To start with let us clear up some things. The picture illustrating this post is not one of actual Peanut Treats, it is just your common or garden chocolate peanut. Secondly, Peanut Treats are not the same thing as Peanut M&M’s. Granted they are very similar, almost identical, but to a lover of Treats they are not the same. Thirdly, and I’m less sure of this one, I don’t think they were actually called Peanut Treats – I’m fairly sure they were just called Treats. At any rate, I shall refer to them as such from now on.
As the M&M reference might suggest, Treats were peanuts coated in chocolate which was then in turn surrounded by a crispy outer shell. I have no idea who the manufacturer of these sweets actually was. I’m certain it wasn’t Cadbury’s, and I don’t think it was Mars or Rowntrees either. If anyone out there knows for certain I’d love to know! Please add a comment to this post to put us all out of our misery.
Unlike Peanut M&M’s all Treats were wrapped in just a thin brown crispy shell, not multiple colours. They obviously didn’t have a lower case ‘M’ printed on them either. I believe they had a thicker coating of chocolate than Peanut M&M’s do as well, and it was a much creamier milk chocolate which some people prefer to that used in M&M’s.
There was another variation on the Treats theme, called Caramel Nuts. I believe these were made by yet another manufacturer (again I don’t know who it was) and instead of being coated in chocolate the peanuts were coated in, surprise surprise, caramel. I can’t remember if they were then coated in chocolate, a crispy shell, or both, but I remember I didn’t really like them all that much. The caramel was too hard, and I don’t recall like the taste of it very much for some reason, which is strange because I like most other types of caramel.
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::start_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/40/d211339488/htdocs/childofthe1980s/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 18
Warning: Declaration of Social_Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth, $args) should be compatible with Walker_Comment::end_lvl(&$output, $depth = 0, $args = Array) in /homepages/40/d211339488/htdocs/childofthe1980s/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/social/lib/social/walker/comment.php on line 42
Thank you!!! I was up all night trying to remember the name of these!!
I recall them being spelled ‘Treets’ and they were in a yellow packet. Yummy though, much better than M&Ms.
There were Peanut Treats, Chocolate Treats and Toffee Treats, similar to what were in the Revels packs, but these were in existence in their own individual bags before Revels were introduced. The Peanut Treats disappeared at the same time as the M & M’s appeared and I just thought they’d changed the product name as they sometimes do with these things.
I don’t remember the Chocolate or Toffee varieties, and I only really remember the Peanut ones because my Dad was fond of them.
They were actually called “Treets”. I’m pretty sure Galaxy made them because of their similarity to Minstrels (except for the peanut).
I always thought the peanut was a lot softer and sweeter than M&M’s. It was like the peanut had been cooked with sugar. I always liked the odd one that would just crumble and melt!
That’s the biggest difference for me, and what set them apart from M&Ms and general chocolate-covered peanuts. The peanut inside just seemed to be roasted differently in a way that just hasn’t been done again as far as I know.
I know what you mean John. My memory pre peanut M&Ms was that Peanut Treets (thanks for the spelling correction) always tasted different somehow to those other generic bags of chocolate peanuts. The other types always seemed to contain very dry tasting peanuts as I recall.
They were made by Mars
I loved peanut Treets and the chocolate Treets, they had quite a unique flavour. Melts in your mouth not in your hand was the advert, with a woman wearing white gloves to prove the point!
So, does anyone know if Chocolate Treets are what became Minstrels, as Minstrels definitely used that slogan as well.
I have a feeling M&Ms might use it now, but that might be in the US, not in the UK.
YES! Toffee treats were my favourite – I was trying to remember if they were by Mars??
there is nothing on the market now like Toffee Treats – the toffee was just soft enough with crispy coating – I hate the new m&ms – yuk!
i think you can still get minstrels in the UK, but I live in New Zealand now :o(
Yep, you can still get Minstrels, and Galaxy Counters (basically Minstrels without the crispy shell) have just been relaunched to much celebration on this very site!
Sorry this is a bit late for all you Treets fans, peanut treets were relaunched earlier this year by Mars confectionary and only available at Sainsburys for a limited time. They were as good as I remembered but sadly discontinued again after a few short months, and without warning, though I did manage to eat several packs – family size!
I heard a rumour of them being relaunched a little while ago, but never got it confirmed. Thanks for the confirmation now Betty, just a pity they’ve been and gone again…
wow, I’ve been trying to remember the name of these, they were absolutely delicious. As another person above pointed out, they disappeared after the “big M&M launch” over here in the UK (anyone remember the huge advertising campaign and fuss made over the launch of M&Ms?). So I’m guessing either Treets (or Treats) were pushed out by a competitor with huge advertising budget or perhaps M&M’s bought out the company producing them. Anyway, the quality of the chocolate was far superior to M&Ms cheap horrible gritty sand-like texture. I really wish they would relaunch them properly…surly people prefer superior taste over M&M flashy image and brand name? hmm, then again, probably not.
I know what you mean about the chocolate in M&Ms, it has a strange taste and texture, yet despite that I still find myself chomping them down all too easily (especially when it’s the peanut butter ones, which for some reason we just can’t get in the UK, which is a crime because they are yummy).
Whoever is referring to Treats as coming in toffee flavour, would he/she not be thinking of “Poppets”?
I liked Treats. I liked them a lot. Far superior to M&EffingMs. Yellow packets, as I remember, and far chuckier than M&EffingMs.
i bought a packet of toffee treets ‘up north’ around 1995 and it was a large bag. nothing like poppets jared. peanut and toffee treets were by far superior to m&m’s but did in fact drift away about the same time m&m appreared. revels were around the same time as treets ~ thats when revels were more like russian roulette for peanut allergists!!
Treets are a brand of confectionery sold by Mars Limited in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France and Germany.
They came in three forms: Peanut Treets (sold in a yellow packet), Toffee Treets (sold in a blue packet) and Chocolate Treets (sold in a brown packet). All three were coated in a thin hard glazed shell which was a dark chocolate colour. The filling of the button-shaped Chocolate Treet was made of milk chocolate, a substance which also surrounded the peanut or toffee pellet in the other flavours. All three were marketed with the slogan “Treets melt in your mouth, not in your hand”.
The brand was dropped by Mars in 1988. Chocolate Treets had already been replaced with the similar Minstrels. Peanut Treets were dropped in favour of the multi-coloured Peanut M&M’s. Toffee Treets were later sold as Relays before being dropped altogether.
Mars reintroduced the Peanut Treets brand in the UK, France and Germany in July 2009. Peanut M&Ms continue to be sold in the UK alongside Treets.
i loved toffee treets….
I was addicted to toffee treats, they were toffee in the centre, covered in chocolate then covered in a crispy brown shell. They came out briefly again in the early nineties, my mum bought me the remaining stock left in the newsagent !
I hate peanut sweets, please bring back the toffee treats !
Treets, or are a brand of confectionery sold by Mars Limited in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
The original product consisted of peanuts coated in milk chocolate with an outer shell of dark brown glazed candy, and appeared in the UK in the 1960s; these were later marketed as Peanut Treets, (sold in a yellow packet), together with Toffee Treets (sold in a blue packet)[1] and Chocolate Treets (sold in a brown packet). All three shared the same glazed coating, but the filling of the button-shaped Chocolate Treet consisted solely of the milk chocolate which surrounded the peanut or toffee pellet in the other versions. All three were marketed with the slogan “Melt in your mouth, not in your hand” which was first used in 1967.[2]
The brand was discontinued by Mars in 1988. Chocolate Treets had already been replaced with the similar Minstrels. Peanut Treets were discontinued in favour of the multi-coloured Peanut M&M’s. Toffee Treets were later sold as Relays, before being dropped altogether.[1]
Mars reintroduced the Peanut Treets brand in the UK, France and Germany in July 2009. Peanut M&Ms continue to be sold in the UK alongside Treets.
Peanut treats/treets were about in the late 1950’s but certainly 1960’s and were made by Mars. My father who worked for petfoods (formerly chappies) in Melton Mowbray, part of the Mars group, used to bring a bag full of them home as part of his allocated allowance on a monthly basis on a Friday evening. The other Fridays would be alternated with bag of spangles, Mars bars, milky ways and bounties. It was a sad day for us kids when the firm stopped this practice.