Mars M&M's Pineapple

This time last year, Mars released M&M's Raspberry. Although there's been another seasonal release between now and then (Vanilla Shake), it seems Mars has returned to fruit for flavour inspiration with its new release, M&M's Pineapple.

Follow the link to read on!



Pineapple and chocolate might seem like an odd combination (I think so!)  but it's not brand new. One of New Zealand's popular confectionery import is Pineapple Lumps - a chewy pineapple-flavoured centre covered in milk chocolate. And googling the combination brings up a few different desserts - this one for grilled pineapple with chocolate sauce sounds pretty tempting! I have to admit, though, it's not a flavour combination I have much experience with, and I was a little 'WTF?' when I first heard about it. But I'm not of the opinion that Mars is scraping the bottom of the barrel with this flavour, but instead are being rather ingenious, so let's get on with it!

The gusseted 200g bag is dressed in green and gold, and features poor Yellow turned into a pineapple, complete with spiky green leaves for a head. Like we've come to see with flavoured M&M's, the bitesize pieces are the same size as standard milk chocolate ones, although in a new colour scheme: two shades of green, a bright, cheery yellow, and a dark brown. The bag's contents have an odd scent to them; it's sweet with the typical M&M's milk chocolate, but there's a weird, artificial scent there as well. It reminds me a bit of handwash or something similar. Not a fan.

As we've seen before, it's the chocolate that's flavoured, not the shell, so sucking on a piece gives a generic sweet flavour. Once cracked open, the shell gives way to a flavour that is part chocolate and part pineapple. It's not the super-sweet flavour of Pineapple Lumps, but it leans a little towards the taste of mildly tangy lolly pineapple. It's odd at first but after a couple of mouthfuls it tastes like the perfect combination. The pineapple flavour is mild but definitely present, and I could easily identify it as the fruit. It's not a flavour for scoffing, though, as I found it hangs around a little bit in the mouth afterwards. Savored slowly, however, the pieces are an interesting take on an after-dinner chocolate.

When I posted the gossip of Mars M&M's Pineapple on Twitter, it was quite popular with fellow bloggers and lolly lovers alike around the world. I wonder if we'll see the flavour launched to the world?

Score: 4 out of 5 jelly beans.

Mars M&M's Pineapple are made in Australia. They contain milk, wheat and soy, and may contain traces of peanuts, treenuts and barley.