Passing the bar

I've decided that my life has been a trivial pursuit, so I am going to delve into the questions and issues that all America ponders.

Here's one:  Why do they call the 3 Musketeers candy bar the "3" Musketeers?

It goes back to World War II. 3 Musketeers came out in 1932, brought to us by the good people at M&M/Mars. And in those days, there were three pieces of candy in the package: Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry, enough to split with two friends, or gobble all by yourself. I wasn't there then, so I don't know.

Yes, they did cop the name from The Three Musketeers, a novel written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, a book that followed the exploits of three inseparable swashbucklers named Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

But along came the Second World War, and there were restrictions on sugar, so the candymen decided that Vanilla and Strawberry had to get the heave-ho, leaving only the chocolate part (which was the most popular part anyway!)

Milky Way bars are similar to 3 Musketeers, except that they have caramel on top of the nougat. There was never any restriction on the use of nougat in candy, as the United States is home to all of the nougat mines known to exist in the world. The photo below shows raw unrefined nougat, just unearthed in Caramel, California.