Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Hershey’s York Pieces

York PiecesI like York Peppermint Patties, so I was pretty excited to hear about York Pieces (more here). Especially since I disappointed when Hershey’s discontinued the York Bites, I thought this would be a great “morsel” version of the Peppermint Pattie ... great for snacking & sharing.

The new Hershey’s Pieces line takes classic candy bars and makes them into little lentils covered in a candy shell.

The description from the press release was a little vague: Peppermint Flavored Dark Chocolate Candy in a Crunchy Shell, so I wasn’t sure what they would be like until I got my hands on these sales samples direct from Hershey’s. Would they have the classic fondant center? It begs the question, what is the essence of a York Peppermint Pattie?

York Pieces

It turns out, to my disappointment, that they are exactly as described above. Mint flavored dark chocolate with a candy shell. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but where’s the fondant?

The Pieces come in two colors in this assortment: royal blue and white. The grey package with blue accents and the yellow logo was easily identifiable as York Peppermint.

The shell is pleasant & crunchy, the chocolate inside is quite smooth and has a nice peppermint pop to it. The cocoa flavors come out really well, and is very close to the chocolate flavor profile of the York chocolate coating.

While M&Ms have their holiday Mint version, this year round dark chocolate mint lentil will definitely have a unique selling position. I prefer the naturally less sweet dark chocolate of the York Pieces to the very sweet but a touch salty Mint Chocolate M&Ms. (Though they end up with the same rating.)

York Pieces & York MintsAll that said, I am confused by the Yorklessness of these little Pieces.

I got to thinking about whether or not it’d be possible to make a fondant centered lentil and then I remembered that the York Mints (and Dutch Mints or Holland Mints) were just that.

So I picked up some York Mints just to compare them. (Luckily I found them at the 99 Cent Only Store ... which means that they’re only three months from their expiry and who knows what conditions they were stored under.)

York Pieces & York MintsThe shell on the York Mints is thinner than the York Pieces. But the York Mints, with their not-quite-soft-and-crumbly fondant are quite minty ... enough to be called breath mints. The York Pieces, on the other hand, do not freshen the breath to the point where I’d think it was perceptible by others.

The point though is that a lentil version is possible, at least in my eyes, but for some reason (perhaps the fact that they sell 1.35 ounces for more than $2.00) they decided to go with a much easier to produce product: the York Pieces.

That said, I think I prefer the York Pieces anyway. They’re certainly different from most other minty lentils, which are usually mockolate or milk chocolate.

Candy Addict also previewed these last week and found them to be nice.

These won’t be hitting shelves until December 2009. (I didn’t have nutrition info on them either and there was no Kosher status on the package but it did mention that it was processed on equipment that handles peanuts, tree nuts, egg & wheat ... plus they contain milk & soy.)

Related Candies

  1. Hershey’s Almond Joy Pieces
  2. Marich Easter Select Mix
  3. Manhattan Chocolates Dipped Mint Cremes
  4. M&Ms Premiums
  5. Mint Crisp M&Ms (Indiana Jones)
  6. Smooth n Melty
  7. 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate
Name: York Pieces
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Hershey's
Place Purchased: samples from Hershey's
Price: unknown
Size: unknown
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate, Mint, United States, Hershey's

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:37 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I’m just guessing here, but a fondant center may not be feasible with candies this small.

    Comment by Johnny Carruthers on 6/04/09 at 10:13 am #
  2. I’m extremely disappointed about the fondant thing. In fact, I’m not even going to get them now (fine, in December!). Boo.

    Comment by Mei on 6/04/09 at 10:47 am #
  3. Dammit I wan’t to try these so bad! Some of the innovation that has come up at the Expo has looked amazing!

    Comment by Jim on 6/04/09 at 11:47 am #
  4. I’m pretty excited about these, actually.

    Comment by justcooknyc on 6/05/09 at 5:59 am #
  5. I love york mints, but if I eat too many, I feel sick afterwords

    Comment by Princess Adeleine on 6/06/09 at 3:22 pm #
  6. I love your blog (and York Patties!), but wanted to make an unrelated comment: I’ve noticed you use the phrase “begs the question” a few times on the site when you mean to say “raises the question.”

    Please don’t think I’m a language snob or a grammatical prescriptivist when I point that out, but a lot of people don’t know that “begging the question” doesn’t simply mean to raise a question—it’s actually a technical philosophical term for a logical fallacy in which an argument is meant to be true with no proof other than the argument itself. (Like saying: “I’m popular—you can ask all my friends!” or “She’s beautiful because she’s so good-looking.”)

    It’s a small quirk of language, but I think it’s a linguistic distinction worth preserving! For more information about “begging the question,” check out: http://begthequestion.info/

    And pass it on!

    Comment by Kat on 6/27/09 at 7:56 am #
  7. Cybele's avatar

    Kat - I defer to your authority on this matter. But I wonder if it does not qualify, though I may have formed it poorly. (I could not find another instance where I have used the phrase, properly or improperly.)

    York Pieces are like York Peppermint Patties because they’re made by Hershey’s, have dark chocolate and peppermint flavor along with a blue and white theme. But my point is that they lack an essential element of York Peppermint Patties, which are included in other York candies, the fondant.

    Ultimately, we have no control over what Hershey’s wants to call things so logic is kind of out the window. They could make it raspberry and because it’s their brand.

    But upon more reading, perhaps I have really pointed out York’s “fallacy of definition.”

    Comment by Cybele on 6/27/09 at 9:06 am #
  8. I am a York Peppermint Patty addict - can eat two or three at a sitting (and that’s all I’m going to admit) . . . but I was unpleasantly disappointed in the Pieces.  Fondant would be nice, but I’m fine with a mint dark chocolate filling - just, let’s have some MINT!  The mint flavor was so bland I couldn’t even identify the candies with York Peppermint Patties - won’t be buying these again.  Full size patties, on the other hand, are still in my little black book smile

    Comment by jeg on 2/05/10 at 8:43 am #
  9. I linked to this blog from my FaceBook page because my fiancĂ© Audrey Kerwood and i LOVE York Reese’s Pieces! Here’s what I wrote:  FINALLY! York Pieces is a candy that has a realistic “SERVING SIZE 50 pieces with only 170 calories per serving. #Reesespieces” then i linked here to your blog.

    i hope that’s cool with you

    Ben

    Comment by Ben Mack on 3/09/10 at 4:12 pm #
  10. OMG I LOVE these! Even though they don’t really taste like York Patties IMO (which are one of my favorites), I love them anyway.

    I got a coupon from Hershey’s for a free bag (from their recent Wrapper Rewards program) and I’ve already bought two more bags (they were on sale).

    Comment by Carrie on 3/20/10 at 11:47 am #
  11. I was so excited to finally find these in the store!  I was hoping for a York version of Junior Mints, Pastel Pearls or Richardson mints.  To my dismay, the dark chocolate overpowered the mint flavor.  It is good dark chocolate, but the ‘York’ aspect just wasn’t there.  I doubt if I will be buying these again.  This Yorkaholic is sad.

    Comment by Liz Armstrong on 3/26/10 at 8:18 am #
  12. I was deeply disappointed when I first tried these.  I can do without the fondant, but what happened to that “mint sensation”?  These are pale tasting in comparison to a the original patties.

    Comment by Terri on 4/29/10 at 8:33 am #
  13. I wasn’t disappointed in the lack of fondant.  I purchased these along with the Hershey’s Dark Pieces (I needed white and black candies for a “GO” cake I was making), and found them to be highly addictive.  I love dark chocolate, and find most mint chocolate candies to be too sweet.  These are essentially what I wanted from the new mint m&ms;, but never got.  My only complaint is that I wish they were sold in smaller bags, so that I could justify buying them more often.

    Comment by TSpeaks on 5/22/10 at 12:54 am #
  14. Hi Cybele,

    So, I’ve only been seeing these on the shelves for the past couple of months - but have resisted buying them (or the Almond Joy Pieces) because I tightwadedly didn’t want to invest $3 in something that might suck.
    It just now occurred to me that you’d most likely reviewed them at some point…so I checked here and read what you had to say.

    I was really wondering about whether or not they’d be Yorkish inside, and you totally answered my question. Thank you. 

    What gives?  To me, the mint fondant is absolutely what defines a York - or any p.patty, for that matter.  If it can be done on a Dutch Mint, then they have no excuse. Boo. 

    Anyway, thanks for being the canary in the coalmine for me on this one.

    Comment by Joanna on 5/31/10 at 8:22 pm #
  15. Please! This is the most misleading, disappointing product I have seen in a long time. These are like mint M&M’s, fine, but DON’T say they have anything to do with York Peppermint Patties. They are nothing like York Peppermint Patties. I might boycott Hershey’s for this dishonesty! Infuriating.

    Comment by Paul on 1/30/11 at 7:47 am #
  16. oh my gosh, i LOVE these things!!! they are soooo good. i love junior mints and those york peppermint patties so i just HAD to try these and they were just as amazing! they taste minty and delightful lol. and the bag is really big! i ate them while i was watching a full length movie and i still had a bunch leftover afterwords. i swear after you finish reading this article and the comments, GO OUT TO WALGREENS AND GET SO YORK PIECES! do it smile

    Comment by Amanda on 3/14/11 at 4:08 pm #
  17. some people say they are good. some people say they are bad. Could i get a sample?

    Comment by hannah on 9/03/11 at 2:15 pm #
  18. I like them better than the M&M mint version.  They are addictive.

    Comment by Ryan on 5/16/12 at 8:36 am #
  19. I love peppermint patties the last 3 bags i got was very sticky like they was partically melted ..I dont like them this way !!

    Comment by brenda clopper on 3/10/13 at 11:32 am #
  20. I LIKE YORK PEPPERMINT PADDIES EVEN IF NOT A LOVER OF DARK CHOCOLATE, I LOVE MINT..I TRIED THE PIECES AND WON’T BUY THEM AGAIN. DUE TO THE DARK CHOCOLATE TASTE.  WISH YOU WOULD MAKE A CHOICE OF MILK CHOCOLATE MINT OR DARK CHOCOLATE MINT….I LOVE MILK CHOCOLATE

    Comment by NANCY MCCAMISH on 8/06/14 at 2:25 pm #
  21. Love mint, love dark choco (milk choco doesn’t have antioxidants)...these pieces are delish!  Can’t stop eating ‘em. Am using it for a birthday party…although wish they came in different colors.

    Comment by lu on 3/30/15 at 2:09 am #
  22. Looks like a minty revival of the late Hersey-Ets! SC

    Comment by SJCarras on 12/16/15 at 11:26 pm #
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