Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Junior Mints - Heart Shaped

I’ve always loved Junior Mints. They’re a lotta mint and not much chocolate, but then again their caloric density isn’t particularly high either.

Instead of just mixing it up for the holiday and making the mints heart shaped, they went one further and filled a random number of them (I’m going to go with half of them) with a red fondant. (I’m not sure if this is because they think that half of us are bleeding heart types or what.)

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The candies themselves are quite a bit larger than the regular Junior Mint and are relatively pleasing, if kind of rustic looking. They’re not as polished and glossy looking as their non-holiday counterparts, but the heart shape is nicely executed. About half of mine had the red filling. There was no way of telling what filling I was going to get until I bit into it.

If I popped the whole thing in my mouth, I knew if it was a red one because there’s a bitter aftertaste. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a red food dye (or perhaps more than one) that tastes bitter to me (in this case it’s FD&C Red 40). Because it was a big box I amused myself guessing by taste whether or not the filling was red. (With the help of a mirror ... I didn’t dare have my friends or husband engage in this little experiment). About 70% of the time I was able to “taste” that a candy was red ... I didn’t have any cases where I guessed a plain filling was red.

So there you have it, bleeding hearts leave a bad taste in my mouth. (Yes, it was a long way to go for that joke.)

There’s another Valentines version of Junior Mints floating around called Inside Out which have colored coatings. Based on my opinion of the original limited edition version I’m not going to buy those.

Name: Heart Shaped Junior Mints
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Tootsie
Place Purchased: Von's (Hollywood)
Price: $.99
Size: 4.75 ounces
Calories per ounce: 116
Categories: Chocolate, Mint, United States, Tootsie

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:26 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I have a box of these at my desk and am loving them. I hadn’t noticed any difference in taste, but my red onces seemed to flow a little more than the white ones.  I was going to see if I noticed a taste difference, but I only had 3 left, so I guess I’ll just have to get another box.

    Comment by g on 2/06/07 at 9:32 am #
  2. those red ones give me the heebie jeebies. no way will i try those. ick ick ick.

    Comment by Pam on 2/06/07 at 11:00 am #
  3. Glad im not the only one that thinks these are slightly disturbing.

    Comment by A on 2/06/07 at 11:20 am #
  4. LOL its funny that you mention that red dye bad taste.  My mom has refused to get any cake decorated with red frosting (even if its roses) because the red dye tastes so bad…

    Comment by Jessie on 2/06/07 at 1:59 pm #
  5. Cybele, have you ever been tested for being a super-taster?  Do broccoli and asparagus seem really bitter to you, too?  I’m not one, but my husband is and he doesn’t like red dye either.

    Comment by Helen on 2/06/07 at 2:34 pm #
  6. I believe these came out last year, I know I had them then and they were a BIG hit.  I am going out to get dozen boxes of them now for Valentine’s Day.

    Comment by Nikki on 2/07/07 at 10:35 am #
  7. This is a totally inexpensive, yet fun gift to give to someone you love. The red stuff does look creepy, but it would be kinda fun to try. If it sucks, atleast you didn’t spend a million bucks! I may take my valentines to the movies, then pop these guys out!

    Comment by Imani on 2/07/07 at 11:28 am #
  8. Cybele's avatar

    g - I didn’t notice any difference in the texture of the two colors, except the red looked glossier inside.

    Pam - luckily they haven’t discontinued the plain old traditional ones!

    A - I think they should have stuck with the heart shape and not even bother with the red. Or maybe go for pink like York Peppermint Patties did.

    Jessie - I avoided all “flower” pieces for years because of that (I think my mother thought there was something wrong with me that I didn’t want MORE frosting).

    Helen - I’ve never been tested, it looks like I have only above average numbers of taste buds. I love broccoli and most vegetables. It’s the field greens that I don’t care for most of the time ... very bitter. I think it’s Red Dye #40 that I can taste (as I’ve noticed in the past couple of months).

    Nikki - I completely missed them last year! I’ll probably pick them up after the holiday if they’re on sale.

    Imani - these were the traditional “movie box” size, and of course at the grocery store they were only a buck (not four like at the theater).

    Comment by Cybele on 2/12/07 at 8:15 am #
  9. Where the heck can a guy find these heart shaped junior mints in PHOENIX?  Help!

    Comment by Rich on 2/14/07 at 8:19 am #
  10. Where can I find these? My mom, grandmother and myself have been looking all over for them in the DC/Frederick/Germantown area and cannot find them. Any suggestions?

    Comment by Kirsten on 2/15/07 at 6:03 am #
  11. I love Junior mints, and I long for a review comparing them to mini York peppermints, though the mini Yorks are more expensive and come in bigger boxes with LESS CANDY.  Grr…

    Comment by Sophia on 2/15/07 at 3:22 pm #
  12. Don’t you people have anything better to do?

    Comment by Evan on 6/22/07 at 2:47 pm #
  13. I have never seen heart shaped junior mints with red filling. Where have I been? But I love junior mints! I find that if I eat too much that I do get a tummy ache! Sometimes it is so hard to stop though…My favorite is to eat them at the movies!

    Comment by Stephanie Wahlberg on 8/29/08 at 8:56 pm #
  14. I liked that they got more creative. I didn’t notice the different taste of the red colored ones. I absolutely love junior mints!!!!!

    Comment by Alexia on 1/11/09 at 7:56 am #
  15. I found the heart shaped junior mints at FACTORY CARD OUTLET. So if you have to have them, go there. I bought 40 boxes from one of their stores and there were still about 20 left. So if you want a lot, they should have them.  I found them there and decided to use those to go in wedding favor bags that I will be passing out at my wedding. We were going to spend $180 or more on the M&M;thing, but the 40 boxes of the heart shaped junior mints was only $52 with taxes! we saved on that one! =] This will supply about 200 favors…about 5 heart mints a bag per person.

    Have a great Valentine’s!

    Comment by Kari on 1/17/09 at 12:58 pm #
  16. For Christmas I received several boxes of Junior Mints with crushed peppermint on the top.  Does anyone know where I can get some?

    Comment by Linda Schott on 2/10/09 at 6:02 pm #
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