In honor of the upcoming holiday where chocolate reigns supreme as the gift of love, I am starting a 14 day countdown to chocolates I have known and loved.

M & Ms
I have held many deep beliefs about M & Ms. As a child, a handful of these colorful spheres felt like a whole lot more treat than a chocolate bar that might have been ten times bigger. It was the quantity that made the difference. We kids held our M’s in our hands and slowly parcelled them out, letting each drop melt slowly in our mouth and not, as the saying goes, in our hand, though  lingering stains  proved this not quite true.

As an adult, I developed a preference for peanut M’ers because I believed there was a higher chocolate to shell ratio in these. On a family camping trip one summer, my kids were disgusted to discover that I was actually spitting the peanuts out. They said why not just eat the solid chocolate ones. I had to defend this chocolate theory to these little philistines.

I have also had a chronic dispute with M & M’s colors. I long rejected the red food coloring  of red M&Ms but they were replaced by the equally icky blue ones. I firmly beleive that the best tasting M is a brown M. Chocolate outside, chocolate inside…how can you go wrong?

These days, I love the  mini bags of M’s that are sold as halloween treats. It’s a perfect amount of chocolate with a built in barrier to excess consumption (except those days when I consume 2 or 3 just because it’s Monday or I’m bored or they’re there.)

So, Hershey’s M & Ms are my first pick for the V-day countdown. I’ve loved them all. The plain, the peanut, the dark chocolate, the peanut butter and now the pretzel. I’ve loved them the longest and they still continue to thrill.

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