M&M’s are back with candy that LOOKS like peanut M&M’s, but when you bite into one, you instead experience the crunch of pretzel. Seems like such an obvious idea, right? Chocolate covered pretzels are amazing and those chocolate covered pretzels you get in gourmet candy shops that are covered in mini M&M’s are taste bud blowing. But is this pretzel twist going to become a new M&M classic?
My initial thought when biting into my first Pretzel M&M (so important to only have ONE on the first try instead of a handful popped into the mouth, which is too much of an assault on the buds) was that there was SO much crunch that it was like eating one of those M&M’s crispy candies that were out a while back but eventually discontinued (and ironically—or not—were also packaged in a blue bag that was pretty much the same color as the pretzel bag). The difference here is that the crunch is not candy coating on top of crisp with chocolate in the center—the order here is candy coating-chocolate-pretzel crunch. Nice. Does it taste like your traditional chocolate covered pretzel? Not at all. It’s a rather confusing experience. Your mind thinks “this is all candy crunch and pretzel crunch,” which is the majority of each piece, yet somehow, the minimal amount of chocolate in between is extremely sweet! So sweet in fact that you can’t quite devour too many in one sitting. That is, of course, until your taste buds become accustomed to the experience and begin craving another hit…and another…and another. However, what this abundance of sweet does is mask any hint of salty. Sweet and salty is, after all, the draw of chocolate covered pretzels. But that contrast just doesn’t come through here.
In essence, they’re yummy. But they are definitely an acquired…not taste…but texture. It’s almost as if the classic candy coating gets in the WAY of the traditional chocolate covered pretzel combo, in which your teeth usually first sink into the soft and sweet layer of chocolate before quickly chomping into the crunch within. And because the pretzel has more ‘give’ than the solidity of the candy coating, your final experience isn’t the crunchiest part of the M&M. That takes some real getting used to, and it could be in part to the fact that since Pretzel M&M’s are the same SIZE as Peanut M&M’s, your mind sort of presumes that you’re going to strike that nutty solidity inside, but is instead given a dusty crumbly pretzel.
So Pretzel M&M’s are quite the unique addition to the M&M family. Different than Peanut M&M’s, different than chocolate covered pretzels, different than chocolate and mini-M&M covered pretzels. This truly all-new experience is definitely going to require more of me sinking my teeth into them. But I’m pretty confident that I’d still turn to Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M’s or Almond M&M’s before Pretzel M&M’s (which means I’ll probably be hooked on these things within the next few days).
