Tuesday, December 27, 2011

One Of The New, Seasonal, M&M’s Flavors Worth Catching Before They Disappear, Cherry Cordial M&M’s Are Intriguing!


The Good: Great aroma! Interesting idea, Taste good, Decent bulk package
The Bad: Cherry flavor is surprisingly subtle in some of these M&M’s!
The Basics: The Limited Edition Seasonally Available Cherry Cordial M&M's are worth picking up this holidays season . . . if you can still find them!


For those who might not follow my regular food reviews, I love seasonal foods! I am a sucker for specialized candies for the holidays and this year, I discovered I had a real love for Jelly Belly’s limited edition Candy Cane jelly beans (reviewed here!). While Peeps, Hershey’s and other brands like Ghirardelli with their Peppermint Bark (reviewed here!) make seasonal candies, I worked hard this winter to not get into too many seasonal candies. My wife decided to confound that attempt by gifting me Cherry Cordial M&M’s this year!

And I am grateful. These are an exceptionally good M&M’s flavor, even if they are not the strongest taste of cherry known to man (they are quite scented of cherry, which almost makes up for it!). This is easily one of the easiest seasonal candies for me to recommend picking up, especially if you have a chance to get them on clearance now that the holidays have passed!

Basics

M&M's Cherry Cordial are a seasonally-available bagged M&M's product, designed to appeal to all consumers. The 9.9 ounce bag is maroon with a picture of an M&M character (Red) dressed as an elf. Inside, the round chocolates are red and maroon. The Cherry Cordial flavored M&Ms follow essentially the same formula as regular M&M's in that each candy is about 1/2" in diameter, making them more or less bite sized. These differ from the standard M&M's in that they are a bit thicker, about 3/8" as opposed to the standard 1/4" candies.

The Cherry Cordial M&M's come in only the two colors and have the standard M&M's "M" printed on them.

Ease Of Preparation

These are candies that have been made by the fine folks at M&M's/Mars and as a result, preparing them is as easy as opening the bag and removing the chocolates and putting them in your mouth. It does not need to be any more complicated than that! M&M's Cherry Cordial come ready-to-eat and require no preparation save removal from the bag.


Taste

Easily the most aromatic of the M&M’s products I have reviewed to date, opening the bag of Cherry Cordial M&M's reveals a profound scent like that of Bing cherries or black cherries. The scent of chocolate is entirely sublimated to the aroma of fresh, warm cherries. This perfectly titillates the senses and is enough to intrigue consumers.

Placing the Cherry Cordial M&M's on the tongue, one is greeted by the standard hard candy shell of the M&M’s. However, this shell has a slightly dry and sweet taste to it, hinting at the cherry flavor the name promises. The chocolate tastes rich, but sweet, and there is a strong, fruity aftertaste. The aftertaste is more distinctly that of Maraschino cherries than any of the primary tastes. However, while the milk chocolate flavor dominates the primary taste embodied by these M&M’s, the cherry flavor that is present there interacts with it to make it taste a bit darker than it actually is! The result is a flavorful chocolate treat that I, as a dark chocolate lover, am easily able to recommend!

The aftertaste fades within a minute, though these M&M’s will leave your tongue colored red for longer than that!

Nutrition

Obviously, these are candies and the folks at M&M's/MARS do not intend for consumers to live on them. They are a snack and not an overly nutritious one at that. A serving is considered 1.5 oz. and the bag has about seven servings in it. With the standard recommended serving size, the candy has 10 grams of fat! That's 15% of the RDA of fat, with 30% of the RDA coming from the six grams of saturated fat! While there is 4% of the RDA of calcium and two grams 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.

The lack of health benefits ought to be obvious from the ingredients list, which includes a bunch of artificial colors and dyes. Even so, the main ingredients are semisweet chocolate, milk chocolate and sugar. These are made on machines which may also work on peanuts and almonds, so those with allergies are duly warned.


Storage/Clean-up

Just as with the preparation, M&M's Cherry Cordial candies are low stress when it comes to storage and cleanup. Storage is simple when the candies are kept in their bag 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). Resealed properly and kept cool, they ought to remain good.

M&M's were made famous by the catchphrase "melts in your mouth, not in your hands" and the M&M's Cherry Cordial seem to live up to that. As a result, they should not require any cleanup as they are very clean to eat. However, should one melt clothing one is wearing, consult a fabric guide for what removes chocolate from that type of garment. Otherwise, melted Cherry Cordial M&M's should wipe right off non-porous surfaces with a warm, wet cloth.


Overall

Cherry Cordial M&M's are dark and rich and pleasant in a way that I had not anticipated. While usually I do not stock up on M&M’s, this is one flavor I might just do that for!

For other M&M’s candy reviews, please visit my takes on:
Pretzel M&M's
M&M's White Chocolate Candy Corn
Coconut M&M's

8.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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