Forrest Mars Sr. got the idea for M&M’s during the Spanish Civil War. While visiting Spain he encountered Spanish soldiers eating chocolate pellets covered by a hard candy shell.

M&M’s were first sold in 1941, as a convenience snack for GI’s serving in WWII. The candies were a big hit because the candy coating kept the chocolate from melting.

The original candy colors were yellow, green, brown, orange, red and violet.

The M was first printed on the candies in 1950.

Peanut M&M’s were first introduced in 1954.

After questions surrounding the safety of a certain red dye were raised in 1976, the red candies were removed from the candy mix, even though the dye in questions was never used by the M&M Company. Red was returned to the mix in 1987 by popular demand.

In 1995 over 10 million people voted to make blue the new M&M color.

M&M stands for Mars & Murrie, the names of the partners who created the company.

Bruce Murries was son of Milton S. Hershey’s business partner William Murrie.

Steven Spielberg originally approached M&M about product placement in ET the Extra Terrestrial, but they turned down the deal. Spielberg used rival Hershey’s Reeses Pieces instead. Sales for Reeses Pieces tripled after the movie was released.

Reeses Pieces were introduced in 1978.

Founded in 1894 by Milton S. Hershey, Hershey’s is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer.

The Hershey’s Kiss was first introduced in 1907. Kisses were hand wrapped until 1921, when the signature ribbon was added. Today over 80 million kisses are made every day.

Recent studies indicate that dark chocolate contains a group of antioxidants polyphenols called flavonoids.

Over 1 million miles of Twizzlers are produced every year.

Although often referred to as a licorice Twizzlers are not flavored with the licorice plant extract, Glycyrrhiza glabra.

Leo Hirshfield began production of Tootsie Rolls in New York City in 1896. The chewy chocolaty candies were named after Hirshfield’s daughter, whose nickname was Tootsie.

Tootsie Rolls were the first penny candy that was individually wrapped.

The Tootsie Pop was introduced in 1931.

By Joanne Rawson