The Periodic Table of M&M’s!

Somehow I have to link this title to the subject that I normally talk about in this blog. Well, I don’t have to but I would like to. So I thought that I would first mention the amazing Periodic Table that every Chemist and non-Chemist has heard of (or should have heard of). This table of beauty and magnificence was first published by Dimitri Mendeleev in its current form in 1869. As a Chemist I do admire the periodic table, the way it looks and the amazing work that must have gone into organising the elements in this way. Indeed, I have the shower curtain to proof it.

 

Following hot in the foot steps of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is the Periodic Table of Beer Styles. This table as you can see is based on the familiar periodic table but with beers being grouped into families of styles. You can see that someone who likes beer very much has spent a lot of time and care putting this “Beeriodic Table” together. I think it looks great and I know that chemistry and beer geeks alike (me being both of them) have or should have a copy of this on their wall.

This link brings me onto the subject of the title, the Periodic table of M&Ms. On a recent trip to London we were trying to kill a bit of time between finishing our pub food at the Bear and Staff at Leicester Square and seeing The Phantom of the Opera. We stumbled upon the M&M world shop in Leicester square.  It was a place of bright lights, M&M merchandise and it was super busy, mainly with people taking photos (yep, me too!). I have to say that not much floor space was actually given over to the selling of the confectionery, just a lot of stuff with M&M’s written all over it.  And even more disappointing was the fact that there was not a peanut butter M&M in sight! On the lower level, right back in the corner on the wall, past champagne bottles of M&Ms ( a snip at £17 each) and next to the ‘Mix Lab’ there was a periodic table of M&M’s. They have given it a good go: there are three sections like the main part of the chemical table, there are mostly two letters to denote each thing they are trying to describe and I don’t think they have used any of the symbols from the Periodic Table of Elements. Case in point: Gold here is Go, Gold in the chemical table is Au. Overall, I just found it funny that they had chosen the medium of the periodic table format to portray the multitude of coloured M&M’s that are available. Now to get back to writing more posts about beer.