In praise of the Malteser – from diet snack to superhero
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Maltesers are, of course, many people’s favourite. In Mars Wrigley’s chocolate portfolio, the honeycomb-centred malt-chocolate treat ranks highest in value share at 16.8 per cent, ahead of Galaxy (16.2 per cent), M&Ms (8.2 per cent) and Celebrations (7.4 per cent). Available around the world (after notable launches in Australia in 1988 and the US in 2017 – yes, really that late), Maltesers are especially popular in Britain, where they were invented in 1936 and where 400 tonnes of them are still produced each week at the Mars Wrigley factory in Slough. Everyone has their own preferred ritual for eating them: our guest editor enjoys them dipped in tea, on a spoon.
Maltesers have become a distinctly British cultural touchstone. Author Graham Greene referenced them in his 1978 spy novel The Human Factor (“Better than KitKats,” his protagonist, Maurice Castle, insists). Dame Judi Dench described them as being “my fave” before eating 100 Maltesers in 2021 as part of a charity challenge in honour of Captain Sir Thomas Moore. Fashion photographer Rankin shot campaigns for the chocolates in the 1990s (with the tagline “accentuate your cheekbones”) and a hugely successful ad campaign in the early 2000s marked the early careers of comedian Miranda Hart and actor Suranne Jones. In the culinary world, myriad recipes exist for Malteser-inspired cakes and biscuits, from Prue Leith’s Rocky Road bars and Mary Berry’s malted chocolate cake to Nigella Lawson’s chocolate Malteser cake with its “beautiful if ramshackle crown” of balls.
Maltesers were first sold in 1937 in the UK, created by Forrest Mars Sr, son of the founder of Mars, Incorporated, and billed as “energy balls”. Despite their mass appeal, Maltesers actually have the hallmarks of a premium chocolate. “A Malteser can only be made by highly specialised machines,” says pastry chef Philip Khoury. Though only a handful of people at Mars Wrigley knows the recipe, the process is understood to start with a sugary malty dough that gets pumped through an extruder, shaped into pellets and baked in a vacuum oven. “The moisture makes the product puff from the inside and the baking locks in that puff formation,” says Khoury. Once dry, this creates the crunchy honeycomb interior, which is coated in chocolate then polished. “Compared to a Pierre Hermé signature like his chocolate nougatine crunch, Maltesers are simple but equally delicious and more unique in texture. They should be considered a gourmet treat.”
Although early sales data is hard to come by, the chocolate was evidently a success: after production was halted in 1939 due to the war effort, their return was touted as a matter of national importance. The 1930s were something of a golden age for confectionery: Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Mars Bar and KitKat were all launched in the same decade. And it was during that period that the connection between chocolate and female desire was forged. The advertising for Rowntree Black Magic told women to give in to temptation. Aero’s slogan evoked “natural” urges that “should be obeyed”.
Maltesers’ approach was slightly different. From the outset, the target market was also women. But the focus was more on health. Promoted as “non-fattening”, they were sold as a slimming aid and pitched as “chocolates [that] model-girls love”. The polished melt-in-your-mouth-and‑not-in-your-hand exterior (Maltesers created the texture before M&Ms and Minstrels deployed this as their tagline) played into its appeal as a treat for single women: “When you pick one up, they don’t soil you in any way,” says food historian Polly Russell. “It’s about being in control and leaving no evidence of your consumption.”
In 2008, the connection between Maltesers and slimming was conclusively debunked when claims that one Malteser contains “less than 11 calories” were judged to be misleading by the Advertising Standards Authority. The agency concluded Maltesers could not be described as “low energy”. By then, however, the emphasis had shifted. “The lightness of the product had become the lightness of humour,” says Museum of Brands curator Alice Kain. “In the ’90s you also see young women with belly button or ear piercings. By playing with humour and fashion, Maltesers appealed directly to the way women saw themselves.” More recent campaigns have linked to issues around motherhood, menopause and disability. “Because of the way Maltesers have positioned themselves, they can talk to their audience in a way few other brands can.”
Another point of strength has been the consistent format: a box or bag with a shift in the 1950s from the original white packaging to its current bold red. “Maltesers was one of the first companies to use high-saturation colour packaging to stand out,” says Kain.
As for the eating experience: “There is something about the explosion of a Malteser that just delivers,” says Russell. “And that polish,” says Kain, “it not only replicates the shine you get from foil or plastic wrappers on other chocolates but offers the reassurance of consistency; the promise that what you are about to eat is going to be perfect.”
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