Have you ever wondered why those delicious pop-in-your-mouth M&M’s candies came to be?

Since they’re my favorite candy I had to know. Here’s what I found out………..

M&M’s have a long history in the United States . They were first produced in New Jersey in 1941 by a company owned by Forrest Mars, Sr. He got the idea for M&M’s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating Smarties, a chocolate morsel covered with a hard sugar shell so that the chocolate wouldn’t melt.

When Mars introduced M&M’s to the G.I.s during World War II they were an immediate hit so production was increased and the candies were sold exclusively to the military.

Originally M&M’s were sold in cardboard tubes, but in 1948 Mars decided to replace the cardboard tube with cellophane packaging like they are sold today.

Throughout the years Mars has added new products and made changes generated by public demand. The Peanut Chocolate candies were introduced in 1954, along with the famous slogan, “the milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand”. The M&M’s candies colors have come and gone through the years.

During the 1970’s the red candies were eliminated due to health concerns over the dye amaranth (red dye). Even though Mars didn’t contain the dye, the red M&M’s were replaced with the orange colored candies. In 1987 the public had forgotten the scare and Mars reintroduced the red M&M’s. Today the color scheme is mostly red, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow and brown, all with the same taste.

Throughout the years nearly a dozen varieties of the chocolates have been marketed, including dark chocolate, dark chocolate peanut, almond, peanut butter, minis, premiums and last year M&M’s released the Wildly Cherry Chocolate candies.

Today the M&M logo extends to everything from a jigsaw puzzle and Christmas ornaments to a night light. All of these products are available from candymachines.com at great prices, plus you can order M&M Plain Chocolate candy and M&M’s Peanut Candies in bags for personal use or cases for vending machine owners.