Mars bar facts for kids
  UK-style Mars bar
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| Place of origin | England | ||||||
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| Region or state | Worldwide | ||||||
| Created by | Forrest Mars | ||||||
| Invented | 1932 | ||||||
| Main ingredients | Chocolate, caramel, nougat | ||||||
| 228 or about 230 kcal | |||||||
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Mars, commonly known as Mars bar, is the name of two varieties of chocolate bar produced by Mars, Incorporated. It was first manufactured in 1932 in Slough, England by Forrest Mars, Sr. The bar consists of caramel and nougat coated with milk chocolate.
An American version of the Mars bar was produced which had nougat and toasted almonds covered in milk chocolate; later, caramel was added to the recipe as well. The American version was discontinued in 2002, then revived in a slightly different form the following year under the name "Snickers Almond".
Versions
UK and worldwide
In most of the world, a Mars bar is a chocolate bar with nougat and caramel, coated with milk chocolate. In the United States, it is marketed as the Milky Way bar.
It was first manufactured in Slough, England under the Mars bar name in 1932 by Forrest Mars, Sr., son of American candy maker Frank C. Mars. He modelled it after his father's Milky Way bar, which was already popular in the US, adjusting the recipe to better suit European tastes. He had a staff of twelve people, and originally advertised it as using Cadbury's chocolate couverture. The bar and the proportions of the main components have changed over the years. With minor variations, this version is sold worldwide, except for the US, and is packaged in a black wrapper with red gold-edged lettering. Three million Mars bars accompanied the British task force to the Falklands in 1982.
In 2002, the Mars bar was reformulated and its logo was updated with a more cursive appearance except in Australia where it still has the pre-2002 logo. Its price also increased. The nougat was made lighter, the chocolate on top became thinner, and the overall weight of the bar was reduced slightly. The slogan "Pleasure you can't measure" was intended to appeal more to women and youths.
Various sizes are made. As of 2008: miniature bars called "Fun Size" (19.7 g) and "Snack Time" (36.5 g) (both sold in multiple packs); a larger multi-pack size of 54 g; the regular-sized single 58 g bar (later 51 g), and a "king-size" 84 g bar, since replaced by "Mars Duo" (85 g), a pack of two 42.5 g bars. The regular 58 g single bar contains 260 calories.
In the second half of 2008, Mars UK reduced the weight of regular bars from 62.5 g to 58 g. Although the reduction in size was not publicised at the time, Mars claimed the change was designed to help tackle the obesity crisis in the UK, but later acknowledged that the real reason for the change was rising costs. In 2013, the "standard" Mars bar was further reduced to 51 g, for a reduction of about 20% in 5 years; it continued to be 51 g in 2023.
In May 2009, the Mars bar size reduced from 60g to 53g in Australia, citing portion sizes and the obesity debate as the primary driver. By 2022 it was noted the Mars bar size had been reduced further to 47g in Australia and New Zealand.
United States
In the United States, the Mars bar was a candy bar with nougat and toasted almonds coated with milk chocolate. The same candy bar is known outside the United States as a Mars Almond bar. Originally it did not have caramel, but at some point caramel was added. It was discontinued in 2002.
In 2003, the company introduced a replacement called Snickers Almond containing nougat, almonds, caramel, and a milk chocolate coating, It is similar to the Mars bar, with some differences; for example, the pieces of almond are smaller in Snickers Almond than in the Mars bar.
The Mars bar was relaunched in January 2010 (initially exclusively through Walmart stores), discontinued again at the end of 2011, and relaunched again in September 2016 by Ethel M, the gourmet chocolate subsidiary of Mars, Inc. The 2016 version was the "original American recipe", without caramel. It was available in their stores and on Amazon.com.
The European or Canadian version of the Mars bar is sold in some American grocery stores that stock imported food products.
Spinoff products
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Other products have also been released using the Mars name.
- Mars Bites/Bouchées (Canada)
- Mars Delight (discontinued in the UK in 2008)
- Mars Choc Brownie
- Mars Extra Chocolate Drink
- Mars Active Energy Drink
- Mars specialty energy Mix
- Mars and Mars Midnight Ice Cream bars
- McVities Mars Mini Rolls
- Mars Biscuits (Australia and the UK – a biscuit with Mars topping)
- Mars Pods (Australia and New Zealand – a small crunchy wafer shell with Mars filling, also available in variants)
- Mars Rocks
- Mars Planets
- Mars Mix
- Mars Frozen Dessert Bar
- Mars Protein – A 50 g Mars bar with less sugar and more protein; packaging states "More protein, 40% less sugar".
Deep-fried Mars bar
First reports of Mars bars coated with batter and deep-fried being sold in Stonehaven, Scotland date back to 1995. Mars says that it is "not authorised or endorsed".
Deep-fried Mars bars are available from some fish-and-chip shops in the UK (mainly in Scotland), Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and the United States.
In Kathmandu, Nepal, momo dumplings in tourist areas have used Mars bars as an unusual filling.
