The Good: Tastes great, Inexpensive, No aftertaste, Amazing smell
The Bad: Obviously not very healthy, Does not actually taste like coconut.
The Basics: 3 Musketeers Coconut is a new or experimental flavor for my old favorite that, quite simply, does not live up on the flavor front for what it claims!
One of my favorite mass-produced candies in the world are 3 Musketeers bars. I can’t remember a time when I did not love 3 Musketeers (reviewed here!) and while I have enjoyed the chocolate mint 3 Musketeers, I was shocked to discover I have not yet reviewed them. In fact, I am actually dumbfounded that Mars/M&M’s slipped out a new flavor that I did not know of until I saw it in the store! On my way home from visiting my wife last, one of our favorite rest stops had a single box of 3 Musketeers Coconut chocolate bars on a rack that left me surprised and feeling the need to spend a couple dollars on candy!
Unfortunately, when it comes to 3 Musketeers Coconut, I am hoisted on my own petard as a reviewer. My own set of standards dictates that I cannot rate this anything above average as it does not actually taste like it claims to. Instead, this candy bar has a rich coconut smell, but tastes just like a regular 3 Musketeers bar. While that is pretty wonderful in its own right, it is not enough to enthusiastically recommend this variant. After all, if you want a 3 Musketeers bar, buy a 3 Musketeers bar. But is seems like a pretty safe bet that if you’re buying the 3 Musketeers Coconut, you want coconut flavor, not just the scent.
Basics
3 Musketeers Coconut is a pretty standard 3 Musketeers candy bar, designed to appeal to all consumers. The 1.49 ounce candy bar is wrapped in a white, red and blue plastic wrapper. Inside, smooth candy bar is actually two, smaller candy bars. Each Coconut flavored 3 Musketeers is about 2 3/8" long, 1 1/16” wide, and 9/16” tall, with no external texturing , save a stylistic drizzle across the top. This is not MARS’s answer to the Mounds bar.
Ease Of Preparation
These are candies that have been made by the fine folks at Mars Chocolates and as a result, preparing them is as easy as opening the wrapper and removing the bar. From there, one need only put each fun size bar in your mouth (one at a time) and chew. It does not need to be any more complicated than that! 3 Musketeers Coconut chocolate bars come ready-to-eat and require no preparation save removal from the wrapper.
Taste
Opening the Coconut 3 Musketeers wrapper, the smell of coconut is immediately evident. This is not a candy bar that is trying to hide its true nature. Instead, overwhelming any sense of the chocolate in this bar, the 3 Musketeers Coconut opens up the nasal passage with its distinct, creamy, slightly nutty scent of coconut and dares you not to take a bite.
I could not rise to that dare and placing the Coconut 3 Musketeers on the tongue, one is immediately impressed by the sweet and dry milk chocolate flavor of the candy bar. This is a particularly sweet milk chocolate that is not at all waxy and is so thin that it almost immediately gives way to the nougat inside. The soft, chocolate center is dry and delightful and more forthright in its flavor than the sweet coating. But almost entirely absent in the flavor mix is the actual taste of coconut. Sure, the scent was there in the package, but there is not even an aftertaste of coconut in these bars. In fact, rather oddly, I tasted more of a peanut and caramel aftertaste than anything remotely resembling coconut.
Nutrition
Obviously, these are candies and the folks at MARS do not intend for consumers to live on them. They are a snack and not a terribly nutritious one at that. A serving is considered the full 1.49 oz. package. With the standard recommended serving size, the candy has 180 calories, 50 of which are from fat! That's 9% of the RDA of fat, with 20% of the RDA coming from the four grams of saturated fat! While there is 2% of the RDA of calcium and a single gram of protein, there is no denying that this candy is not good for you and one ought to use it as a dessert occasionally, not a meal ever. I was surprised this candy bar contained 5 mg of cholesterol, though I was pleased that it only had 70 mg of Sodium.
The lack of health benefits ought to be obvious from the ingredients list, which is led by milk chocolate, sugar, and corn syrup. Rather nicely, this candy bar has nothing unpronounceable in it, which was a pleasant surprise. Also interesting is that there is no allergy information insinuating these were made anywhere near nuts! However, there is a warning about the candy possibly containing peanuts. The milkfat prevents it from being Vegan-compliant and its Kosher status is not documented on the package.
Storage/Clean-up
Just as with the preparation, 3 Musketeers Coconut chocolate bars are low stress when it comes to storage and cleanup. Storage is simple when the candy is kept in its wrapper at room temperature or cooler. Kept cool and out of direct sunlight, these confections have an indefinite shelf life (there is a production code, but no expiration date on my package).
3 Musketeers Coconut is a very soft candy bar, so it might require you to wash your hands after eating it. Should one of these bars melt onto clothing one is wearing, consult a fabric guide for what removes chocolate and/or nougat from that type of garment. Otherwise, melted Coconut 3 Musketeers should wipe right off non-porous surfaces with a warm, wet cloth.
Overall
Coconut 3 Musketeers chocolate bars taste great, but are virtually identical to regular 3 Musketeers, but with a coconut bouquet. That makes it very tough to recommend one go out of the way for them!
For other M&M’s/MARS candy reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Raspberry M&M’s
Snickers Dark
Milky Way Simply Caramel
5/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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