Milky Way
After reviewing Revels the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to review my other childhood favourites. All in the name of science, you understand.
But firstly, a quick note to our American readers. What you know as ‘Milky Way’ is what the rest of the world knows as a ‘Mars Bar’. And what the rest of the world calls a ‘Milky Way’, you call ’3 Musketeers’. I don’t know why – it just is.
What I’ve always liked best about Milky Way is the fluffy, creamy nougat. It’s just yummy. The very thin layer of milk chocolate is really just there to keep the fluffiness from escaping.
After 30 years of experimentation, I have discovered the best way to eat Milky Way is at 20°C (68F). Too cold, and the nougat goes hard and chewy. Too warm, and it just goes icky. Then just bite into it and let it melt in your mouth. Heaven.
There is in fact, only one downside with Milky Way, and that’s that you get funny looks when you buy them if you’re more than 12 years old. This can make them very difficult to get hold of for us grown ups.
Stealing them isn’t on, because the shame of getting caught shoplifting Milky Ways is even worse than the shame of buying them. Hanging around outside sweet shops and offering kids money to go and buy Milky Ways isn’t really an option in this day and age either – and kids these days just run off with your money anyway. (Don’t ask me how I know this, please.)
- Amazon.com (US) (affiliate)
Tags: mars Milk Chocolate nougat UK
July 16, 2006 : 11:32am
How do you know this?
…well, I had to ask didn’t I? ;)
July 17, 2006 : 10:44pm
ok your milky way which is our 3muskateers is utterly adult to purchase on this side of the pond. here it is touted as a “healthier” candy bar since it is less calorie dense then say a Mars bar (which is a milky way here). They even have these commercials with all these gigglng women in offices b/c the 3 muskateers all start floating due to how “lite” they are
I still think they are yum-a-roo
July 18, 2006 : 10:48am
I’m confused by the whole mars/milky way thing. Your milky way looks exactly like my milky way, and nothing like my mars, i’m in new zealand. What’s the diff btw your milky way and the 3 muskateers thing?? They look the same to me, but we don’t have 3muskateers here.
July 18, 2006 : 11:00am
Nicola – we’re in the UK, and I think Milky Way & Mars are the same here as they are there. It’s just America (USA, Canada, South & Central America) where it’s different. As far as I know!
Just to add to the confusion, they don’t actually have anything called a Mars Bar in the US any more. The chocolate they used to call Mars Bar is now called ‘Snickers Almond’.
July 18, 2006 : 10:02pm
ahhh, that makes sense then, sorry, I assumed this was based on american ‘candy’! Snickers almond are delish, have NO idea why they would call that a mars tho, mars doesn’t have nuts! crazy americans :P hehe
July 22, 2006 : 12:01am
Odd, well whatever they call it over there (USA here) I could skip this one. or have about 4 of them SMASHED together. that might be tasty
August 29, 2006 : 3:16pm
As a fellow choco-holic I love a Milky Way (or two) !!! Although I have to say I prefer the original Milky Way, which was a dark blue wrapper with red writing and had a soft milk chocolate centre(instead of the current white chocolate)! I tell everyone this but few remember the old way lol bring back the old milky way!
xxxx
May 21, 2007 : 11:01am
mars and milky way are two different things here in aussie
June 8, 2007 : 3:53pm
hi i coming from Norway and i love miky way!!!!
September 15, 2007 : 5:53pm
Thank god someone else remembers milky way in the blue wrapper and red writing. Its used to be milk chocolate now its white. Everyone i have asked have said its always been white inside i thought i was going mad. any1 got a pic of the old version? my email is leanne2301@hotmail.co.uk
September 22, 2007 : 11:30am
I am soooo glad that someone else remembers the old milkyway as trying to tell my husband it was brown inside was like trying to tell him that a jam doughnut has got jam in the middle. Bravo
September 22, 2007 : 7:57pm
In Poland, Milky Way is just Milky Way. And I like it ^^
October 5, 2007 : 4:09pm
Ok, i also remember the old milky way and loved it, need to see a picture, but its almost impossible to find one.
BRING BACK THE OLD SCHOOL MILKYWAY
PLEASE
October 10, 2007 : 10:59pm
I remember too!!! Bring back the old school milkyway that had chocolate coloured filling instead of white!!!!! It’s never been quite the same and I’m having trouble trying to prove to my friend Eddiemund that it wasn’t always white!
October 10, 2007 : 11:00pm
Hi. M name is eddie and ive been working in milkyway bar production for over 20 years and I can assure you that we never under the mars bar ownership have manufactured these “old type” bars. However it is possible it existed under different company.
Yours sincerely
Eddie
October 10, 2007 : 11:02pm
Eddiemund you are wrong!!!!!!!! They were chocolate coloured inside x
October 10, 2007 : 11:10pm
kes is right on this one.
The difference was subtle, but the filling used to be darker and slightly ‘heavier’. Closer to the nougat in a Mars Bar. The modern version is lighter both in colour and texture.
October 13, 2007 : 11:06am
Thanks for the support Dom! Just need to find a picture to support the argument.
October 13, 2007 : 5:56pm
Your all wrong I tell you!!!
October 20, 2007 : 3:45pm
We aren’t wrong Eddie, it is you who is mistaken, i clearly remember them being brown inside and they tasted better then to.
October 28, 2007 : 4:51pm
Milky Way of old was basically a Mars without the caramel, and was about half the size…basically, what is now known as a Flyte. These guys are right Eddie, sorry!
October 28, 2007 : 4:54pm
Confusion could have, of course, arisen because in the US a “Milky Way” is what the European market knows as a “Mars Bar”…???
October 28, 2007 : 5:10pm
And who remembers the red car and blue car advert?:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2nfa8_milkyway-advert_shortfilms
November 4, 2007 : 3:15am
could you please settle an argument and tell me when the white filling in a milky way was first used, I remember the old milk chocoloate filling but someone older than me ( I am 35) argues that it was always white?
November 17, 2007 : 9:13pm
I remember it well, it was a sad day for me when the recipe changed as I dont like the new sickly UK Milky Ways.
But the world was right again when I found the Flyte Bars, which are the old Milky Ways. If you can find the Flyte launch date, then that will be around the time that the recipe changed.
I am now concerned with the production of Milky Ways though, as not even the staff noticed that they were packing a new product, maybe they should have made the middle bright green!!! Lol.
I also worked for Mars and although it was after these changes, as I was in marketing it was my job to know about this. Sorry Eddie, they did change.
November 17, 2007 : 9:24pm
Thinking about it, I would guess early to mid nineties, definitely before I worked for them in 1998, but you all probably knew it wouldn’t have been as late as that.
November 19, 2007 : 11:45pm
Bummer. I prob should have went in to work more!
November 27, 2007 : 5:40pm
I remember they brought out the light ones when I was younger as a special edition. They both stayed around for a while together then the darker (better) one disappeared off the shelves.
I then swapped over to a secret bar as that was the closest thing to the Milky Way there was at that time then after that the Flyte Bar came out.
December 25, 2007 : 7:58pm
Just had a major debate with my family around the christmas dinner table, that the origional milky way had a brown filling. This website and all of the comments helped to prove me right. I just wish I could find a picture.
December 29, 2007 : 1:34am
wow, after several years of trying to convince my mates that there was an original version of milky way i have finally realised i am not crazy!! i remember the advertising when the centre changed to white, i think it was a cartoon set in space with the milky way bar floating!! anyone remember??
January 2, 2008 : 9:34pm
Ha ha the Milkyway debate is still going strong months later!! Eddie you may find the old style one on your travels around the world!! Let us know.
January 9, 2008 : 11:16am
I am 32 and i have just sat down and scoffed a double bar of milky way and found the white creamier centre far too sickly, there is too much vanilla in them, if it makes me feel sick what on earth is it doing to our kids? i remember the old adverts stating that its “the sweet you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite” which basically told kids that it was ok to eat before dinner. well after eating that i feel so sick i don’t want to eat anymore.
I do remember the brown chocolate flavoured filling, so much better and lighter.(heaven) exactly like the flyte bars. but seems that milky ways are more popular, flytes seem to be aimed more at adults, also claiming to be lighter hence the name flyte (relates to light). Why do manufacturers change things that we already know and love? why don’t they just have milky way white and milky way chocolate? they even had a limited edition dark chocolate milky way once called milky way midnight.
Flytes are also harder to get hold of and more expensive i believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way_bar
January 15, 2008 : 2:58pm
milky ways – does anyone remember when they had the brown centre and not the white like now???
January 15, 2008 : 8:12pm
Oh god yes, they were far nicer, the white filling is too sickly
Galaxy Flyte reminds me a lot of the original milky ways – yummy
January 27, 2008 : 3:08pm
The old Milky Ways WERE a darker brown colour in the centres – and much nicer. I am 32 and I must have been about 6 or 7 possibly when they were still this colour. The white filling is not a patch on the original one – far too fluffy and sickly. BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL VERSION, for the love of God…!
January 29, 2008 : 7:44pm
Glad I found this blog!! Just had a conversation about it with my partner and he didn’t remember the old one!
February 3, 2008 : 10:46pm
They definately changes from brown. They were brown when I was at primary school (I’m 28 now). We used to bite off all the chocolate and then chase people round the playground with what looked like a blob of something disgusting (you can imagine) on the end of our fingers. The white ones were first sold alongside the brown ones as a special edition then the brown ones just disappeared. No one ever believes me either.
February 12, 2008 : 5:29pm
I love milky ways!
February 27, 2008 : 11:59pm
Im so glad i found this sit been telling my boyfriend all night that they used to be brown in the middle and he didnt believe me not that he does now even though i have shown him all the comments really wish i had some photographic evidence.
March 3, 2008 : 7:01pm
Found this blog after doing a google for Milky Way as trying to find the old school Milky Way as hate the new one! Have contacted Mars to ask for them to have both the old one (chocolatey fluffy centre, dark blue wrapper) as well as the new white centred one (as per pic above). A Flyte is very similar and as near to the old milky way but can only buy in a twin bar so eat twice as much!! I think there should be a petition to Mars to bring back the old milky way
March 3, 2008 : 7:41pm
Just found this old advert which I think shows the original milky way wrapper – how sad am i?! http://www.tellytunes.com/tv-advert.asp?ID=532
March 21, 2008 : 9:24am
All I can say to the people who don’t believe that the inside of a Milky Way used to be light brown is that you are too young. I am fifty and remember them from the 60s. I landed on this web site because I am searching for a graphic of the original dark blue wrapper. It is so many years since I bought a Milky Way that I was surprised to read here that they are now white inside!
March 28, 2008 : 2:54pm
I totally had to mention on here that the darker centred milky way bars definately used to exist!!!
And I’m pretty sure that Drew is right about the space advert making a point of how the centre had changed to a “lighter, tastier white filling”. But i dont think it was a cartoon, seem to remember it being a regular video clip of a boy.
The original milky way bars were defo more tastey in my opionion – BRING BACK THE OLD MILKY WAY!!!!
March 31, 2008 : 7:02pm
Well, Im 19 and even I remember the old milky ways, and I definitely also remember the advert when they were changing the middle, and my parents tutted to this. None of my friends believe me when I talk about the ‘old’ milkyways, not even the old ones. Although my parents remember them and definitely agree that they were better. I reckon I must be one of the youngest that can actually remember them!
April 3, 2008 : 8:14pm
I’m not sure if someone has already mentioned this as I haven’t read through every post….
The old Milky Ways were the best (how come no-one remembers them!) and are very similar to the Flyte bars
April 23, 2008 : 2:36pm
Ok I’m 20 and I remember when the limited edition white milky ways came out along side the original brown centred one. . . .I’m pretty sure it was between 1993-1995 when they changed.
Do you remember the advert that was about them being lighter than milk? My dad actually tried to float one on milk and it did indeed work. . . .. I was about 8 and very impressed!
April 24, 2008 : 4:03pm
im in the uk and i dont no wat any1′s on about firstly im ten and i buy milky way they are well nice i bite the chocolate off the top stick my finger in scoop out the inside also my brother is twelve and my sis is 14 they buy milky ways and dont get funny luks so ha lastly to the american WHY PUT ALMONDS IN A MARS BAR ITS JUST NOT RIGHT
May 15, 2008 : 6:03pm
if you want to see what caame when and where check out the Mars website http://www.mars.com/global/Who+We+Are/History.htm and you cna see how they all came about in the USA and how they got to the UK
May 20, 2008 : 10:37am
mmm milky way. it’s sad how they take away the good stuff! like take 5…
November 3, 2008 : 2:00pm
At last confirmation and clear proof that the current milky way bar has changed!! The flyte bar is (from what I can remember) almost identical to the original milkyway bar. Debate over, period! long live flyte.
December 9, 2008 : 3:14pm
Hello i’m from Norway and we don’t have a lot of Milky Way’s here but sometimes i’m out traveling in the country i might go into a 24/7 and i pass by a Milky Way, i gotta buy it! Even if i just planned to buy something to drink i have to buy it! xD And i’m a total choco-holic. Gotta love it <3
March 15, 2009 : 2:05am
mars bars are completly different to milky ways -.-’
mars bars have caramel in them. and the nougat tastes different.
April 30, 2009 : 10:03am
Just eaten a Milky Way for the first time since they changed it. I definitely prefer the original. Why change something that is already great. BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL
May 10, 2009 : 9:45pm
For all you non believers check wikipedia. It confirms the old flavour WAS chocolate
I’ve had this argument so many times and don’t understand why people don’t remember the old centre
See quote from wikipedia below
“Originally available within Europe only in chocolate flavor, the center changed to vanilla flavor in 1989, although the chocolate flavor still remains available in Australia”
Proof at last.
June 6, 2009 : 2:06am
I thought I was the only one who remembered Milky Ways being brown! Everyone thinks I am insane! I loved the old ones and I hate the “new” ones. But, I have found an alternative in “Flyte” bars…they’re a low fat choc bar and they’re basically exactly how I remember old Milky Ways! I love them!
June 16, 2009 : 10:05pm
I also remember (and much prefered) the old style milkyway, apparently it changed in 1989 and a flyte is supposed to be the same.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way_bar
June 17, 2009 : 6:36pm
Has anyone else seen the vintage Milky Way ad with the red and blue cars shown on TV recently? I’ve seen it on Living TV all this week!! I wonder if that means the old favourites are coming back! How exciting!! :)
June 17, 2009 : 7:54pm
It could just be that the ad is 20 years old now…
June 23, 2009 : 10:10pm
i am glad i am not going mad-i much preferred the old milky ways(i am 34) from my childhood.Why do they change things when theres nothing wrong with them in the first place-bring back the old recipe to support the new showing of the vintage advert!!!
July 25, 2009 : 10:38pm
Can’t believe this blog was just arguing about the fact of the different centres, no one but me and a colleague at work could remember the centre being a different colour, cant wait to get to work on Monday now!!!
July 26, 2009 : 5:09am
Well, that just makes me glad I live in Australia! We have the original brown centred Milky Way – and also the strawberry flavoured one that no-one else has mentioned!
I remember the Mars Midnight bars, they were dark chocolate with a vanilla centre and caramel in the normal Mars Bar configuration – they didn’t lasdt long at all!
Of course we now have Mars Red which they cheekily claim to be half the fat of a normal Mars Bar! They do this by making the centre lighter but mostly by reducing the size from 53g down to 37g! That’s marketing for you!!!
August 11, 2009 : 8:22pm
I have just seen the Blue car red car advert on the t.v
August 11, 2009 : 8:23pm
It was pants.lol
September 1, 2009 : 10:20pm
am so glad people remember the brown centre milky way ! my dad has worked at mars for 20 years and used to bring them home by the bag full ! ( glad u believe me now chris ! x )
September 5, 2009 : 12:25pm
I remember when the new milkyways with the white centre came out, and it was a novelty, we really enjoyed them…. but then a few years later I realised we had been cheated – Where was the original. Nowhere to be seen! I just seen the red car & blue car advert and thought, “wow, are they bringing back the old milkways at last!” but alas no. Although maybe a case for false advertising, as the advert clearly depicts the original and superior milkyway bar. I remember the words saying ‘Smart old blue’ not ‘Good old blue’ and yes I see on youtube the original advert did have those words. Is it not politically correct to call Blue ‘smart’ for not gorging on prickly trees and trucks these days? Would it be insinuating that Red is ‘Stupid’ and we can’t say something so bold as that in 2009. I hate this millenium so far.
September 11, 2009 : 8:10pm
I absolute adore Milky Ways. There are the regular ones with the light brown center with a light coat of caramel under chocolate milk; and the new, dark chocolate with the white center. I much prefer the regular one. Milky way is for me what pop-corn is for many Americans when they go to the movies. VIVA MILKY WAY!!!!
September 29, 2009 : 10:06pm
I LOVE MILKY WAYS. THEY ARE DO DELICOUS. I LOVE THE WAY THAT THEY MELT IN YOU MOUTH… UUUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 :)
October 13, 2009 : 2:42pm
I remember back in the 60′s and 70′s that milky ways were delicious. then, at some point in time, I think it was the 80′s, they completey changed the ingredients. inside it looked white instead of the usual brown…but most of all the taste. it was disgusting. why they would change a winning formula is beyond belief. that’s a bit like coca cola saying…’we have a fantastic drink that sells millions world-wide. let’s change it so it doesn’t taste the same’. it shouldn’t happen. all they had to do was market an alternative to milky way and keep the original. if only people would leave things alone
November 28, 2009 : 6:32pm
i dont know about the 70s, 60s milky way and musketeers but US milkyway is like a haven to me. i think it far better the musketters. the melted chocolate flowing in your mouth in each bite means every thing to me. GO MILKY WAY..
November 28, 2009 : 6:39pm
here in U.S musketeers has white substance inside and milky way has dark chocolate inside. it has two flavors though: dark chocolate{midnight flavor} and creamy chocolate, my favorite 0
January 29, 2010 : 5:05pm
Ohhh i a thought i was the only one who insists that Milkyway used to be chocolate flavoured inside rather than the sickly milk flavour – no one else i know remembers either. I only stumbled upon this site as i was searching the net to see who makes it so i can work out how many slimming world syns is in one. How can the USA not have Mars bar it has to be the worlds best chocolate bar ever – cold from the fridge – snickers doesnt really compare – infact didnt we have a mars almond here for a short while – ltd edition like the mars dark another yuummmm
February 22, 2010 : 7:38pm
Hello my name is David
I just LOVE Milky Ways.
March 3, 2010 : 11:03pm
i remember the old style and i’m 22 (born 1987) so it must have been early 90′s they changed as i dont really have much of a memory before this point you know being a small child and everything!
March 25, 2010 : 12:05am
u all need shot, i remember the exact year was 86 at time world cup was in mexico.they took out the white ones as limited editions and stupidly kept them and ruined many lives….
March 27, 2010 : 11:52am
I have started a facebook campaign to bring back the old Milky Way! Help guys :)
March 31, 2010 : 11:22am
Paul, I’m 22 and remember the old brown ones, and the white ones coming out as “limited edition” so they can’t have been ’86 when that happened as I wasn’t born until ’87. It must have been early ’90s when it happened.
March 31, 2010 : 7:21pm
I clearly remember the brown middled ones, and I’m pretty sure they stopped being available in the nineties (I’m 28 and definitely ate them when I was older than 7 as I would’ve been in 1989). Maybe they brought them out in the white middled special edition earlier in Europe than in the UK, and then ruined it all for everyone some time in the nineties? I remember the old wrappings — the dark blue wrapper was more ‘papery’ somehow when you ripped into it! Now I want a brown middled Milky Way! AND I also now want a Secret bar (was it a ‘Terry’s’ brand bar?) that someone mentioned. I used to LOVE those, those and the Terry’s Moments (bar made of hexagons of choc with caramel and a whole hazelnut in the centre of each segment… yummmmm)… Maybe they suffered a demise when Terry’s got bought out or something (was it Kraft that bought them? Evil Kraft!!)…
March 31, 2010 : 7:40pm
Also! http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w309/huggie74/MilkyWayAdvert2DYR.jpg
April 4, 2010 : 8:57pm
no matter what you all say I know am right and there aint anything you can do about it, u bunch of LOSERS!
May 6, 2010 : 10:51pm
I think there not the same and look how little they are now I think they should sort it out
May 10, 2010 : 9:10pm
Am so happy that av seen that am nt the only one 2 remember the old filling. I am 24 and still remember. I had a debate with every1 at work 2day and nobody believed me bt nw av got proof. Does ny1 no exactly wat year and does ny1 have a pic.
May 13, 2010 : 7:55am
I don’t know why everyone keeps talking about the ‘old’ milkyway? Here in australia we always have the chocolate centred one. I looked at that picture of the white centred one and I thought it looks really strange. then I realised that Australia has what you call the ‘old; milkyway. anyway that white one looks really yum!!!! is it white chocolate flavoured?
May 13, 2010 : 8:18am
oh yeah and I forgot to give you a picture of the chocolate centred milkways. well heres some pictures. one of them is the packaging which says chocolate whip and the other is a picture of the actual chocolate(I had to take a bite to show you the chocolate centre
http://s912.photobucket.com/albums/ac325/donkey623/
May 13, 2010 : 8:20am
tell me if you think this is the same one and tell me if you like it? i had to steal my sisters camera by the way so you should be grateful!!!>:)
May 23, 2010 : 10:26pm
I am so glad I found this website as I have just had a debate with my boyfriend about how they used to be brown in the middle in the UK. He insisted they never were, so thank you for reassuring me that I’m not going mad! Looked on Wikipedia before going on here, and it states that Australia still do the brown ones too-thanks for your pictures Juliette :0)
June 2, 2010 : 6:08am
3 Musketeers are still chocolatey in the middle, here in the US.
June 22, 2010 : 4:54am
Back in the 1950′s / 1960′s there was a chocolate bar on the market made by Mastercraft which was called Milky Way, but they ceased making it.
When the new milky way first came onto the market I was really excited only to be disappointed when I did buy the new chocolate bar, which is nothing like
the original milk way chocolate bar. How about producing the old one just to see how they sell.
July 28, 2010 : 12:59am
Brown. And better.
July 28, 2010 : 12:59am
Where’s Eddie?
August 24, 2010 : 2:46am
LOL this thread has been going on for 4 years
September 6, 2010 : 10:31pm
Just to confuse the whole mars-bar debate in South Africa they used to call it “Bar One”!!!
September 6, 2010 : 10:35pm
Lyn Thank You! sometimes i think i am the only person in the U.K to remember the original Milky Way it was brilliant and not at all like the sticky one we now have it was more of a firm chocolate mousse. I really wish theyd bnring them back x