Bustin' the Brown M&M Myth... Oh! What Now???

We all know that scene in The Wedding Planner when Mary is explaining to Steve why she only eats the brown M&Ms, and she says, "Someone once told me they have less artificial flavoring because chocolate is already brown and it kind of stayed with me." Well, I, Addison Miller, am about to do some serious myth-busting!!! Do brown M&Ms really have less artificial coloring than other color M&Ms? I say no, they have the same (or at least a comparable) amount! See for yourself…

Here is a picture of a brown M&M (click for bigger picture) that has been chopped in half. If you can see them, there are three different layers, the solid chocolate center, a hard, white candy coating, and then a coat of brown coloring with a white m stamped on the center. Furthermore, the brown outside layer is not even the same color as the chocolate!

I thought that maybe I would need more research, so I decided to check out the How Products are Made website and found an article on M&M candies. See link: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/M-M-Candy.html. According to the website:

"The liquid chocolate is poured into tiny molds to create the chocolate centers of the candy… After the candies are formed, they are "tumbled" to make the chocolate center smooth and rounded. Then they are allowed to harden. [After] the chocolates are hard… they are rotated in large containers as liquid candy made of sugar and corn syrup is sprayed onto them. The coats are sprayed on rotating chocolates at timed intervals. These intervals allow each coat to dry. Each coat leaves an even layer, a shell, of dry candy substance. The chocolate centers receive several coatings to ensure a uniform, complete coat on every piece. The color is added to a finishing syrup and applied as the final coat. Each batch is a different color. Finally, the liquid candy dries into the hardened shell."

Therefore, the actual chocolate has absolutely nothing to do with the outer brown coloring of brown M&Ms. So, next time you go digging around in the M&M bowl to find those brown ones, remember that 1) it doesn’t matter what color you pick because they all have the same amount of food coloring, and 2) it’s totally rude to touch all the stinkin’ M&Ms just to fish out a few of them. Thanks!

Love,
Addison Claire Miller
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