How It's Made: M&Ms

Summary

This video takes viewers on a sweet journey behind the scenes of the M&M's factory, revealing how these beloved candies are made from start to finish. It explores the carefully selected ingredients, including high-quality chocolate, sugar, and vibrant food colorings, and highlights the high-tech machinery and automated processes used to mold, coat, polish, and package the candies. The video also showcases M&M's rigorous quality control, testing for taste, texture, appearance, and durability. Finally, it touches on the variety of flavors, packaging options, and the candy's iconic cultural presence, offering a comprehensive and engaging look at what makes M&M's a worldwide favorite.

Takeaways

• 😀 M&M's are made from high-quality chocolate, sugar, and a mix of natural and artificial flavors to create their signature taste.
• 🍬 The candies come in a rainbow of colors, achieved by adding food dyes to a liquid coating that is applied to the chocolate centers.
• 🏭 The production process involves molding chocolate into spheres, coating them with candy shells, and polishing them for a shiny finish.
• 🤖 Advanced machinery, such as enrobers and color-sorting machines, ensures efficiency and consistency in candy production.
• 📦 M&M's packaging is highly automated, allowing large quantities to be packed quickly while minimizing material waste.
• 🔬 Quality control is rigorous, including ingredient testing, drop tests, stability checks, and regular audits of suppliers and factories.
• 🌱 The factory incorporates sustainability practices, like recycling heat from molding and minimizing packaging materials.
• 🍫 M&M's are available in a variety of flavors, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, crispy, peanut butter, caramel, and almond hazelnut spread.
• 🎉 M&M's have become an iconic part of popular culture, loved by kids and adults and often shared at parties and events.
• 💡 The combination of high-quality ingredients, advanced production techniques, strict quality control, and diverse varieties ensures M&M's remain a beloved candy worldwide.

Q & A

What are the main ingredients used to make M&M's?

M&M's are primarily made of chocolate, sugar, corn syrup, and food coloring. The chocolate is a blend of cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and milk solids, while the sugar provides sweetness and corn syrup keeps the candy soft and chewy.

How are the vibrant colors added to M&M's?

The colors are added using food dyes mixed with a liquid coating. This coating is applied to the chocolate centers and then polished in a rotating drum to give the candies their signature shine.

Where does M&M's source its cocoa from?

M&M's sources its cocoa from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Indonesia, ensuring high-quality cocoa with strict quality control measures.

What is the purpose of the N Rover machine in the production process?

The N Rover applies the candy shell to the chocolate centers by dipping them into a liquid coating and rotating them to distribute the coating evenly. It can process hundreds of thousands of M&M's in minutes.

How does the factory ensure each package of M&M's has a balanced mix of colors?

A sorting machine equipped with sensors and cameras identifies the colors of the candies on the conveyor belt and sorts them into separate bins, ensuring each package has a perfect mix.

What types of quality control tests are performed on M&M's?

M&M's undergo tests for texture, taste, appearance, stability over time, and even drop tests to check if candies crack or break. Ingredients are also inspected for contaminants and impurities.

How is efficiency and waste reduction achieved in M&M's production?

The factory recycles heat from the molding process to dry candies and designs packaging to use minimal material. Automation and high-tech machinery help reduce waste while maximizing output.

What are some of the different varieties of M&M's available today?

M&M's come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, crispy, peanut butter, almond, hazelnut spread, and caramel varieties. Each variety offers unique flavors and textures.

How has M&M's packaging evolved over time?

The company has experimented with various packaging options, including traditional bags, boxes, and plastic tubes. Today, M&M's are available in sizes ranging from single servings to large sharing bags.

Why are M&M's considered an iconic part of popular culture?

M&M's are popular at parties and events due to their bright colors, fun shapes, and shareable nature. Their presence in advertising and widespread recognition has made them culturally iconic.

What role do flavor scientists play in M&M's production?

Flavor scientists develop new and exciting taste experiences using natural and artificial flavors. They help create the distinct, high-quality flavors that make M&M's appealing to candy lovers.

What makes the production line of M&M's a marvel of modern engineering?

The production line combines high-tech machinery, automation, and efficiency measures to produce M&M's quickly and consistently with minimal waste, ensuring high-quality candy with rigorous quality control at every step.