Chocolate Wars: Smarties versus M&Ms

Even after living in Germany for five years, I'd never bothered to try Smarties. M&Ms aren't really on my list of "must-eat" chocolates, but they're nice enough when I'm in the mood. So it took five years before I got in the mood, ok? The chocolate in Germany is that good.

When I was in the US recently, I noticed that my daughter grabbed quickly for a bag of Mini M&Ms. Right next to that I saw a bag of Dark M&Ms and decided to try them. Then, yesterday at the grocery store back here in Germany, I saw this cute hexagonal package of Smarties, I knew it was time to compare the candies.

The Results

M&M Minis
Smell: nothing special
Color: Classic bright M&M colors
Smoothness: smooth with the typically M&M crisp crunch.
Aftertaste: The expected extra-sweet M&Ms chocolate taste.

M&M Dark

Smell: nothing special

Color: Classic bright M&M colors

Smoothness: smooth chocolate with the typically M&M crisp crunch.

Aftertaste: Still the M&Ms chocolate taste, but much tastier than regular M&Ms.

Smarties

Smell: a little fruity

Color: Lighter colors than M&Ms, but made with vegetable colors. Nice to look at, but not as intense as M&M colors.

Smoothness: very smooth chocolate, and the coating is not as crunchy as M&Ms

Aftertaste: The Smarties have a fruity taste on the shell and a smoother milk chocolate than M&Ms

And the winner is: M&Ms Dark! The minis are addictive because of their size, and the Smarties are nicer to crunch, but the dark chocolate wins me over. One other thing I did prefer about the Smarties is that they didn't get hard and bumpy when you suck on them til the candy shell melts. I presume that the M&Ms bumps are just undissolved sugar, and since they also eventually dissolve, I feel safe in eating them.