Review: Pumpkin Spice M&M’s & I Have No Idea How Any Of This Works!!!!! CALLING FOR HELP!

Junk Food Nation, my site has become popular over the past two years thanks to all of you.  And for a while I was pretty happy and satisfied, since (thanks to WordPress), I built this whole thing from scratch like a caveman, hitting things with hammers until it worked.  I used to have a very SLIGHT programming background, which is to say I made websites over ten years ago.  These days, that’s like saying you used to know how to put together an entire typewriter.

Well, now I’m kind of screwed.  My website, as you’ve noticed, has been slow. SLOW.  SLOOOOOOW.  And I have NO idea why.  Eating up bandwidth, complex code, random widgets – I don’t think I’ve mucked it up too much, but then again, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING.  I’m a lawyer and a junk food lover, damnit, NOT A DOCTOR.  I mean, NOT A WEB PROGRAMMER.

For example, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS PAGE LOOKS LIKE THIS.  Ugh.

Anyways, for you bloggers out there, tech people, whatever you are – I need help.  please, in the comments below, suggest things for me to look at.  Sites to test my site’s loading. People I should talk to.  I WANT TO CROWDSOURCE SUGGESTIONS.  Otherwise, i fear this site will explode very very very soon.  HELP!

Today’s junk food: Pumpkin Spice M&M’s!

Pumpkin Spice M&M's

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s: The Money Shot

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s are something I’m surprised M&M’s haven’t done sooner.  At least, I don’t THINK they’ve ever existed before. But with M&M’s coming out with so many different types of chocolates, including cherry and coconut, why NOT pumpkin spice?  After all, it’s early September, right?

Pumpkin Spice M&M's

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s: where’s the cinnamon?

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s don’t seem to contain any nutmeg, cinnamon, or pumpkin, so yaaaaay these are super artificially flavored.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Pumpkin Spice M&M's

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s: Orange, Brown, green

Opening the bag of these Pumpkin Spice M&M’s, there was a definite smell of pumpkin spice, but there was also that super chocolate classic smell that typically emanates from a GIANT BAG OF M&Ms.  Time to crunch.

Pumpkin Spice M&M's

Pumpkin Spice M&M’s: Pumpkin-y? Sort of.

The verdict: Pumpkin Spice M&M’s were a let down.  I KNOW.  Here’s the deal:

The M&M’s, unless you’re REALLY THINKING ABOUT IT, basically taste like regular M&M’s.  Unlike the Candy Corn M&M’s or say Peanut Butter M&M’s, these candies rely on subtlety…and that subtlety is WAY too subtle.

When I REALLY concentrated on the “pumpkin spice” flavor, it was there, but very faint – the candy shell did evoke a bit of cinnamon-y taste, and I feel like the chocolate had a TINY bit of pumpkin spice, but to be honest, I thought so hard I think I might’ve imagined the flavor being there.  Whether it was there, that’s never a good sign when I feel like my brain needs to make up the flavor.  It should be readily apparent…I should never think, “I *think* I taste the flavor!”

I actually got more of the pumpkin spice flavor in the aftertaste….as I smacked my lips and tongue afterwards, I could smell/taste the pumpkin spice MUCH more clearly than when I was actually eating the candy itself.  It reminded me of the aftertaste of a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks.

All in all – NO.  And to be clear, these didn’t taste BAD – it’s chocolate, after all, and basic M&M’s ARE good.  But these didn’t evoke enough Pumpkin Spice for me to call these successful.  Sorry, M&M’s.

PURCHASED AT: Target

COST: On sale for $3.00

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy

Discuss - 28 Comments

  1. Neil W. Tyra says:

    Go sign up to http://www.lynda.com for the free 30 trial. Take the WordPress tutorials which are outstanding. Can’t guarantee that it will fix this specific problem. But you *will* know what you are doing afterwards. http://www.lynda.com is a terrific resource as you can take the lessons at your own pace wherever you have an internet connection. I signed up for a one year subscription and whenever I have a free moment I do a lesson in something. The breadth of their programming and development courses is really remarkable.

  2. EowynofRohan says:

    HA! The M&M on the package looks how you feel! Sorry, but I know NOTHING about programming/websites. Look in the Yellow pages or Google it.

  3. Elisa says:

    Definitely the right flavor for the season! (Don’t get me started about the Christmas stuff out at Costco right now)
    Thanks for the heads up on the new M&M’s just the same.

  4. Nick Rovo says:

    Dubba should be able to help you out!

  5. Alek says:

    They should had gone using the real pumpkin spices. It not that hard! Come on!

    M&M’s should do a special spiced chocolate for valentine’s day.

  6. Kahnfucius says:

    I hope that when the site DOES explode, it will spew unopened packages of junk food onto my keyboard!

  7. John C. says:

    @junkfoodguy: It’s like the little orange M&M knows something’s wrong. Such an intuitive candy-coated chocolate sphere, that one.

    Anyway, I would try archiving more of the pictures to remove some content. Also, what do you use to run the site? I can help you look into it if you want- email me so I can get some info about the site.

    Talk to you soon!

  8. John says:

    These were a huge let down. I was prepared for a pumpkin spice explosion and got…just M&M taste. They are going to have to bump up the flavor if they want these to sell.

  9. Jennifer says:

    The only difference is the intense green and orange colors, slightly bigger size and mine were greasy on the outside. Otherwise they tast like regular chocolate m and m’s.

  10. Crystal says:

    thanks… article straight to the point….

  11. Sparky says:

    I’m eating these right now, and I dunno, I think there’s enough pumpkin spice flavor. I’m a big fan of pumpkin/chocolate combos (I highly recommend going to Baskin-Robbins and ordering pumpkin ice cream with hot fudge, even if they do look at you funny) and I think this one’s all right. Dark chocolate might have been better than milk though.

    • junkfoodguy says:

      @Sparky: I like the suggestion of the dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate. And maybe I’m being picky – I really wanted more pumpkin spice in the chocolate itself rather than the shell. BTW, pumpkin ice cream with hot fudge SOUNDS AMAZING…like, really amazing. NEED.

  12. FALLisHERE says:

    I’m a huge pumpkin sweets fan and I was so excited to try these. I wish I would have found your site sooner. I was totally bummed! I agree @junkfoodguy that the flavor is way too slight. I actually didn’t like the taste that much either. I would definitely just rather have plain m&m’s. But the candy corn m&m’s on the other hand are killer. So yummy!! I am going to try these pumpkin spice m&m’s in sugar cookies to see if I can find a clever way to use them up so they don’t go to waste.

  13. Chris says:

    These were disgusting! I almost got sick. I enjoy pumpkin spice stuff such as pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and pumpkin lattes but this was just awful. My girlfriend sent me 2 bags and just UGH. I definately tasted the spice in it and it did not mix with the chocolate at all. UGH!!!

  14. Vicki says:

    They taste vaguely cinnamony. More so than regular M&Ms. Somehow less sweet than regular M&Ms.

    I like them better than regular M&Ms.

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