Three Musketeers

All for one, and one for…three?

Halloween was this week, and when we look through our candy we all know that we will find a large quantity of Snickers, Milky Ways, and — of course — Three Musketeers. Three Musketeers are always met with either dislike or love, since a straight nougat inside is hit or miss for most people. In any case I think they are delicious, and besides being named after some really cool literary figures, they have a secret backstory most people don’t know.

Whenever I read the label on a Three Musketeers bar I unfailingly ask myself the question, “Why is it called Three Musketeers? There’s only one bar.” There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the candy and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Duma, and there are not three easily discernible ingredients in the bar itself. Although, I did wonder whether or not there was a connection between the candy and the VeggieTales movie version of the story. I didn’t realize, however, that there was a logical answer to my question besides the person in charge of marketing thinking it was a cool name for a delicious candy bar.

Apparently there was a reason to the name, at least originally in 1932. When it was first introduced, the bars were sold in packages of three mini bars, one with chocolate, one with strawberry, and one with vanilla nougat. Three candy bars in the same wrapper, hence the name: Three Musketeers.

During World War II, however, sugar became limited in supply. It was first rationed in 1942 along with butter, eggs, meat, and flour, which were diverted to the military. People would wait in lines blocks long to receive their rations, and consequently this made it hard for candy companies to produce the quantity of candy they had before rationing.

Because they couldn’t produce as much, the company that owned the Three Musketeers bars decided to instead of producing less, drop the two less popular flavors: strawberry and vanilla. THey kept chocolate, their most profitable, and eventually people forgot about the other two.

When rationing stopped at the end of the war in 1947, the company just never brought them back, and history has moved on.

There have been some fun flavors for Three Musketeers that have been circulated every so often. In 2007 there were the limited edition flavors of french vanilla, mocha cappuccino, and strawberry, and then in February of 2008 they released a special Valentine’s flavor: cherry. However these flavors were circulated for only a short amount of time. But a mint-chocolate chip flavored bar was also released in 2007, and was so popular it stayed and can still be bought today.

This is one of my favorite tidbits of information to tell people when I want to impress them with a fun fact, and this story is just so great that at least one person is amazed. Most people you meet will have — like me and probably you — wondered about the name of this delightful candy bar. Share this story with them, and then hand them a Three Musketeers form your Halloween candy because sharing is caring, and candy makes people happy.