers website doesn’t list the Yellow 5 on the page for the Nougabot bar (sorry, can’t link directly to the page because of stupid flash & beware of annoying sounds).

So how does it taste? About the same. The flavor seemed a little “darker” but I don’t know if that was the caramel batch ... sometimes even big factory candies like Snickers can vary from day to day.

The only thing I liked about it is the same thing that I prefer about the Snickers Dark, that there’s one less bite in it. Because honestly I think that 1.83 ounces is the perfect size for a Snickers bar.

* My theory of this kind of violates the whole world of Transformers and many other fantasy, action & sci-fi movies where small things turn into big things without the perceivable addition of extreme amounts of energy. Anyway, in order to turn back and forth without loss of mass, you’d need lots of energy to turn into matter ... conversely to shrink you’d need to have a way to store a huge reservoir of energy (if you wanted to grow again) or release it. I’ve always wondered if Alice became super-dense when she shrank and puffy, aerated & light when she grew.

Related Candies

1. Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Bats (Dark Knight)
2. Snickers Adventure Bar (Indiana Jones)
3. Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road Bar
4. Snickers Nut ‘n Butter Crunch
5. Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter and Banana Cup
6. M&Ms Line
7. Snickers Xtreme

It seemed odd to me that Dove never had any peanut butter items in their line. While most of us probably think that Reese’s has the corner on peanut butter, Mars has been doing a pretty good job with peanut confections with Snickers, Peanut M&Ms and PB Twix.

The new Dove Peanut Butter Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate comes in both in the form of a single-serving bar and the foil wrapped Promises. I found the bar at 7-11 but the Promises were sent to me by Mars.

The bar, like all Dove single serve bars, is rather small. It looks like a series of conjoined Dove Promises. Inside each little domed piece is a bit of peanut butter filling.

The Promises are wrapped in orange foil (the universal color for peanut butter).

The silky & sweet milk chocolate stands up well flavor-wise to the peanut butter filling. The filling is a smooth peanut butter paste that’s both sweet and salty. Both of those qualities overshadow the peanut butter flavors, which exhibit a nice even roasting but a bit of blandness.

The bar seems to have less peanut butter filling, for some reason, than the Promises, so overall I preferred them. (I also like foil wrapped things.)

Because they were introduced at virtually the same time, I had to do a little comparison between the Dove Peanut Butter Promises and the Reese’s Select Cremes.

The Reese’s Cremes are a bit bigger (same footprint but taller). The ingredients are similar (especially use of salt, partially hydrogenated palm oil & TBHQ) ... but surprisingly Dove uses PGPR in their chocolate while the Reese’s Cremes don’t plus use real vanilla instead of artificial flavorings.

The centers are different - the Reese’s Cremes are whipped-smooth but shockingly salty and of course the larger reservoir of filling makes it more of a counterpoint to the chocolate. The Dove Promises are more of an even ratio of chocolate & filling, but a similarly salty center.

I don’t think either quite rise to the level of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures (when fresh) but the Dove Promises are quite elegant and definitely an item to satisfy folks who like both milk chocolate and peanut butter. However, since I had both a bag of the Reese’s Cremes and a dozen of the Dove Peanut Butter Promises sitting around as a test, the Reese’s Cremes disappeared first.

Other reviews (Mars PR folks sent a lot of these around to tastemaking blogs): Heather from Chocolate Bytes, ZOMG Candy, the Candy Addict and The AV Club.

Related Candies

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Bar
2. Dove Desserts Bananas Foster
3. Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Bars
4. Colt’s Bolts
5. Peanut Butter Kisses
6. Dove Chocolate
7. Reese’s Line

Hot on the tails of the Limited Edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms will be the release of Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms in August. (More here)

The cream colored packet holds 1.5 ounces of green, white and brown milk chocolate morsels flavored with coconut.

As with most limited editions, the package is a bit slighter than the regular products. This one clocks in at 1.5 ounces instead of the normal 1.69 in a Milk Chocolate M&Ms pack.

The package is cute and playful, featuring Ms. Green reclining in the sand, leaning against a coconut filled with coconut M&Ms. In the background the Yellow Peanut M&M is falling out of a coconut palm laden with more coconuts.

The contents smell much like most M&Ms, sweet and slightly woodsy but only the slightest whiff of coconut.

The individual lentils are a bit puffier than regular M&Ms, though not as big as the Peanut Butter variety.

Inside they’re just milk chocolate but with an added touch of coconut flavoring (but no actual coconut to be found in the ingredients).

The chocolate is fudgy, the flavor is a little salty and tropical but with a strange yogurty tang (kind of like Hershey’s) ... the crunch of the shell is crisp.

On the whole, it’s a nice change-up, very appealing. It’s not something that I think deserves to be made part of the regular repertoire. But see the review on Hershey’s Almond Joy Pieces.

Related Candies

1. Hershey’s Almond Joy Pieces
2. M&Ms Premiums
3. M&Ms Razzberry - Limited Edition
4. Cherry Almondine M&Ms
5. Kisses Coconut Creme
6. Russell Stover Coconut Wreath
7. M&Ms Line

Mars has recently become one of the kings of limited editions. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not innovating new candies, too. On Tuesday at All Candy Expo they held a press conference and announced their slate of new products and releases.

Name: M&Ms Premiums Chocolate Candies
Brand: Mars
Description: Who says good chocolate has to be serious? Mars Snackfood US is redefining the premium chocolate category again by introducing its popular M&M’S(r) Premiums Chocolate Candies in a new stylish petite reclosable carton that lets consumers savor and save as little or as many as they want. Now consumers can share a premium chocolate experience with friends, while showing off their sense of style and fun on-the-go! They promise to satisfy consumers’ chocolate cravings with two delectable flavors—Triple Chocolate and Dark Chocolate. Delicious gems of carefully slow blended chocolate in a shimmering soft shell will melt in your mouth. Find M&M’S(r) Premiums Chocolate Candies with other premium chocolates.

Notes: I mentioned these yesterday and already have a sample in hand of the Triple Chocolate variety. However, I’ve not tried nor seen the Dark Chocolate version before. I’m wondering if they’ll be like Dark Chocolate M&Ms or more like Dove dark chocolate. The retail price will be $1.29 for a 1.2 ounce box. The press release says they’ll be on shelves this spring. Anyone spotted them in the wild?

Name: Snickers Transformers
Brand: Mars
Description: Based on the “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hero Bumblebee, SNICKERS introduces the limited-edition SNICKERS Nougabot Bar. This distinctive bar combines dark colored caramel and bright yellow nougat for the same great flavor of original SNICKERS but with the look reminiscent of Bumblebee

Notes: This is pretty much the same as the Shrek Snickers which had a green nougat. I didn’t care for how I though the food coloring changed the flavor of the bar. On another note, Nougatbot is a trademarked name for Mars.

Name: Limited Edition Snickers Fudge
Brand: Mars
Description: The new SNICKERS(r) Brand Fudge Bar (Limited Edition) boasts a peanut-packed chocolate fudge layer atop chewy peanut butter nougat wrapped in delicious milk chocolate. The result is an irresistible taste that will have consumers running to the candy aisle.

Retail customers who join the fudge craze will be a part of a $215 million growing fudge market (according to 2007 Mars Sensory RGT Research). Consumers are sure to love the combination of their favorite SNICKERS(r) brand and the nostalgic taste of rich fudge.

Notes: They should be hitting the shelves in August. I have a sample (though it’s kind of smashed) and will post a review closer to the release date.

Name: Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms
Brand: Mars
Description: Catch the M&M’S(r) wave during Summer 2009! New M&M’S(r) Coconut Chocolate Candies will bring an island feel to retail displays and excite consumers to try this fun limited edition flavor from their favorite M&M’S(r) brand.

Notes: On the list of M&Ms flavor variations they should come out with, this wasn’t even on my radar. Not that I’m not happy to hear it. I have a sample and will post about them soon. Early thoughts are that they’re not bad, but I think they might have been better in dark chocolate. They should be hitting the shelves in August.

Other new products announced I’ve covered previously. They include: Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate with Peanut Butter, Fling Chocolate Fingers, M&Ms Strawberried Peanut Butter Chocolate Candies, M&Ms Disney Memorable Moments.

Then there’s the Real Chocolate Relief Act ... I haven’t blogged about it and I probably won’t do anything beyond this mention of it. Basically, you can go to their website on Fridays until 9/25/09. They’re giving away a quarter of a million coupons for a free candy bar each week. It seems like a lot of work for 75 cents that you don’t get it for 6 weeks. I can’t decide what they can or will do with your info besides get an awesome cross section of the American population and who will fill out a form for less than a dollar. If that’s not a demonstration of America’s capability to delay gratification, I don’t know what is. (Kind of makes you think we’re gonna be okay.)

Related Candies

1. Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2009 - Hershey
2. Candy Tease: All Candy Expo 2009 # 1
3. Candy Tease: February 2009
4. Candy Tease: Autumn 2008

For the past few years M&Ms has linked up with blockbuster movies to make Limited Edition M&Ms. Shrek (Mega M&Ms), Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (Mint Crisp M&Ms), Pirates of the Caribbean (White Chocolate M&Ms) and Star Wars (Dark Chocolate M&Ms). This summer is no different with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

To tie into the movie about aliens that are two kinds of robots in one (more than meets the eye) Mars is introducing Limited Edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Not only are the candies inside of the “you’ve never tasted this before” variety, they’ve also made seven different versions of the wrapper. Pictured above is The Twins - Pack 7 of 7.

What is a strawberried peanut butter M&M?

They’re pretty much the same as the regular Peanut Butter M&Ms: a peanut butter center covered in milk chocolate and a hard candy shell ... except here the milk chocolate is strawberry flavored.

I admit at first I squintched up my nose at the idea. Then I thought about PB&J (which is ideal with concord grape and white bread on one side, but also fabulous with sunflower wheat bread and raspberry jam) and it kind of made sense.

The colors are red, brown and yellow.

There were no clever motifs on the printing, just the regular M imprint. Except the yellow ones had some red splatter on them (I’m guessing that’s red transformer motor oil).

The strawberry flavor is just that, a flavoring applied on top of the inherent flavors in the peanut butter and the chocolate. The chocolate flavor is pretty much overwhelmed by the floral and sweet berry essences. The peanut butter grounds it pretty well, it’s mostly smooth, rather soft and has a good salty pop towards the end.

They’re not my favorite M&Ms ever, but I had no problem eating the whole bag. They feel about as relevant to the movie as last year’s mint crisp was to Indiana Jones.

I’ll leave you with a photo of the Bumblebee Transformer. Because I had it (hey, I work in Hollywood, I see a lotta stuff):

Related Candies

1. Mint Chocolate M&Ms
2. M&Ms Razzberry - Limited Edition
3. Head to Head: M&Ms vs Koppers Milkies
4. 3 Musketeers Mini Mix
5. M&M and Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Eggs
6. Sandy Candy

Seems like sticking goo inside classic candy categories is the confectionery trend for the late aughts.

Mars introduced the Starburst Gummibursts in early 2008, which were pretty much just a Starburst branded version of Fruit Gushers (which isn’t called a candy because it’s not sold in the candy aisle, it’s a “fruit snack” but has virtually identical ingredients).

Starburst has now expanded the new product line to include Starburst Sour Gummibursts.

The original tart but not sour came in strawberry, lemon, orange and cherry. This new assortment comes in Strawberry, Watermelon, Green Apple and Orange Tangerine.

The little disc shaped candies are similar to the original. They’re three quarters of an inch across, soft and have a raised S on the top.

Unlike the originals these are covered in a granulated sour powder. They also seem a bit softer.  Unlike packs of Starburst chews which have a regular proportion of each flavor, Gummiburst are random. And by random I mean that the luck of the universe means that whatever flavor is your favorite will be shorted in your packages. I’ve opened four packages and only one had Orange Tangerine in them. The one for this review broke down like this: 4 Strawberry, 5 Green Apple and 1 Watermelon. 

Pink = Watermelon: I don’t like eating unripe melon and usually shy away from the stuff that’s really close to the rind. So sour watermelon isn’t exactly one of my top sour flavors. This had a wonderful sweet aroma, like summer picnics & lip balm. The chew on it was nice but it was absolutely sour which overpowered most of the watermelon-ness at that point. (Though this depended on how much goo was in the centers - the center goo is flavored but all sweetness.)

Red = Strawberry : this also had a nice floral scent, so I had no trouble telling it from the rather similar looking watermelon. The flavor is stronger than the watermelon but still just as tangy. Very sweet center.

Green = Green Apple: this is definitely a winner on the sour apple front. The flavor is artificial but with a nice dash of real apple juice notes. The juicy center provides a bit of relief from the tartness.

Orange = Orange Tangerine: I didn’t get to eat many of these, but they smelled divine, had a great mix of tartness, super-sour and zest. Juicy & lip smacking good. The center was especially deep in its variety of flavor notes.

Some liquid filled candy can go wrong inside the package. There are plenty that I’ve had recently that have at least one leaky or exploded candy, which gets the rest of them moist & sticky. These all seemed in great condition.

Unlike the regular Starburst Chews, these have no additional Vitamin C. They are pretty low in calories though (as are all gummi products). The little 1.5 ounce package only has 130 calories. Since they’re packed with so much flavor and the pieces are pretty meaty, they might be a good candy option for someone watching calories. (They’re also gluten free but not vegetarian because of the presence of gelatin.)

Related Candies

1. Starburst Sour & Sweet
2. Trader Joe’s Gummy Tummies
3. Lemonhead Fruit Snacks
4. Tootsie Pop Drops
5. Starburst

For something as simple as a candy coated chocolate lentil, there sure is a wide variety of M&Ms products.

(IT’S SUGAR M&M wall at Universal City Walk)

This isn’t so much a review as a rundown of the products.

For the most part we buy M&Ms in single serve packages that hold an ounce or two of five different colors. Currently they come in Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Peanut, Dark Chocolate with Peanuts, Peanut Butter and Almond. (Then there are various limited editions like the upcoming Transformers: Strawberried Peanut Butter, last year’s Crispy Mint for Indiana Jones, Wild Cherry or Razzberry and the seasonal varieties like Milk Chocolate Mint and holiday color versions.)

Then M&Ms introduced Colorworks: the ability to buy individually colored or themed color mixes (circa 1996). Later they added in customized printing (2004). After that they allowed customers to not only add logos but now you can get your own picture on M&Ms.

Most recently M&Ms introduced their themed MyMMs.com tie-ins with Disney. These are called M&Ms Memorable Moments. (I got this bag as a sample from Mars’ PR folks.)

The theme on this assortment is Fairies. There are four colors & five imprints: Tinkerbell, Jasmine, Belle, “Believe in Magic!” and the M.

The candy itself isn’t very different (except for those of us who can taste artificial colors). I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more images ... and the choice of the gals.

The colors are dark pink, green, yellow and teal. The printing was a little sloppy. The photo is of the best in the package, some were mottled with little splotches, that are all too familiar to me as a lefty. (The classic M&Ms are all imprinted in a creamy grey, not black.)

The other Disney assortments are:

The Disney themed are $12.99 for a 7 ounce bag and you have to buy at least 3. That’s over $29 per pound ... before you add the shipping. That’s some seriously pricey stuff - maybe dilute them with the plain colored ones ($6.99 for 7 ounces) to make the themed ones a little more precious.

Over the past few years I’ve been to a few parties & celebrations and have picked up some other customized M&Ms. Some were just text and some had logos on them.

Ordering from M&Ms there are a few options for pre-packaged favors. They can put them in little tins, clear boxes or tiny bags or you can just buy in large bags and put them in a buffet or bundle them up yourself.

Beyond the color mixes & pre-made icons, customized M&Ms are big. They’re a popular wedding and celebration item and of course the crazy internet kids like to go to mymms.com to probe the content filter of what they can put on their candies that won’t be censored.

Personally, I prefer a personalized container over the actual edible. After all, you want me to eat it.

On the whole, the Memorable Moments are passably unique and cute, but I think they’re really only for diehard fans of those characters. They’re extremely expensive for the actual product ... somehow I think just a properly themed box or other container would be a better deal.

If you have money to freely convert into perishable candy coated chocolate, well, this is pretty inventive.

Related Candies

1. Mint Chocolate M&Ms
2. M&Ms Premiums
3. Head to Head: M&Ms vs Koppers Milkies
4. Disney Branded Chocolate Candies
5. Disneyland Candy Novelties
6. Disneyland Candy Palace - Candy Case Chocolates
7. M&Ms Line