Today is National M&M’s day. M&M’s are colorful little sugar-coated chocolate pieces that have stolen the hearts of generations in over 100 countries. They’re a popular snack at the cinema or on a picnic, and they’re always there for you when you need that sugar rush.
- From 1976 to 1985, there were no red M&Ms
- Blue M&Ms were introduced in 1995.
- M&Ms were taken along on the first space shuttle voyage in 1982.
- There are 400 million M&M’s produced daily.
- The “M&M” was modeled after a candy Forrest Mars, Sr. encountered while in Spain during the 1930s. During the Spanish civil war there, he observed soldiers eating chocolate pellets with a hard shell of tempered chocolate. This prevented the candies from melting, which was essential when included in soldiers rations as they were
- The story of M&M’s began way back in 1941, right in the middle of the Second World War. They were produced in a New Jersey factory, but due to the high demand, they had to be moved to even bigger premises. During the war years, M&M’s were sold only to the military, which meant that the everyday chocolate-lover didn’t get to sample the glorious candy until the war ended in 1945.
- Until 1950, there were no letters printed onto the pieces, and between 1950 and 1954, the letter ‘m’ was printed in black. The color was changed to white in 1954 – the same year that peanut M&M’s were introduced.
- Red M&M’s are among the most popular today, but in the 1970s, they were replaced with orange pieces for almost ten years.
- This was the result of a study which stated that red food dye was linked to cancers. In 1982, a university student founded the Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Red M&M’s, a campaign to bring back the red M&M’s.
- By 1987, the popular color was back on the shelves, and many customers were happy to hear that the orange pieces would remain there too.
- the M&M’s factory produces more than 69,000 pieces per second to keep up with the staggering worldwide demand!
- The original colors of M&M’s were red, yellow, violet, green and brown.
- Since 2020, M&M’s have been available online in 24 colors.
- They also come in many different flavors such as milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint chocolate, orange chocolate, crispy,peanuts, almonds, caramel, hazelnuts, peanut butter and coconut.
- A typical 1.69 ounce bag of plain M&M’s contains about 56 candies.
- n 1954 the world famous M&M characters made their first television appearance.
- M&M’s was the first candy in space. They were chosen by the first space shuttle astronauts to be included in their food supply.
- M&Ms happen to be the most common eaten chocolate in NASA’s space program.
- You know those commercials where oversized red and yellow M&M’S candies banter for 30 seconds? Well, one of those voices sounds so familiar because the yellow M&M’S candy is voiced by J.K. Simmons. Simmons has provided the voice of Yellow since 1996 and has even created a backstory for the goofy peanut candy. The Whiplash star is only the second to voice Yellow. John Goodman was the original voice of the candy.
- The red M&M’S candy is currently voiced by Billy West, the actor behind Futurama’s Fry.
- M&M’S are the official presidential candy in the US. Prior to President Ronald Reagan, the majority of presidential products were matchboxes and cigarettes. These were often handed out on Air Force One or to visitors at the White House.
- In 2006, M&M’s became the official chocolate of NASCAR
- M&Ms are also the one of the many official food sponsors of the NFL
- The candies are number one in Florida, Hawaii, and Kansas when it comes to Halloween
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