We live in an era when food companies try to inject pumpkin spice into everything and when Mars introduces multiple unique flavors throughout the seasons. What a time to be alive! (I say that in earnest.)
So, of course, Mars has experimented with pumpkin spice versions of America’s favorite candy-coated chocolate. (Well, at least the country’s favorite candy-coated chocolate that is not shaped like eggs.) M&M’s introduced a Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice flavor in 2013, with spice flavors mixed with chocolate. In 2015, it switched to Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte, which I never tried. And in 2017, it ditched the milk chocolate and introduced White Pumpkin Pie M&M’s, which stuck around for a few years. That version was my favorite, and I thought it came close to pumpkin pie. The 2024 offering combines the milk chocolate of a decade ago with the “pie” name of 2017.
(True story: I bought the pumpkin spice flavor in 2013 and 2014. Then, in 2019, I found an old package of it in my house that had somehow managed to escape the trash can, and there was one solitary M&M left inside. You better believe I ate it because what kind of a candy reviewer would I be if I didn’t? It wasn’t great after five years, but I didn’t die.)
This new variety is the standard size of M&M’s novelty flavors, and there is no special filling besides the chocolate. It just tastes like chocolate and spices to me. My palate isn’t discerning enough to tell you what spices, but it definitely tastes like fall. I’m reminded of the pumpkin spice hot cocoa I take on September camping trips, and I think of October trail runs among the yellow and red leaves.
Beyond the spices, though, I’m afraid these really have nothing in common with pumpkin pie, texturally or flavor-wise. Nothing reminds me of crust. Nothing reminds me of the squishy, custardy part of pumpkin pie. Nothing reminds me of the namesake squash.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Mars reused the pumpkin spice recipe from 2013 and 2014. But I can’t know for sure because it’s been ten (…or five) years since I had that one.
M&M’s stopped making the White Pumpkin Pie version, and I can’t help but feel like this milk chocolate version is a step backward. It’s hard to complain about chocolate, but Mars promised me pumpkin pie, and it failed to deliver.
Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 2.47 oz. bag
Purchased at: 7-Eleven
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/2 pack, 35 grams) 170 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 25 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 22 grams of sugar including 20 grams of added sugar, and 2 grams of protein.