Vegetarians everywhere are getting a bit of a glow to their otherwise pasty coloured cheeks as Mars alter their recipe to include animal products.From this month, the chocolate manufacturer has started using rennet which is an enzyme taken from the stomachs of newborn calves, to make whey for its products.
Although this story has made quite a splash in the lentil eating community, their was an even bigger eeewww factor uncovered that has somehow slipped beneath my meat free radar.
What are your favourite Smarties?
Do you like the green ones, yellow ones or the blue ones. What about those beetle-coloured Smarties?
It turns out that red Smarties get their bright colour from a dye made from dried and crushed cochineal beetles. Just like my home-made rhubarb crumble, it leaves a particularly bad taste in the mouth.
After baby cows guts in the Mars Bars and crushed insects in the Smarties the idea of adding Folic Acid to bread as was mooted this week, sounds quite boring.
Smarties?
ReplyDeleteYou know, I first heard of these in the Fawlty Towers episode where Basil gets a gourmet chef who falls in love with Manuel then gets drunk and passes out during their grand opening Gourmet Night dinner when Manuel declines the offer.
Earlier in the episode, Basil is dealing with a family whose child is a bit of a prick, and who complains that the "chips are the wrong shape." Basil, in growing agitation and anger (as he was prone to have) says between clutched teeth, "What shape were you expecting? Mickey Mouse shape? Smarty shape? Amphibious Landing Craft shape?"
Good times.
Ook ook.
PS: I now assume Smarties are some sort of candy.
They are, so i have been reliably informed, the UK sibling of M&M's.
ReplyDeleteThey're little sour, powdery disks, not chocolate like M&Ms. I used to get the giant ones and they'd burn a hole through my mouth. Good times.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that red Smarties get their bright colour from a dye made from dried and crushed cochineal beetles.
ReplyDelete*Yawn* Old news... they use it in red lipstick too... yummy! :)
Paula... surely, you are thinking of 'flying saucers'?! Smarties are what Lucy said: button-shaped chocolates in a crispy, coloured shell.
Hmm, am I thinking of Sweet-Tarts? I shall go look it up. What are those little tubes of plain sour candies you get all the time at Halloween?
ReplyDeleteIt seems that there are two different candies with the name "smarties", one here and one in GB. I don't know anything about the British chocolate ones, but our Smarties are just like Paula described. When I was very young, my dad kept the ashtray of his car filled with rolls of Smarties, it was my reward for not making the drive miserable. I still love them.
ReplyDeleteImuslim - Luckily i have cut back on eating the red lipstick.
ReplyDeletePaula - I didn't realise that there were two types of Smarties but i was told they are just like M&M's, only with added dead beetle in the red ones.
Dead beetle makes them extra crunchy!
ReplyDeleteOh, speaking of lipstick. I just remembered that when i was little, my cousin and i used to use Smarties as makeup! We'd lick them and smear the colour on our lips, and then pout at ourselves in the mirror! :)
The good news from this morning is that Mars will now not be using rennet in their chocolate! Hooray! (and sensible... so many vegetarians I know love chocolate, so it was such a dumb idea).
ReplyDeleteI read that also Cheezy and thought it was a victory for Veggie Power. Wonder what else we can stop with our newly gained brussel sprout powered momentum.
ReplyDelete