I picked these M&Ms up at a gas station a little while back just because the idea sounded pretty interesting and I had never had them before.  My expectations were pretty low going in having heard nothing of this product before seeing it on a shelf not far from motor oil and stale coffee.  Also, while I adore peanut butter chocolate combinations in nearly every form, I was a bit wary of how the  jelly component would fit into it.  Flecks?  Gooey center?  I had to know.

     Before I get into it, I want to mention that I was unaware that this product is part of a line of unique M&M flavors that have been created (probably in some mad scientist’s lab somewhere) as movie tie-in flavors.  These Stawberried peanut butter M&Ms affiliate themselves with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and follow previous limited edition combos such as: Mega M&Ms for Shrek, Mint Crisp M&Ms for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Dark Chocolate M&Ms for Star Wars, and White Chocolate M&Ms for Pirates of the Caribbean.

     When I returned home with my oddly flavored M&Ms, I opened the bag without much fanfare and dumped the contents onto a plate.  The first thing I noticed was that they seemed large to me.  Maybe not as big as peanut M&Ms, but seemingly larger than regular M&Ms or the peanut butter variety, although it’s been a while since I’ve had either of those flavors, so I could be mistaken.  The only colors for these M&Ms are red, yellow, and brown, though I’m not really sure why.  Also, they appeared to be a little bit lumpy, which seemed odd, but it’s what’s inside that counts and not the appearance, or so I’m told.

     The flavor of these M&Ms was…interesting.  More intense initially than I expected, the strawberry flavor seems to be housed on the outermost section of the candy; the hard candy shell.  You can see flecks of red in the yellow shell also helping to indicate the altered flavor.   Inside there is a chocolate layer and a peanut butter center with no jelly to be found.  The peanut butter filling tasted pretty standard and could parade around in any shell, not just this PB&J combination.  The strawberry flavor came on strong, but was then overpowered rather quickly by the peanut butter and strawberry and quickly fades to the background as you chew.

     While I found the combination interesting, and not altogether unpleasant, I couldn’t see myself eating this candy very regularly.  I am an avid fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but here the strawberry tastes a little bit artificial and makes the overall flavor a bit too exotic to grab more often.  As a novelty, it succeeds and comes across as advertised, but I think I’ll stick to the more standard peanut butter M&Ms as they were before they were strawberried.