M&M’s candies helped win a war and conquer space

One of America’s favorite candy products is “a little bit Southern,” so to speak. The Mars Incorporated manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Tenn. (near Chattanooga), is the company’s largest producer of tasty M&M’s treats.

 

M&M’s are part of Americana. History.com reported that the “beloved M&M’s chocolate candies have been to war and space and back again.” Can any candy product match that resume? 

The article was written by freelancer Laura Schumm. (How appropriate with her double “m” surname.) 

To begin, Franklin Clarence Mars learned how to hand-dip chocolate candy from his mother while he was growing up in Minneapolis, Minn. He opened a candy company there in 1922 and introduced the Mar-O-Bar – a treat that was essentially a chocolate bar with a whipped cream center.

 

Shortly thereafter, Franklin’s son, Forrest Edward Mars, although not yet age 20, joined the business as a partner. It was the younger Mars who invented the Milky Way candy bar in 1923. Its creamy nougat of whipped egg whites, sugar syrup, malted flavoring and air, was lighter and cheaper to produce than solid chocolates – and it was an instant hit.

 

Forrest said he came up with the idea for the Milky Way as he and his father “talked business over malted milk shakes at a soda fountain.” Milky Ways were advertised as “a double malted milk in a candy bar.”

 
The company became Mars Incorporated and other successful product introductions included Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars. Forrest wanted to expand overseas. Franklin objected, so they parted ways. 

In 1932, Forrest Mars moved to Slough, England, a large town west of London. He introduced the Mars bar, a variant of the Milky Way, made of caramel, nougat and milk chocolate. 

“During the Spanish Civil War (in 1936), he observed British soldiers eating what they called ‘Smarties’ – small chocolate beans encased in a hard sugar shell, which prevented melting,” Schumm wrote. 

“In an age when sales of chocolate typically dropped off during summer months due to the lack of air conditioning, Mars was thrilled by the prospect of developing a product that would be able to resist melting in high temperatures.” 

Germany started World War II by invading Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Forrest Mars was inspired to return to America and improve on a product that “would melt in your mouth but not in your hand.” 

“Upon Mars’ return to the United States, he approached Bruce Murrie, the son of Hershey chocolate company executive William Murrie, to join him in a new business venture,” Shumm reported.  

“Anticipating a shortage of chocolate and sugar as World War II amped up in Europe, Mars sought a partnership that would ensure a steady supply of resources needed to produce his new candy,” Schumm said. 

The new product became M&M’s, short for “Mars and Murrie.” Production began in March 1941 in Newark, N.J. 

“M&M’s were covered with a brown, red, orange, yellow, green or violet hard candy coating,” Schumm wrote. “After the United States entered the war, the candies were exclusively sold to the military, enabling the heat-resistant and easy-to-transport chocolate to be included in American soldiers’ rations. 

“By the time the war was over and GIs returned home, they were hooked,” she said. 

“The same qualities that M&M’s durable wartime rations made them perfect for space travel. So, on request from the crew aboard NASA’s first space shuttle, Columbia, M&M’s became the first candy to rocket into space,” riding along with Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen on April 12, 1981, Schumm reported.