Munchies and Mintola Chocolate - A Brief History

Nestlé Munchies are a small, cube-shaped confectionary consisting of a delightful combination of soft, liquid caramel and crisp biscuit covered in a layer of milk chocolate. They were introduced in 1957 by Mackintosh's and made available in long, rectangular sticks. 

They are currently still sold in sticks (named as tubes on the official website, although they are not cylindrical!) and also in sharing pouches, which both have red coloured packaging. There is now also a Share Bar and Munchies Gold.

After the company merged with Rowntree's in 1969, Munchies were produced under Rowntree Mackintosh until 1988, when the company was taken over by Nestlé.

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Munchies wrapper (1960s)

Mintola (Mint Munchies)

Anyone over a certain age will remember a sister product called Mintola, which came in dark green sticks and were available until 1995, when the name was changed to Mint Munchies. 

They were originally produced by Mackintosh's, and the packaging was mainly a dark blue colour with a smaller amount of red and white, with the Munchies wrapper being mainly red, with black and white.

In 2006, the name was changed again to After Eight Bite Size, which are still available today. 

Despite the numerous name changes over the years, the confectionary has remained largely unchanged, consisting of a peppermint cream fondant centre coated in dark chocolate.

Mintola wrapper from the 1960s

Other flavours

Mackintosh's did not experiment with many new flavours, but they did release a short-lived Chocolate Orange flavoured Munchies in 1977.

In 1996, Nestle introduced a Banoffee flavour, which was for a limited period.

Over the past five years, Nestlé have introduced several new flavours to the Munchies range. 

In 2019, they released Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Cookie Dough Munchies.

A limited edition White chocolate version was introduced in August 2020 - Nestlé have been producing white chocolate since 1936.

In 2021, a Salted Caramel Fudge flavour was launched.

On September 7, 2022, Nestlé announced the launch of their new Munchies Sharing Bar.

On March 8, 2023, a new Golden Collection was launched, which includes Munchies Gold made with Caramac. However, it was announced in November 2023 that Caramac was being discontinued, although whether this applies to Munchies Gold is uncertain. 

Munchies ingredients

The product line contains no artificial colours, flavours & preservatives. The individual chocolates include soft caramel (24%) and crisp biscuit centre (8%). 

Ingredients: Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Whole and Skimmed Milk Powder, Vegetable Fats (Palm, Rapeseed, Shea/ IIIipe/ Mango Kernel/ Kokum Gurgi/ Sal), Invert Sugar Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Sweetened Condensed Skimmed Milk, Lactose and Proteins from Whey (from Milk), Whey Powder (from Milk), Wheat Flour (Contains Calcium, Iron, Thiamin and Niacin), Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Barley Malt Extract, Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Salt, Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Milk Chocolate contains Milk Solids 14% minimum and Vegetable Fat in addition to Cocoa Butter.

Munchies wrapper design from the 1970s

Mintola wrapper design from the 1980s (Rowntree Mackintosh)

The latest Munchies pouch and sticks

I hope you enjoyed learning facts about the history of Munchies. You may also like our Top 10 Facts About Nestlé Rolo