August 3rd: Mars Treets

Kcal 185 Fat 9.6g Fat(sats) 3.9g Carbs 19.3g (per 36.0g serving)

I must admit that until I read the article from 'The Grocer' magazine a week or so ago I had no clue whatsoever what Mars Treets were. According to that piece the relaunch of Treets is Mars' attempt to ride the nostalgia wave that seems to be taking over the Confectionery market at present (Cadbury Wispa etc!). Just as with most new products I was scooped to a review by Foodstufffinds who managed to track these down a week or so earlier than I did myself (See Review HERE!). If you are still looking for them yourself I suggest you head to your local Sainsburys where I found them on a £1 promotion.

According to 'The Grocer' article Treets used to come in a few different formats - some with toffee etc! With this in mind I guess I was a little disappointed when I read the on pack description - 'milk chocolate covered peanuts in a crisp brown shell' ... the first thing that sprang to mind was whether these were just going to be M&M's Peanuts in a different bag. The packaging itself was altogether pretty unspectacular. I have no idea what the packaging used to look like but the pouch just struck me as rather plain looking and lacked any sort of retro appeal. The pieces inside looked a tad boring as they were just brown coloured, however I was pleased to see that the majority of the pieces looked larger than M&M's Peanuts. Currently the only size pack Treets are available in are 200.0g pouches - with the help of a few work colleagues we managed to polish off a bag in an afternoon.

As I was sharing I didn't really get a great opportunity to have a smell of the bag though an obvious nut based smell was released when I tore it open. Remembering back to my review of the M&M's Peanuts I can recall that I thought they didn't quite deliver the desired chocolate flavour hit and that the peanuts were not particularly that fresh tasting. I am pleased to say that these Mars Treets went some way to solving these problems as the chocolate was not only implemented thicker but the nuts were also a heck of a lot nicer. As you can see the in the cross-section photo above the chocolate that coated the peanuts was a heck of a lot more substantial which meant that the chocolaty flavours came through more in the initial taste. As the chocolate was thicker the sugary shells didn't dominate as much which was quite the opposite to what I found with the M&M's Peanuts. As I have already mentioned I also found the inner peanuts to my preference and felt that they displayed a greater array of fresh, roasted flavours in comparison to the M&M equivalents. As I shared these I am not sure exactly how many I had - I would hazard a guess that I consumed a quarter of the pack which was a pretty fulfilling amount.

Overall these didn't quite deliver the excitement of many other new products but at the same time I enjoyed them nonetheless. I wouldn't have put it past Mars just to stick some non coloured M&M's in a different branded pouch though I am pleased to say that in comparison these were actually a touch better. The thicker implementation of the chocolate provided a far better chocolaty experience and the nuts just seem to give a lot more in both crunchy textures and flavours. My recommendation regarding these is pretty simple - if you like M&M's Peanuts then you should really try these, if your not a fan then I would stay well away. Innovation isn't exactly a strong point for Mars - these are good but lets hope they can come up with something a bit more exciting soon.

7.6 out of 10