Friday, February 21, 2014

Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms

Milk Chocolate Mega M&MsLate last year Mars announced some new products coming including Mega M&Ms.

At first I thought these were just the return of the Mega M&Ms circa 2005, but instead Mars has instead imported the specs for their Galaxy Minstrels and Americanized them with bright colors.

They’re sold in familiar packaging, the large laydown bags and the individual serving size. I lucked into a sale at CVS and got two bags for $5, which I think is a fair price for fair quality chocolate.

Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms

I scrounged up all the M&Ms I had, and you can see them here from small to large, from left to right: Milk Chocolate Mini, Milk Chocolate Classic, Birthday Cake, and Milk Chocolate Mega. The individual Megas are about .75 inches across. (About the same diameter as an American nickel.) What I also noticed is that they’re extremely similar to the Mars Galaxy Minstrels. I’ve been trying to find a package of those but have had no luck. However, I’ll be in London next month and will try to pick up a package for later comparison.

The original Mega M&Ms were fat, more rounded. They’re basically the same as the current special flavor M&Ms, such as the Birthday Cake or Coconut. I’m a little unclear why they even used the same name, when it’s been only about 8 years since they were last on the shelves.

Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms

The Mega M&Ms boast three times the chocolate of a regular M&M. The Mega M&Ms weigh about 2.73 grams each while a regular M&M is about .85 grams. The color assortment is identical to the 21st century Milk Chocolate M&Ms: red, green, yellow, brown, orange and blue. 

Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms

The flatness makes them easy to pick up and bite. The shell has a very satisfying crunch and there’s a large density of chocolate at the center that’s easy to distinguish. The chocolate itself isn’t extraordinary. It’s sweet and milky, though not entirely smooth in its melt. I found it a bit chalky overall, a bit on the sweet side. That said, they were wonderfully munchable and I did find myself reaching for them while they sat on my desk. I’d like to say that M&Ms would be better with better chocolate, but they tried that with Premium M&Ms and it didn’t spark with the public. Candy companies make the candy we buy. I can wish all I want, but I’m probably not M&Ms ultimate target market.

Mars Galaxy MinstrelsUPDATE: One of the first things I picked up when I went to London earlier this month was a package of Mars Galaxy Minstrels.

Since they’re also made by Mars, it was a natural item to compare to the new Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms.

Unlike M&Ms, Minstrels come in only one color, dark brown.

Galaxy Minstrels & Mega M&Ms

It’s pretty easy to see why I was interested in comparing them, they’re extremely similar in size and shape.

What I did notice, though, is that the brown is much darker and more consistent. The M&Ms version is a little less deep.

Galaxy Minstrels & Mega M&Ms

In essence, the Brown Mega M&Ms and Galaxy Minstrels look the same, but the similarities end with the shell. The chocolate inside of the Minstrels is smooth, creamy, slightly malty and quite good. There’s a definite European flavor to it, a sort of dairy note that American chocolate rarely has. The M&Ms have a grainy, fudgy quality that is still absolutely tasty, but has more of a candy quality than a chocolate one.

Of the two, I was much more interested in eating the Galaxy Minstrels, and ended up eating my small bag before finishing the handful of Mega M&Ms I saved for this purpose.

Related Candies

  1. Candy Tease: Mars 2014
  2. Milk Chocolate M&Ms Chocolate Bar
  3. Snickers Slice n’ Share (1 Pound)
  4. Crispy M&Ms
  5. Hershey-ets
  6. M&Ms Premiums
  7. Head to Head: M&Ms vs Koppers Milkies
  8. M&Ms Line
  9. Mega Smarties


Name: Milk Chocolate Mega M&Ms
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: CVS (Park LaBrea)
Price: $2.50 (on sale)
Size: 11.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 138
Categories: Candy, Mars, Chocolate, Kosher, M&Ms, 7-Worth It, United States, Sav-On/CVS

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:27 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewMarsChocolateKosherM&Ms7-Worth ItUnited StatesSav-On/CVS

Comments
  1. Hi, I know this is unrelated to your post, but I found your blog by googling for the Choclair bar. There was one comment on an old post of yours mentioning it.

    Basically, throughout the years, I grew nostalgic of Choclair which is the best candy I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.

    I wanted to know if it still existed somewhere. Apparently it doesn’t.

    Choclair was apparently short-lived… It appeared in the early/mid 90’s and just a few years later it totally vanished. I think it didn’t last longer than 5 years.

    I just couldn’t conceive that this chocolate bar disappeared. It was so good. Definitely deserving a 10 rating on your scale.

    Part of it basically melted in your mouth. It was an explosion of flavours. It had three layers ( I believe ) of thin waffers inside which made it pretty light. If I could try to define the taste by comparing it to popular brands, I would say it’s like Kit Kat, but not as hard inside and out. The chocolate on the exterior was similar to the Mars bar in taste, but it was more mellowy. The chocolate filling between the waffer layers was orgasmic. Overall, it was a very soft bar, both in your hands and in your mouth.

    Having a bite of Choclair was the best thing ever.

    I talked about it with a friend who also remembered it.

    It apparently was only available in Canada and was made by Neilson. I’m pretty sure that in the province of Quebec, it was ‘Choclair’ whilst in the remaining, english provinces, it was ‘Choclairs’ with a S. I might be wrong though. I remember they aired ads on TV to promote it.

    It’s not related to Cadbury’s Choclairs, by the way. I know, however, that Neilson sold their chocolate products to Cadbury which probably explains why they use the name Choclairs. But the taste is nothing near the real thing. Only the name is the same.

    I was pretty hyped when I found those but after eating one, I felt extremely deceived!

    I think that they discontinued the bar because it clearly was a high quality chocolate bar which probably cost a more money to produce when compared to regular bars and they wanted to sell it at a competitive price which might have limited profits.

    I’ pretty sure that they stopped selling them when Cadbury took control of Neilson’s chocolates.

    Since you’ve tried an enormous amount of candy, I thought that perhaps you knew about it. I was wondering if you knew a similar brand of chocolate bar which could quench my thirst of nostalgia!

    Comment by Simon on 2/24/14 at 12:03 pm #
  2. We’ve been having a hard time finding them. Walgreens is supposed to have them, but they don’t. None of the grocery stores have them. I’m going to try a CVS tonight, thanks to this blog. Thank you. My wife and I were big fans of the old Megas, so we’re looking forward to these.

    Comment by Stephen on 3/21/14 at 5:03 pm #
  3. Found ‘em! I like the form factor of the old Megas better, I think, less disc-shaped, but these taste just fine, and I like the way the shell dissolves into shards just as much. I’ll probably grab another bag soon.

    I also snagged a bag of Peanut, which weren’t much different than regular Peanut M&M’s, but no complaints here. smile

    Comment by Stephen on 3/21/14 at 9:23 pm #
  4. Are these like Hershey’s Chocolate Drops but with shells?

    Comment by Anita on 6/18/14 at 12:30 pm #
  5. These were the best m7m ever. We could not get them fast enough. The stores were always out of them. I talked to the manager at Kroger and Wal-mart ,but they said they could not order them anymore. Big mistake.

    Comment by Donald Watkins on 10/15/16 at 11:35 am #
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