476: M&M's
Matthew:
I'm Matthew.
Molly:
And I'm Molly.
Matthew:
And this is Spilled Milk. The show where we cook something delicious, eat it all, and you can't have it.
Molly:
That's right, it is 9:42 in the morning, our time. And we are about to eat some M&M's.
Matthew:
And we're about to eat a lot of M&M's.
Molly:
Yeah, and you can't have any unless you have some where you are right now.
Matthew:
I think maybe this episode was suggested by listener Dana. I'm not even going to bother to look that up, I'm just going to give listener Dana credit.
Molly:
Okay, that sounds great.
Matthew:
This one more so even than usual I fell like if I really searched our back catalog, probably there's already an M&M episode in there somewhere, but I don't care.
Molly:
So, usually we set taping dates and then we come up with topics, and we have an ongoing list of topics that we could choose from.
Matthew:
Yeah, we have an ongoing beef.
Molly:
But I so surprised when you texted me to suggest, why don't we do M&M's on Monday?
Matthew:
Yeah, I mean, it could be just I wanted to eat a bunch of M&M's and I looked up, I'm like, "Okay, we've done two M&M episodes previously." And I'm just like, "I don't care."
Molly:
Great. Well, I'm thrilled. I have some M&M's.
Matthew:
And you're not afraid to use them.
Molly:
Yeah.
Matthew:
All right, so we go down memory lane.
Molly:
Yeah, let's go down memory lane first.
Matthew:
So, always loved M&M's, always been one of my favorite candies. I think when I was a kid I definitely preferred plain over peanut. And they were called plain, and I think later changed to milk chocolate maybe in the '90s. And, I don't know. Wait, I have an M&M's memory lane. One year I got a fun sized pack of M&M's for Halloween and I hid them behind a book on my bookshelf, so that I could eat one at bedtime every night. But, I was such a good kid that I would do this before brushing my teeth.
Molly:
Oh my God, this sounds like June. June is very much like this. Well, number one, I think I've mentioned on the show before that she hides things that she doesn't want anymore.
Matthew:
That's not a great habit, but okay.
Molly:
So-
Matthew:
I guess if it's not food it's fine.
Molly:
Yeah, rather than putting it in the trash can or putting it back somewhere else, she just hides it. But not very well either she'll just put it under her bed, or the other day she got a pair of goggles out of the bathroom drawer and rather than taking the time to walk six steps back into the bathroom to put them away, she just hid them behind our bird a day calendar on the kitchen counter.
Matthew:
You know what this feels like, do you do this, you're in a store and you have an item in your basket that you decide you don't want but you don't want to go all the way back to where it was from, and so you out it in a semi plausible place?
Molly:
Yes, I don't hide it. But I try to put it somewhere... Often I will try to put it somewhere actually where it's either plausible, or where it's very visibly not plausible. So, someone from the store will see it and be like, "I'm going to re-shelf this.
Matthew:
Yeah, sometimes I'll be in a store and I'll see that someone has put a freezer item on a non-freezer shelf and I'm like, "I'm better than that asshole."
Molly:
It's always good to know you're better than someone. So, anyway, oh my God I love that you used to do that with M&M's as a kid. It does feel very June to me, that she has... You know ZotZ?
Matthew:
Yeah.
Molly:
Tha old fashioned sour hard candy?
Matthew:
Yeah.
Molly:
She and I both really love ZotZ, and I brought her back some from a trip I took clearly pre-COVID. Actually, maybe it was our last corporate retreat.
Matthew:
Maybe.
Molly:
Anyway, I brought her back some. She stashed them next to her desk, up on the shelf above her desk, and she eats one maybe every other month.
Matthew:
Oh, that's great.
Molly:
And I know that she loves them, it's just I don't know if she's rationing them or-
Matthew:
No, you know what she's doing, she's like, "Hey, mom..." She's showing you, you know that Marshmallow test? I could fucking ace that marshmallow test.
Molly:
That's true. She's like, "that was way to-"
Matthew:
I'm going to eat that marshmallow two weeks later and I'm going to be the CEO of the world, so fuck off. That's how she talks, right?
Molly:
Yes, that is exactly how she talks. Memory lane, so I have always liked M&M's but they were never one of my favorites. I would say, now I am the most inclined to buy M&M's than I ever have been in my whole life. They are closer to the top of my candy favorites. Anyway, but as a kid, let's say, if I got them at Halloween. They weren't one of the candies that I would throw away-
Matthew:
No, if I heard someone was throwing away Halloween M&M's I'd be like, "Either you're allergic to chocolate or you're literally a monster."
Molly:
Yeah, they were definitely not one that I would throw away, but they also never the first one I would eat like Krackel was often the first one I would eat.
Matthew:
Me too, I loved Krackel as a kid. Hershey's Miniatures were a premier candy when I was a child.
Molly:
Although I never wanted the plain Hershey's bars-
Matthew:
I don't think I really did either.
Molly:
... but the Krackel bars were always in high demand. And also, I liked, was it Mr. Goodbar-
Matthew:
Mr. Goodbar is good.
Molly:
... the one that had peanuts in it?
Matthew:
With peanuts, yeah.
Molly:
Anyway, I did not like Peanut M&M's very much. My mom always loved Peanut M&M's.
Matthew:
Can I say something about Mr. Goodbar real quick? There's a, I think, pretty famous novel, or I don't even know if it's novel or non-fiction, called Looking for Mr. Goodbar. And my parents had it on their shelf and I'm like, "Why is there a book bout candy bars?" Which I don't think it has anything to do with candy bars, but I don't know what it's about.
Molly:
That is adorable.
Matthew:
Yeah, there were a few book on my parent's shelf that I have memories of just the spine of the book. There was The Woman Warrior, the one I just said that I already forgot, Looking for Mr. Goodbar-
Molly:
Did your mom have The Dance of Anger, The Dance of Intimacy, those ones?
Matthew:
No, I don't think so.
Molly:
Okay, I think the author was maybe Harriet Lerner or something.
Matthew:
That sounds right.
Molly:
My mom was really into all of those.
Matthew:
And then there was one that I read as maybe like a three-year-old, Holy Bible.
Molly:
Holy Bible?
Matthew:
It was called, H-O-L-Y B-I-B-L-E, Holy Bible.
Molly:
What is that?
Matthew:
Well, try sounding it out.
Molly:
Holy Bible, oh God.
Matthew:
Yay. Okay, that's been our phonics lesson for the day. It took me longer than that.
Molly:
Okay. My parents did not have a Bible on the shelf when I was growing up. That seems, wow, notable now, in retrospect, that yours did.
Matthew:
Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that is kind of interesting.
Molly:
Interesting. My mom had all kind of books abour reckoning with spirituality, books about dying a good death. This was during the aids epidemic. My mother's bookshelf was filled with self improvement.
Matthew:
Yeah, sure.
Molly:
Anyway. Okay, but I was talking about M&M's here.
Matthew:
Yes, you were.
Molly:
Eating an M&M improves me as a human being.
Matthew:
Oh, yeah. No, this is like our self-helpiest episode probably.
Molly:
It totally is. When I open a pack M&M's I do the dance of intimacy with them.
Matthew:
Wow.
Molly:
I put them into my body, what could be more intimate?
Matthew:
Yeah, that's true. There's nothing more intimate than what you do with M&M's.
Molly:
Anyway, wait I'm not done with memory lane!
Matthew:
No, no, please.
Molly:
Okay, so anyway. I would definitely eat my M&M's if they appeared before me, but I would never choose them as my number one thing. I do remember, very clearly, there being a time when all there was was regular M&M's or Peanut M&M's. And it seemed like, "Who could possibly need more?"
Matthew:
And the regular ones were called plain, and it's really hard to imagine any candy being called plain these days.
Molly:
Right, that seems like they-
Matthew:
Everything has to be more or less extreme.
Molly:
Yeah, like [inaudible 00:08:11].
Matthew:
I guess milk chocolate is not particularly extreme, but it's more extreme than plain.
Molly:
That sound I made was the opposite of plain.
Matthew:
Exactly. Yeah, there's a meeting happening at Mars & Murrie headquarters right now about whether they should change milk chocolate M&M's to [inaudible 00:08:27] M&M's, or whatever you said.
Molly:
It's Mars & Murrie, though, anymore Matthew.
Matthew:
Oh, okay.
Molly:
Okay, we'll get to this. Okay, wait, can we talk for just a second about how this brand is spelled?
Matthew:
Yes, but I just realized I have a little bit more memory lane.
Molly:
Oh, God. Okay, fine.
Matthew:
When I was a kid I liked to suck on the M&M's until the candy coating disappeared, because I was patient. And also, a few years ago I has surgery and it was not like super major surgery, but enough that I had to spend a few days in bed recovering. And all I wanted was Peanut M&M's, and I basically ate Peanut M&M's three meals a day for several days, and felt great.
Molly:
God, I love that you mentioned that because I remember... So, what I have come to love about Peanut M&M's in adulthood and in my young adulthood, is that there was a way in which one could make an argument that Peanut M&M's are a semi-complete food group.
Matthew:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Molly:
I remember when I was a junior in college and I was studying abroad, and living with the host-family in France. I remember I was running late to get a train somewhere. I had traveled with school somewhere for the weekend, and we were running late to get the train and it was in the evening and so even the bakery at the train station was closing, and all they had left was bread. They didn't even have any pastries, they had a few breads. So, I remember buying one of the last types of bread they had, and I had a three hour train ride ahead of me and it was dinner time, and I was like, "This is not enough." And so I went to the vending machine on the train platform and got a pack of Peanut M&M's. And I had Peanut M&M's and some semi-stale bread for dinner, and it wasn't great but it was kind of great.
Matthew:
Yeah, but they are very satisfying. They have the three main food group, legumes, chocolate, and shell.
Molly:
Yes. All right, so let's talk about the way that these are spelled because-
Matthew:
Yes, lets.
Molly:
... those of us who are inclined to be assholes get very annoyed-
Matthew:
No, not me. I always put a freezer item back in the freezer section. Not necessarily in the same place, I might put a frozen calzone next to the pizza, but... Wait, that is exactly where a frozen calzone will go, that was a very bad example.
Molly:
I don't like it when apostrophes show up in places where they're not supposed to.
Matthew:
Oh, I think we're going to have a little beef here.
Molly:
So, M&M's the brand name, the way it is spelled by the company on the label is M&M's.
Matthew:
Oh, you know what? I never really though much about the fact that it's lower case, but of course it is.
Molly:
Yeah, and so there's always that apostrophe there. Matthew, look at our recording session right now, did you set this up? It's M and then the letter NMS, what? What kind of nonsense is-
Matthew:
Our recording software does not allow punctuation other than a dash.
Molly:
Oh, my God. We have to find new recording software.
Matthew:
Okay, fair.
Molly:
Anyway, so I'm very up in arms about the branding, the use of apostrophe in this brand name. Now, I get it, we're going to talk in a minute about the corporate history of M&M's. But I just don't feel that there should be an apostrophe here, what's possessive about this?
Matthew:
I don't have any problem with an apostrophe being used to set off a plural when there would otherwise be ambiguity, or when the thing being pluralized... I think I have no problem with 1980s 's, that seems fine to me.
Molly:
No, no.
Matthew:
Or like I reached into scrabble bag and I pulled out two Zs, Zs I think is fine. I know there aren't two Zs in the Scrabble game, don't at me.
Molly:
I don't know how else I think you should say that or type that phrase-
Matthew:
Well, I mean, you can do Zs with nothing between them, that's okay.
Molly:
Yeah, I would do Zs with nothing inbetween.
Matthew:
But I think if you did m&ms it looks like it's m&ms, that's not good.
Molly:
I don't know, I'm not satisfied with this. We need new punctuation, and then we need-
Matthew:
Oh, you want a whole new punctuation mark specifically for this, to be used any time something is pluralized.
Molly:
Is that what the S on M&M's mean on the label?
Matthew:
Oh, you're saying maybe it's like Mars & Murrie's flagship candy and it is possessive?
Molly:
Maybe, I don't know. Matthew, I mean-
Matthew:
I don't think so, though.
Molly:
Okay, well hold on. Let's think about other candies. So, Milky Way is just Milky Way.
Matthew:
But there's only one bar in there-
Molly:
Okay, fine.
Matthew:
What about Reece's Pieces?
Molly:
God, let's think of other things. What are other candies that come in lots of pieces?
Matthew:
I literally just said-
Molly:
Skittles.
Matthew:
Reece's Pieces.
Molly:
Skittles. God, they are all plural.
Matthew:
Did something terrible happen with Reece's Pieces that you can't even acknowledge that they exist? Yes-
Molly:
I'm so used to ignoring you when you bother me that I just ignore you sometimes when you don't bother me too.
Matthew:
No, you're right, I don't think there's an apostrophe in Skittles. But, I mean-
Molly:
No, it's just pluralized. I don't know how I feel about this, I just want there to be... I'm trying to cover up the apostrophe with my thumb.
Matthew:
You're going to go into the store, you're going to use your risk budget to enter the store and go and white out, or in this case brown out, all of the apostrophes on the M&M package?
Molly:
I want to know what our listeners think about this, because I am far from the most annoyingly pedantic-
Matthew:
Pedantic.
Molly:
... grammar person that I know, and yet this bugs me. So, I want to know. Anyway, but so the correct way of writing M&M's is M&M's, which I also find clunky to type. But I guess most people eat M&M's, they don't type them.
Matthew:
Yeah, they are definitely more popular for eating than typing.
Molly:
Okay, but can you imagine if you're a keyboard, if all the keys were little M&M's and instead of having Ms printed on them they had whatever the key letter was printed on them.
Matthew:
I guarantee someone has done this. Not with actual candy but with look-alike plastic key caps with M&M's style printing on them, that's a wonderful idea.
Molly:
Yeah, I bet there's M&M merchandise that's like this or something. Okay, so hold on. For those who have been living... Oh, I love that when I was typing this up on the internet the most relevant cultural touch zone I could come up with was the show Lost, which is what, 15 years old at this point?
Matthew:
Sure, yeah.
Molly:
Okay, so I was thinking about, "God, who doesn't know about M&M's?" And then I was like, "If they were living down the hatch in Lost, down in the bunker they would not maybe know about M&M's."
Matthew:
Yeah, I think they opened the hatch at the end of season one maybe, and that's when I stopped watching. But I assume-
Molly:
I watched all the way through.
Matthew:
... there were one or more people in there who had never heard of M&M's.
Molly:
That was the defining feature of the hatch.
Matthew:
I guess what you're saying is, if you're opening a hatch and you don't know who you're going to meet down there and you could-
Molly:
Take some M&M's.
Matthew:
Yeah, or just drop some down into the hatch as a goodwill gesture.
Molly:
What if there's a dog down there? Dogs can't eat chocolate.
Matthew:
You're right, I retract it. There could be a dog.
Molly:
Okay. Anyway, Matthew, so for anyone who has been living down the hatch in Lost or who doesn't know what an M&M is-
Matthew:
I just like the phrase living down the hatch. Living down the hatch?
Molly:
Living high on the hog, living-
Matthew:
Yeah, it's the opposite.
Molly:
Yeah, living down the hatch. Okay.
Matthew:
Yeah, I think we've all been living down the hatch for the last 10 months or so.
Molly:
God, we have. Living down the hatch for so long. Now, it's 11 months, Matthew, when this comes out. Anyway, so if you don't know what M&M's are, for whatever reason. They are these multicolored chocolates with a candy shell, and each one has a m printed in white on one side.
Matthew:
Thank you.
Molly:
And it used to be, actually, when they were first launched that, that M&M was printed in black, but it was- [crosstalk 00:17:12].
Matthew:
Oh.
Molly:
Yeah, now it's in white.
Matthew:
But that changed before we were born?
Molly:
Oh yes, they launched in 1941. And when they launched I don't think they had a letter on them, then the letter was introduced, and then by 1954 it was changed to white.
Matthew:
And first the letter was W. Did you ever have a teacher or someone who thought it was the funniest thing to say, "I don't have any M&M's but I have W&W's."?
Molly:
No.
Matthew:
I had that teacher.
Molly:
Wasn't there some episode of, was it Parks and Rec which I've never really seen, or The Office which I've only seen some of. Where some annoying guy was given the task of going through a whole jar M&M's in sorting the Ms from the Ws?
Matthew:
That does sound like something that would've happened on one of those shows.
Molly:
If Ash were listening in right now, they would absolutely chide me for not knowing what show that is.
Matthew:
Know which season and episode number.
Molly:
Yeah, anyway. Okay, so-
Matthew:
I think that was The Sopranos.
Molly:
That sounds right, they probably gave that job to that annoying priest who was always hanging around.
Matthew:
Yeah, have not seen that show either.
Molly:
Okay, so the original version of M&M's, according to Wikipedia, had a semi-sweet chocolate filling. But they talked about this as though that were still the case now, and it's clearly milk chocolate.
Matthew:
No, it's definitely not the case now. Now it's definitely a milk chocolate filling.
Molly:
Do you think I have found an error on Wikipedia?
Matthew:
I think it's possible.
Molly:
Okay, the first variation was the Peanut M&M, which features a peanut coated in milk chocolate- [crosstalk 00:18:47]
Matthew:
Do you know when those were introduced?
Molly:
You know what, I did see that online and I didn't copy it down.
Matthew:
I was just curious whether it was before or after we were born, 1954.
Molly:
Peanut M&M's?
Matthew:
Yeah.
Molly:
Oh, wow. God, that was early.
Matthew:
Yeah.
Molly:
Okay, so lets go right into the history of the company.
Matthew:
Yes, please.
Molly:
As everyone knows, I always love it when I get to tell corporate history.
Matthew:
I love it too.
Molly:
So, Matthew, when you started this agenda for our episode you wrote, "Should we mention Smarties?" Smarties being M&M lookalikes that are marketed by a UK company.
Matthew:
Yeah, I think of them as Canadian, but I guess they're available in Canada because they're a UK candy.
Molly:
Anyway, of course we should mention Smarties because, the truth is, M&M's were copied from Smarties.
Matthew:
I did know this at all, so this is like a Hydrox, Oreo type of situation?
Molly:
Did the the Hydrox predate the Oreo?
Matthew:
Hydrox predated Oreo and Oreo was a copy of the Hydrox cookie.
Molly:
God, that must sting.
Matthew:
To be Hydrox, yeah. It definitely stings to be out of business.
Molly:
Yes. Okay, anyway. So, here's the deal. There was this guy named Forest Mars Senior-
Matthew:
Very cool name.
Molly:
Yeah, and his dad, Frank C Mars already ran a successful candy company, I believe in Newark New Jersey maybe. Forest Mars had worked with his dad in the company, but the two of them disagreed on the direction the company was going or something. And anyway, Forest went off to go do other things, and one of the things he did was go fight in the Spanish Civil War.
Matthew:
It seems like that was a popular thing to do at the time. I like to think that if I had been of the right age at that time, I would've signed up for the Spanish Civil War.
Molly:
Okay-
Matthew:
Gone to fight facetious alongside Hemingway and a candy guy, and stuff.
Molly:
Hemingway and a candy guy.
Matthew:
I imagine Forest Mars being one of the talking M&M's from the pre-movie M&M commercials.
Molly:
Actually, now that I'm saying all this, he must've fought in the war. I mean, it said that he saw soldiers eating Smarties during the Spanish Civil War. So, would he just be a bystander? Did they set up bleachers on the battle field?
Matthew:
Oh, if you could sign up to be a bystander, that is what I would be best at I think.
Molly:
Anyway, Forest Mars was present somehow during the Spanish Civil War on site, and he saw soldiers eating Smarties. And the big deal was that the candy coating allowed soldiers to carry the chocolates, even in warm climates, without it melting. So, Forest came back, and for reasons I don't totally understand, he did not take this candy idea to this father at the Mars company.
Matthew:
Wow.
Molly:
Yeah, I'm very confused about all of this. He basically took this new candy idea to Hershey, and I'm kind of wondering if the thing is that this was right-
Matthew:
When you say new candy idea, you mean literally stolen from an existing candy.
Molly:
Exactly, he took this candy idea that he wanted to market. Instead of taking it and teaming back up with his dad, he went to Hershey. And maybe the reason is that World War II was fast approaching at this point, Spanish Civil War was in the '30s. World War II was fast approaching and chocolate was rationed, but apparently Hershey had some special arrangement where they provided chocolate to the US Military.
Matthew:
Wow, okay.
Molly:
Yeah. So I guess Forest Mars would've been like, "I know where the market is for this candy that I want to make, and I'm going to go to the people who have the in to this market."
Matthew:
So, you know that show, The Man In The High Castle?
Molly:
Yes, we watched most of the first season.
Matthew:
Okay, no, I haven't seen it but I know it's a Phillip K Dick alternate history, what if the bad guys won World War II? I imagine that it alleges in that the reason the Americans lost World War II is because it turned out the axis powers got the chocolate that doesn't melt in your hand.
Molly:
They got the chocolate.
Matthew:
And so the American soldiers were smeared with chocolate at all times and couldn't pick up their guns.
Molly:
Yeah, it was very hard to reload a gun when you're hands we're covered in chocolate.
Matthew:
Yeah, I imagine that you reload a gun by sticking ramrod down the gun barrel, like in the Civil War, but that the gun barrel was packed with chocolate. It was tragic.
Molly:
Such a mess, so slippery.
Matthew:
But, thank God for Forest Mars Senior, or junior, I can't remember.
Molly:
Senior. Anyway, so here's the deal, Forest Mars went to Hershey and he teamed up with a guy named Bruce Murrie who was the son of the president of Hershey's chocolate. So, the original company that made M&M's was M&M Limited. One M being for Forest Mars and one being for Bruce Murrie. And so when M&M's were first brought to market, which was in 1941, the first big company was the US Army. And during World War II the candies were exclusively sold to the military.
Matthew:
Wow, so if you wanted to get your hands on some M&M's you had to go to the PX.
Molly:
What's the PX?
Matthew:
It's the store on the military base, I don't know why I know this but I just wanted to throw in that I knew this.
Molly:
Wow, Matthew, this gives you some real cred. I'm not sure what kind of cred, street cred, base cred?
Matthew:
Base cred, it gives me a lot of base cred. I can just wander around a base and be like, "I'm just delivering M&M's."
Molly:
"Where's the PX?" So, anyway. Yeah, so during World War II M&M's were distributed directly to the army and I guess when the war was over, or something, then they expanded into the general market. But either way, demand took off so fast that the company quickly had to add a second factory. And today, actually, I think the vast majority of M&M production is still divided between just two factories. Again, I think Wikipedia is leading me astray here.
Matthew:
No, I think that's plausible. At least there might be additional factories for supplying other countries, but I would not be surprised if all American M&M's were made in two factories.
Molly:
Yeah, one in New Jersey and one in Tennessee.
Matthew:
Do you think there's a code, like the mint code on a coin, that tells you which factory your M&M's were made in, and there is some people who think one is better than the other?
Molly:
Yeah, I'm looking at my... Well, the company is definitely based in New Jersey, I'm looking at that... Anyway, okay. But all this to say it was not terribly long before the Mars company bought out Bruce Murrie. And so, the Mars company has been the maker of M&M's for-
Matthew:
But is that still part of Hershey, or no?
Molly:
No. Hershey, and I think that Hershey really was about getting the chocolate and getting the in to the military. So, Hershey is no longer involved, as far as I understand, and hasn't been for while in production of M&M's. And it is now solely the Mars company which I think is now Mars Wrigley, or something like that. Yeah, so they were introduced in-
Matthew:
I've been working on a gum flavored M&M.
Molly:
Delicious. M&M's were introduced internationally in the '80s, I was surprised that it was that late.
Matthew:
Yeah, me too.
Molly:
Again, I wonder if Rickipedia is pulling my leg.
Matthew:
Were you on Rickipedia-
Molly:
I got Rickipedia world.
Matthew:
... a site written by a guy named Rick? Yeah, you got severely Rick rolled
Molly:
Anyway, Matthew-
Matthew:
It's just Wikipedia but every article has been re-written by Rick Astley just based on what he thinks is the case.
Molly:
I'm never going to give you up M&M's.
Matthew:
Yeah, me neither. That's correct.
Molly:
I'm never going to put this bag down.
Matthew:
I can't believe how long we've been talking without eating M&M's, despite the fact that we're both surrounded by them.
Molly:
I know, it's shocking isn't it?
Matthew:
This is the closest I've ever gotten, you remember the land of dairy queen commercials?
Molly:
No.
Matthew:
Well, this was a commercial in the '80s for dairy queen. And the slogan was, in the land of dairy queen we treat you right, and you're flying over a jungle made of candy and chocolate, and flowing hot fudge and stuff. Kind of like a Willy Wonka sort of thing. Being surrounded by this many M&M's is the closest I'm ever going to get to that childhood fantasy.
Molly:
Wow, that was a long explanation.
Matthew:
Thanks.
Molly:
Okay, hold on. Before we go to eating I want to talk a little bit about the colors of M&M's.
Matthew:
No, I'm really glad we're going to talk about this.
Molly:
We should try to find... No, we can't link to this in the show notes. But, anyway, I pasted into our agenda today this handy dandy little chart, what do you call this style of chart?
Matthew:
I want to say a Gantt chart, but I don't think it really is a Gantt chart, but it's a horizontal bar chart.
Molly:
Okay, anyway, it shows the colors of M&M's candies over the years, from 1941 to 2017 or so.
Matthew:
You know what this is, it is exactly the same kind of chart that Wikipedia uses when you look up a long-running band, and it shows you which band members were in the band at which time. So, if you go to the Metallica Wikipedia page, I guarantee you will see this kind of chart showing, "Here's when Cliff Burton died, and here's where Dave Mustaine left the band, and here's when they hired Robert Trujillo." And that sort of thing.
Molly:
I was just looking, the other day, at the Prune Cookbook. Have you ever looked through it?
Matthew:
Yes.
Molly:
At the back of it Gabrielle Hamilton has put, God I can't remember what she calls it, but a list of every person who's ever worked at Prune, and their full name and what their role was. And I'm thinking that it could be a really fun but extremely tedious project to turn that into this kind of chart, so and so overlapped with so and so at the same time.
Matthew:
Who needs a fun but extremely tedious project?
Molly:
Yes, I can't wait to get started. Anyway, okay. So, Matthew, the original colors of M&M's candies were red, yellow, violet, green and brown.
Matthew:
Violet?
Molly:
Violet.
Matthew:
Violet I think was definitely discontinued before we ever touched an M&M.
Molly:
Yes, it was replaced with tan within a decade of being launched.
Matthew:
When I was a kid tha tan ones were my favorite, did you have a favorite? I know they all taste the same.
Molly:
Hold on, in 1995 the tan ones were replaced by blue.
Matthew:
Yeah, I know, that is when everything started to go to shit.
Molly:
Oh, God, I don't even remember the tan ones, Matthew. And the other thing is-
Matthew:
Yeah, fucking Kurt Cobain died and they replaced the tan M&M, and things have not been the same.
Molly:
Well, I should also say that... Wait, didn't he die in '94?
Matthew:
Yes, but one year Kurt Cobain died, the next year they replaced the tam M&M.
Molly:
Goddess.
Matthew:
It went from bad to worse.
Molly:
That was the beginning of the slow decline that is now accelerated so fast here in the US.
Matthew:
Exactly.
Molly:
Wait, Matthew, I'm realizing that soon we're going to do this tasting, so I don't want to reveal yet what flavors I have here to taste, but one of the ones I have to taste has tan.
Matthew:
Yes, the different flavor has different arrays of color. And did you notice when you were a kid, this is going to be one of the nerdiest things I've ever said on the show, the colors were never evenly distributed. Brown was always the most common color and tan was the least common, and then everything else was kind of inbetween.
Molly:
Is this why you liked the tan so much?
Matthew:
Yeah, the rarity. But also, it was just a pretty color of tan.
Molly:
Okay. Well, anyway. Yeah, from 1941 until 1969 each package contained five different colors, and then... And there was a time when red M&M's were taken out because of fear of percentagens, but then they were put back in in 1978 and since there have been six colors in a pack on M&M's.
Matthew:
Yes, I do remember when they reintroduced red. It was very exciting. The blue M&M's, when they introduced blue M&M's or sometime there after I had a friend who swore that they could taste the blue ones, and that the dye in the blue tasted different from the rest. And they proved that they could.
Molly:
How did they prove this?
Matthew:
Blind taste.
Molly:
I think they didn't have their eyes closed all the way.
Matthew:
Yeah, it's possible.
Molly:
I mean, we could try this today.
Matthew:
We could, yeah.
Molly:
Except that, and here's the big reveal, neither of us happens to have to gotten regular milk chocolate M&M's.
Matthew:
Yeah, but the thing is, we've had them.
Molly:
Okay, so have you opened your bags?
Matthew:
I've opened my bags. We need to cheese plate this, right?
Molly:
Yeah, we should cheese plate this. I don't even know where to begin.
Matthew:
Yeah, I don't either. So, we only have four in common, if we make a Venn diagram with the M&M's Molly bought in one circle and the M&M's that I bought in the other circle, in the little piece in the middle there's just four types.
Molly:
Okay, yes. I like this. Okay, do you have almond?
Matthew:
Yes.
Molly:
Do you have peanut?
Matthew:
Yes.
Molly:
Well, maybe you should begin with peanut.
Matthew:
Okay, I will begin with peanut.
Molly:
Okay.
Matthew:
Yeah, that's peanut M&M.
Molly:
How is it?
Matthew:
One of the goat, the greatest of all time.
Molly:
It is so good, it's so good.
Matthew:
Every once in a while you will get a defective Peanut M&M, but I fell like that just makes me love the perfect ones and appreciate them all the more.
Molly:
By defective, do you mean the ones with rancid peanuts?
Matthew:
That is what I mean.
Molly:
Yeah, this is a problem with nuts in general. It's the price you pay for being a nut lover.
Matthew:
Yeah it is. You know from the mixed nut episode that I am a major nut lover.
Molly:
All right, so Peanut M&M's. Cross that one off the list. Let's do Almond M&M's.
Matthew:
Okay.
Molly:
I have just opened my bag and I am looking at it, and it is overwhelmingly blue. I feel like something went wrong in the factory.
Matthew:
Oh, interesting. Let me-
Molly:
There's a lot of blue in here.
Matthew:
... peer into my sack.
Molly:
The one thing I do notice about the almonds-
Matthew:
Mine is not that, I don't even see a blue. I think you got all the blue and I got all the other ones.
Molly:
Actually, now that I look at it, it does look like maybe I do have an even number of different colors. It's just, all the blues were at the top, but what I find interesting about the Almond M&M is that they truly are almond shaped, which is kind of cute, because it's not like a Peanut M&M is peanut shaped. It's lumped shaped.
Matthew:
Is a Peanut M&M peanut shaped? I don't think a Peanut M&M is not peanut shaped. Do you mean shaped like a peanut in the shell?
Molly:
No, I'm just fucking around.
Matthew:
Wait a minute, wait. If they made a special edition Peanut M&M that was shaped like a peanut in the shell, and was twice-
Molly:
I would buy those.
Matthew:
... as big and had two peanuts in it. That would be so great.
Molly:
Occasionally you get one like that.
Matthew:
I think these almond ones are pretty good. I am not a big almond fan.
Molly:
I like almonds, but this candy does nothing for me. The almond brings nothing to the M&M.
Matthew:
I feel like I am getting some real almond flavor off of it. I think I would rank these in terms of, there's a line below which, even if a candy or cookie is in the house, I'm not going to eat it that quickly. And I think these for me are just above the line. I will polish these off but I won't rush to do it.
Molly:
Got it. Okay, Matthew-
Matthew:
What's next?
Molly:
... what do you think should come next? I know that you have some of the various dark chocolate flavors.
Matthew:
Yeah, so some that I picked up that Molly didn't are dark chocolate peanut, dark chocolate regular size, and mint, and pretzel.
Molly:
I wonder if maybe you should do the dark chocolate ones right now, and then we should move on to maybe peanut butter and then the pretzel and the crispy.
Matthew:
So, I'm eating a dark chocolate peanut. Oh, wow-
Molly:
Do you notice a real difference?
Matthew:
Yes, definitely. I don't think these are as good as original peanut, and I don't think the dark chocolate plain are as good as the original plain. We've talked about this before, to me cheap milk chocolate is almost always better than cheap dark chocolate. And M&M's are made with cheap chocolate, and so the dark chocolate is not going to be a winner for me. If they made a special, this is the kind of thing that they do in Japan all the time. Two companies will team for Mister Donut meets Pierre Marcolini, we just talked about last week, that's going on now. I'd they did M&M meets Valrhona and did Valrhona dark chocolate M&M's, I bet that would be fantastic.
Molly:
I bet it would be good, but I don't think I want really good dark chocolate up next to that candy shell.
Matthew:
Yeah, you're right. I would definitely be eager to try it.
Molly:
I would try it. The candy shell is like, "Hey, this is a candy." And when you have fancy dark chocolate-
Matthew:
Which is a problem when you're a soldier on the battle field and you've got this bag of candies that keep yelling, "Hey, this is a candy!"
Molly:
Okay, forget what I was going to say, I- [crosstalk 00:36:20]
Matthew:
I'm sorry.
Molly:
Okay, Matthew, let's try these peanut butter ones which are, for all intents and purposes, just like Reece's Pieces, only chunkier. They've got really round bellies.
Matthew:
I feel like the peanut butter texture is pretty different from a Reece's Pieces.
Molly:
Elaborate.
Matthew:
Or is it just that it's got a chocolate coating?
Molly:
Wait, hold on. How's Reece's Pieces different?
Matthew:
Reece's Pieces has no chocolate. Reece's Pieces is a peanut paste inside a candy shell. Peanut M&M's-
Molly:
What, there's no chocolate?
Matthew:
I don't think Reece's Pieces contain chocolate, but now that I say that so adamantly I want to look it up and make sure.
Molly:
Please look it up, I need to know.
Matthew:
They suggest that I might want to know more about Reese Witherspoon.
Molly:
No, probably not.
Matthew:
I know she's legally blond.
Molly:
Oh my God, Matthew.
Matthew:
Sugar, partially defatted peanuts, these are the ingredients in Reese Witherspoon. Sugar, partially defatted peanuts, partially anhydrated vegetable oils, dextrose, and some other shit. No chocolate. I also think that the peanut butter part of peanut butter M&M's feels firmer to me, somehow, than Reece's Pieces. But that's probably my imagination.
Molly:
I know what you mean, there's something a little bit crumbly about the peanut butter in the Peanut Butte M&M. The Peanut Butter M&M is not nearly as... There's something about the sheer volume of salt in a Reece's peanut butter product, that just makes you keep eating it. I don't get that from the Peanut Butter M&M.
Matthew:
Yeah, I do like Peanut Butter M&M's, they are one of my favorite M&M's. My top two are still going to be original and peanut, but they're third place for me unless I eat something today that I like better. I think these benefit from sucking on them for a while and melting the peanut butter. Yeah, it's a good candy, but are you having to now reevaluate everything in your life because you've suddenly learned that Reece's Pieces don't contain chocolate?
Molly:
I'm just shocked, I'm gobsmacked.
Matthew:
Yeah, what should we try next?
Molly:
I think we should move on to ones that have crispy thingies going on with them.
Matthew:
Okay, you try crispy and I'll try pretzel.
Molly:
Okay, so Ash turned me onto Crispy M&M's which have a little bit of wafer cookie inside.
Matthew:
Oh, so it's not a puffed rice, like a crackle?
Molly:
No.
Matthew:
Oh, interesting.
Molly:
It's a little wafer. I really enjoy the texture of these.
Matthew:
Interesting.
Molly:
Sometimes when I taste the wafer I'm like, "I don't know if I really love this, it's like a plain cookie taste."
Matthew:
Is that the slogan printed on the package, taste the wafer?
Molly:
But Ash and I will often pick these up at a gas station if we have a long drive ahead of us or something, and we can just plow through them. I find the texture so pleasing. That said, if my drugstore had had Pretzel M&M's when I went to buy all of these, I totally would've bought those because, Matthew, tell us about the Pretzel M&M's. I can't get-
Matthew:
Pretzel M&M's are quite good.
Molly:
They're really good, right?
Matthew:
So, first of all, the shape is nearly spherical.
Molly:
God, that's satisfying.
Matthew:
And I bit one I half and there is-
Molly:
There's so much crunch.
Matthew:
... there's a ball of pretzel in the middle.
Molly:
Hold on, I'm going to bite in half a Crispy M&M. The Crispy M&M's remind me a little bit of gravel, in that they're-
Matthew:
Remind you a little bit of gravel? And that you've lined your driveway with them.
Molly:
They're spherical but they're smaller than a Peanut M&M, or an Almond M&M, or even a Peanut Butter M&M. They're so small and they're slightly irregular in size. I'm having a bit of a hard time finding one that really big enough for me to bite in. Hang on.
Matthew:
Yeah, I forgot to say that about that Peanut Butter M&M's, that I like how they're lumpy and irregular compared to Plain M&M's. They're lumpy boys.
Molly:
Yeah, if you bite into a Crispy M&M it truly is a little pocket of airy wafer-
Matthew:
I like that, and I like the pretzel-
Molly:
... inside.
Matthew:
... it's like a pretzel ball covered with chocolate and covered with candy coating, and it's salty and it's great.
Molly:
That's pretty cool.
Matthew:
So, I have mint.
Molly:
Do mint, I've never even heard of mint.
Matthew:
I've had Mint M&M's before, they're a little bigger than a Plain M&M, the same shape. [crosstalk 00:40:52]
Molly:
How do they compare to, my God, what are the other mints? The mints that are coated in chocolate but not crispy.
Matthew:
York Peppermint Pattie?
Molly:
No, no, the little ones.
Matthew:
Oh, Junior Mints.
Molly:
Yes, hoe do they compare to Junior Mints? Obviously they're not coated in candy. I mean, Junior-
Matthew:
I don't have any Junior Mints handy so I'm not sure how they compare in size exactly.
Molly:
But what about the filling?
Matthew:
The Mint M&M's seem to be almost exactly the same size as Peanut butter M&M's.
Molly:
Oh, what's inside?
Matthew:
Mint extract flavored milk chocolate, these are pretty good.
Molly:
It's interesting to me then that they're bigger that the regular Milk Chocolate M&M's.
Matthew:
Yeah, and their all green. The entire package is green.
Molly:
How do you feel about this? Are you feeling turned on?
Matthew:
Oh, because green M&M's make you horny.
Molly:
Yeah, that old urban legend.
Matthew:
[crosstalk 00:41:40] would've been with school too. I mean, more than usual. I mean, I guess I have to eat some more.
Molly:
Yeah, eat some more. Give some to Lorry, see what happens.
Matthew:
Okay. I don't know how I feel about the mint. It's a lot of mint extract and it feels like they're not bad, but it's not quite balanced for me. I think it's too mint.
Molly:
Okay, fair enough. You know what I would like to share with the listeners here today, I'm not going to share with them actually because they can't have any, but it's the Coffee Nut.
Matthew:
Oh, yes. I've had these before.
Molly:
So, M&M's have done a few flavor competitions. I don't think that they've had listeners submit flavor ideas.
Matthew:
M&M listeners.
Molly:
Jeez, you know what I mean.
Matthew:
Have you listened to the M&M podcast, it's three talking M&M's who's just trying to eat each other the whole time.
Molly:
It's so aggressive, I can't handle it. I told June she couldn't listen to it, it was so violent.
Matthew:
Oh, and the green M&M is a horny motherfucker.
Molly:
Got a mouth like a sailor that one. Okay, anyway. Coffee Nut was created by vote in 2016, beating out honey nut and chili nut. I guess they only had room for something with a nut.
Matthew:
Yeah, it was the year of the nut. I remember trying all of those.
Molly:
So, anyway. I really appreciate the aesthetic of the Coffee Nut M&M's, they're all various versions of human skin color actually.
Matthew:
Oh, yeah. No, I know what you mean.
Molly:
Yeah, various shades of tan, brown, et cetera.
Matthew:
I don't know if they're advertised that way, but you're right.
Molly:
I think this might be my new favorite.
Matthew:
Yeah, I'm bummed that I didn't find them this time around. I like those very much too.
Molly:
So it's basically a Peanut M&M, but there is coffee infused into the chocolate. So, it's mocha and peanut which I would ordinarily be like, "[inaudible 00:43:44], that's one too many flavors." But I'm really into this, it's just the right amount of coffee flavor.
Matthew:
Yeah. No, I agree. It's a good candy, and I remember it clearly being the best of the three at the time. And then they did another round of vote for one of three flavors, right?
Molly:
Yes, and that one was in 2019. It was English Toffee versus Mexican Jalapeno, versus Thai Coconut.
Matthew:
Yeah, I remember those. I think I did also agree that the English Toffee was the best, that whole round I felt did not really slap for me. I wanted-
Molly:
I don't...
Matthew:
I wanted the Jalapeno one to be more Jalapeno.
Molly:
Yeah, and the coconut one, was it a tiny macaroon in side each one? Because I remember that.
Matthew:
Yeah, there was a tiny macaroon inside each one. No, actually it was a full sized macaroon.
Molly:
Like almond joy bites or-
Matthew:
A chocolate dipped macaroon that was then covered with a candy shell, each one weighed two ounces.
Molly:
Yeah, they're roughly the size of a quarter cup.
Matthew:
Yeah, exactly.
Molly:
You got one and a half per package.
Matthew:
And you actually can bake them, and they get gooey.
Molly:
Anyway-
Matthew:
What would happen if you bake... I guess it's like you bake M&M's in cookies, never mind.
Molly:
Yeah, one thing I didn't put on the agenda today was all the things people do with M&M's, like put them in rice crispy treats, or cookies, or whatever. I don't really-
Matthew:
Do you think there has been a state fair abomination where they did breaded and fried M&M's?
Molly:
I don't think I want to talk about that.
Matthew:
I think it might be good.
Molly:
Matthew, okay hold on. I have two flavors left to taste. I've got caramel-
Matthew:
I also.
Molly:
... and fudge brownie.
Matthew:
Oh, I have the same too. Okay, let's do caramel first.
Molly:
Okay, hold on. Don't say anything I'm still tearing mine open. Okay, so these are a little chunkier than the peanut butter ones. They're all very chewy inside.
Matthew:
Yeah, I am not a fan of these.
Molly:
It's just like a... No, I don't like this caramel flavor.
Matthew:
No, no, I feel like if you gave me some of these I'd be like, "God, I wish I had regular old M&M's." I don't think-
Molly:
Or Milk Duds.
Matthew:
Yeah, I like Milk Duds.
Molly:
These don't even taste like caramel.
Matthew:
Yeah, these are like in the uncanny valley between M&M's and Milk Duds, and they're just not serving the purpose of either one.
Molly:
God, it does not even taste like caramel.
Matthew:
The caramel is too sweet.
Molly:
It's just like there's chewy stuff in there.
Matthew:
Yeah, it's just a chocolate coating on some chewy stuff that they found in the corner of the factory.
Molly:
Okay, Matthew, let's-
Matthew:
I am really hitting the M&M wall here, and that doesn't usually happen, but wow.
Molly:
I want to talk about the newest flavor, released in 2020.
Matthew:
I had never heard of these, I went to the store and there they were. And I'm excited.
Molly:
Fudge brownie flavor. Now, I would not have ordinarily picked these up, it's like the coffee nut. It's too many ideas in one candy, Fudge Brownie M&M.
Matthew:
Yeah, what makes it brownie?
Molly:
I don't know.
Matthew:
I guess we'll find out.
Molly:
Let's find out. Okay, so what do they look like, Matthew? Tell the listener.
Matthew:
What they look like?
Molly:
Yeah, again, they kind of look like the caramel ones. They're like if you inflated a milk chocolate a little bit.
Matthew:
Yeah, it's like if you had a little bike pump and you pumped up a Milk Chocolate M&M. I mean, they're kind of the shape of a Peanut Butter M&M, maybe a little rounder.
Molly:
Ew, I hate these.
Matthew:
I am undecided. So-
Molly:
Ew, okay the texture is pretty good but it just taste like rotten brownie.
Matthew:
You know what it taste like is gas station brownie, I don't even know if this product exist. But if there were a plastic case at the counter at a gas station and there was a brownie in there that have been sitting there for a couple of weeks-
Molly:
It tastes like burnt brownie, or something.
Matthew:
... and yet I still kind of like it.
Molly:
Ew, no I-
Matthew:
It's sort of taste like Hershey Syrup.
Molly:
Ugh, no it does not taste like Hershey syrup. Don't say that.
Matthew:
Yes, it does. I'm tasting the syrup packet that you squeeze into the Ghirardelli Brownie Mix. This definitely would not be in my top three, but I definitely don't hate it either.
Molly:
I just had to cleanse my palette with a couple of coffee nuts. Ugh, oh God.
Matthew:
What do you think what happened if I now took all of these and made the ultimate M&M mix with some of every variety, just stirred together.
Molly:
I think it sounds like a nightmare, I don't want it.
Matthew:
Yeah, it would suck.
Molly:
Okay, Matthew, we're quickly approaching the end here, which is great because I'm really tired.
Matthew:
When you say you probably mean M&M toxicity?
Molly:
Yes. So, really quick, let's do a little flavor quiz.
Matthew:
Yes, okay.
Molly:
So, usually when one of us does a flavor quiz for the other we don't type it onto the agenda, because we don't want to give away what's real and what's fake. But I have memorized the answers to this quiz.
Matthew:
Oh, okay. Great.
Molly:
And I've put in here. So, Matthew, which of the following flavors, some of these are limited some of these were regular flavors for a time. Which of the following flavors are real?
Matthew:
I'm very excited for this.
Molly:
Strawberried peanut butter.
Matthew:
Strawberried peanut butter. I'm going to say real because the name is so clunky, I don't think you made it up.
Molly:
It's real. Strawberry nut.
Matthew:
Fake.
Molly:
Real.
Matthew:
Wow.
Molly:
I know, right. It seems redundant.
Matthew:
Have they ever made an M&M with no chocolate? Like a strawberry nut, does that have a chocolate layer? I mean, I guess we could Google it.
Molly:
We could. Okay, hold on.
Matthew:
Yeah, I don't care.
Molly:
Pumpkin Spice.
Matthew:
Real.
Molly:
Real. Ginger bread.
Matthew:
Fake.
Molly:
Real.
Matthew:
Wow.
Molly:
Hot cross buns.
Matthew:
Fake.
Molly:
Real.
Matthew:
What? Wait, did they have a cross printed on them?
Molly:
I have no idea. I don't know, but wouldn't they be so cute if they were all brown with a little cross on top?
Matthew:
Yeah.
Molly:
Oh my God, I'd buy those just to hug them.
Matthew:
Wait, I'm going to look up what these look like.
Molly:
Okay.
Matthew:
Oh, did you notice on the M&M's package that the M&M's website is mymms.com, that's, M-Y-M-M-S .com, Like mymms.com?
Molly:
No.
Matthew:
So, that's why we need the apostrophe.
Molly:
That true.
Matthew:
Okay, Hot Cross Bun M&M's are available in Australia. Oh, wow. Okay, so it doesn't look like there's any frosting cross on the exterior of the M&M, but on the packaging there's anthropomorphize M&M that looks like it's in a frosting straight jacket, which is very disturbing.
Molly:
A frosting what, straight jacket?
Matthew:
Yeah, it looks like this M&M is being held hostage by a maniac.
Molly:
Could you send me a link to this, or does it look like an M&M wrapped in caul fat? All right. Cherry cordial.
Matthew:
Fake.
Molly:
Real.
Matthew:
Okay.
Molly:
Pineapple.
Matthew:
Okay, I don't think there's been a fake one yet, so I'm going to say real.
Molly:
Real. Candy apple.
Matthew:
Real.
Molly:
Real. Tropical.
Matthew:
Tropical. Tropical M&M's, I don't think I like it. Real.
Molly:
Real. Tres leches.
Matthew:
Real.
Molly:
Real. Lamington.
Matthew:
Is that an Australian cookie, cake?
Molly:
Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right.
Matthew:
Real.
Molly:
Real. Hello Dolly.
Matthew:
I don't understand what that would mean.
Molly:
Oh, you've never had a Hello Dolly bar?
Matthew:
Oh, no. I only knew the musical.
Molly:
Oh, no, there's a bar.
Matthew:
What's a Hello Dolly bar?
Molly:
Oh, God. Let's look it up, hold on. Hello Dolly bars, also known as Seven Layer bars.
Matthew:
Okay, I think I have heard of that.
Molly:
Graham cracker, coconut, chocolate, white chocolate, nuts. God, I love a Hello Dolly bar.
Matthew:
That's a lot of things to squeeze into an M&M, so I imagine them being the size of a Peppermint Pattie. I'm going to say real.
Molly:
Fake, that's the only one that is fake.
Matthew:
What, the only fake one? Wow, okay.
Molly:
I made up the last one, yeah.
Matthew:
And you really fooled me because it's a thing that I didn't even know was a bar.
Molly:
Okay, wow that was a really fun flavor quiz. I'm glad I went to that trouble.
Matthew:
Okay, this may be our longest episode, so-
Molly:
Okay, let's-
Matthew:
... what can we do to get out of here?
Molly:
Okay, let's get out of here. I was going to say something about personalized M&M's, because you can have them made for a wedding, or a baby shower-
Matthew:
Oh, with your own logo on it, or something?
Molly:
Your own logo, or your own initials. At least for a time you could have your own face put on it, I'm not sure if that's still the case.
Matthew:
Oh, wow. But on a regular sized M&M?
Molly:
I think. Oh my God, I just had the best idea. If we make it to 15 years let's have personalized M&M's made where half of them have my face and half have yours. Get it, M&M's?
Matthew:
Oh, this is a great idea, and then what would we do with them? Send them to every listener.
Molly:
Eat them.
Matthew:
We would just eat our own faces.
Molly:
We would send them to influencers and get them to-
Matthew:
I think five years from now we will be living in a world where we have to eat our own faces. So-
Molly:
I think you're right.
Matthew:
So, might as well throw a little chocolate in.
Molly:
Seems like we found our way out of this episode.
Matthew:
Okay, so what's your favorite M&M?
Molly:
Right now, I think it's a tie between peanut and coffee nut.
Matthew:
Okay. Yeah, for me, peanut's number one and plain is number two, because I'm the most boring person in America.
Molly:
What about pretzel?
Matthew:
They're good, but they're not in that top tier for me.
Molly:
Okay, fair enough.
Matthew:
Nothing else really comes close to a Peanut M&M.
Molly:
Yeah. Oh, okay, I buy it.
Matthew:
Yeah, I buy it all the time.
Molly:
I don't have anything for my quilting or animal crossing segments today.
Matthew:
Okay, I have a real quick-
Molly:
Wait, actually I do have an update to my quilting.
Matthew:
Thank you.
Molly:
I forgot to prewash my backing fabric.
Matthew:
How could you?
Molly:
And I am literally 96.5% done with quilting the sandwich. And I'm not going back now, I can't. I can't go backwards, so we are just-
Matthew:
Obviously I know why it's important to prewash the backing thing you said, but just for some of our listeners who may not be as expert in the world of quilting as you and I are. Why is it important to prewash the backing?
Molly:
Well, so you're supposed to prewash all the fabric that you sow with. Wash it and dry it, I mean, unless you're working with some special fabric that you don't- [crosstalk 00:54:17]
Matthew:
Oh, is it because it might shrink and now if you wash the quilt it's going to shrink at different rates, and it's going to get really weirdly mushroom shaped?
Molly:
Hopefully not. I mean, I think it shrinks a max of 3%. Anyway, I'm just hopeful that it doesn't make a difference. Yeah, I think that all my quilt top fabric is washed, and-
Matthew:
Okay, I think it's going to be fine.
Molly:
I think it's going to be okay. The only question is, Matthew, I'm using the same fabric for the binding which is the trim that you sow on the side. Do I go ahead and prewash that now that I realize it hasn't been prewashed, or do I forge ahead with the un-prewashed fabric?
Matthew:
I am afraid to weigh in on this because my opinion will be wrong, and then if you do the thing I say the failure of your quilt will be my fault.
Molly:
And then we won't tape shows anymore and we won't make it to 15 years, and we won't personalize M&M's.
Matthew:
And we won't get to eat our own faces.
Molly:
That's right.
Matthew:
I have a cute animal you need to know. And this one was suggested by listener Sarah via host Molly. And it's a baby Malaysian tapir from a Singapore zoo, and we'll link to that in the show notes. It's getting a shower, it's very cute.
Molly:
It's so cute, especially the first few seconds of the video where it wiggles its nose, it's so earnest.
Matthew:
Yeah, it might be named Ernest, it's probably not.
Molly:
I hope it's named Ernest.
Matthew:
All right, I am feeling the way you feel when you have eaten 1,000 calories of M&M's at 10:52 am.
Molly:
The way that you started that sentence, like, "I am feeling the way that you feel." It reminded me of-
Matthew:
Of the song, I want a ne drug?
Molly:
No, it reminded me of the Janelle Monáe song, Make me feel, or The way you make me feel, except just much heavier and peanutier.
Matthew:
Yeah, I think of that song the way that feels is good, and in this case it's not as good.
Molly:
Okay, all right.
Matthew:
All right, you can find us online at spilledmilkpodcst.com, on Reddit at reddit.com/r/everythingspilledmilk. If you want to send us a message for our occasional spilled mail segment, you can email us [email protected]. Our producer is Abby Cerquitella, our staff consists of a few talking M&M's, one of whom has been abducted and needs to be rescued.
Molly:
God, I don't know, I ran out of funny stuff.
Matthew:
Okay, and until next time. Thank you for listening to Spilled Milk. Hi, we're a podcast. That was the thing that the M&M's were saying on the battlefield for some reason, "Hi, I'm a candy." Was that it? All right, maybe something else.
Molly:
No, no. I'm Molly Wizenberg.
Matthew:
And I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Molly:
Now I have to have 8 million different dongles.
Matthew:
Oh, you got to have those dongles.