Maltesers
Encyclopedia
Maltesers are a confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 product manufactured by Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...

.
Maltesers consist of a roughly spherical malt
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...

 honeycomb
Sponge toffee
Sponge toffee is a sugary confection with a light, rigid, sponge-like texture.The main ingredients are typically brown sugar, corn syrup and baking soda, sometimes with an acid such as vinegar. The baking soda and acid react to form carbon dioxide which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture...

 centre, surrounded by Milk chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

. They are most popular in the UK, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. Maltesers are sold in a variety of packaging, including plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 bags (ranging in size from small 'fun-size' upwards), larger cardboard boxes and tubes, and plastic buckets (ranging in size from medium to very large). They also have medium sized "teasers" in celebrations boxes. Maltesers are also one of the types of sweet included in Mars's Revels
Revels (confectionery)
Revels are a chocolate coated confectionery with assorted centres made in Slough by Mars, Inc.Originally, Revels had orange creme, coconut, toffee, or peanut centres, along with Galaxy Counters and Maltesers...

 assortment.
In the UK, the ingredients are: Sugar, Skimmed Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter, Glucose Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fat, Lactose, Demineralised Whey Powder, Milk Fat, Wheat Flour, Emulsifiers (E442, Soya Lecithin, E492), Hydrogenated Vegetable Fat, Raising Agents (E500, E501, E341), Salt, Gelling Agent (Pectin), Flavouring.

The current name is a portmanteau of the words "malt" (one of the main ingredients) and "teasers".

History

Maltesers were created by Forrest Mars, Sr. in 1936, and first sold in 1937. They were originally known as "Energy Balls".

The current Maltesers' slogan is "The lighter way to enjoy chocolate" - earlier slogans have included "The chocolates with the less fattening centre", "No ordinary chocolate" and "Nothing pleases like Maltesers". The Australian version also contains the line: "Made in Australia... ...exported to the world." In the 1930s, advertisements claimed that the Maltesers honeycomb centre is seven times less fattening than ordinary chocolate centres; this led marketers to claim it was beneficial for weight loss.

Similar products

  • Whoppers
    Whoppers
    Whoppers are malted milk balls covered with a chocolate-flavored coating produced by The Hershey Company. They are typically sold either in a small cardboard candy box, is a cardboard milk carton, the “Fun Size” variety which is a tube-shaped plastic package sealed at the sides, containing twelve...

    , artificial chocolate-coated malted milk
    Malted milk
    Malted milk is a powdered food product made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and whole milk, which is evaporated until it forms a powder....

     balls produced by The Hershey Company
    The Hershey Company
    The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...

     in the United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    .
  • "Mighty Malts", malted milk balls manufactured by Necco
    NECCO
    Necco , pronounced "neck-o", is the acronym for the New England Confectionery Company, a manufacturer of candy. It was created in 1901 by the merger of several small confectionery companies located in the Greater Boston area; since December 2007 Necco has been owned by American Capital.The company...

    .
  • "White Maltesers" Maltesers made with a white chocolate coating.
  • "Mylikes" Chinese sweets made by Liang Feng Food Company which started making chocolates in 1982

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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