Made by Big Sky Brands, the same people behind the Sunkist mints I reviewed earlier, these curious new Maple Ice Mints present a strange flavour combination I’d never thought of before: mint and maple. On their own, I like both flavours, but what happens when they collide in a single candy?
The Pitch: “Maple Ice Mints are made with real maple sugar from the world famous maple forests of Eastern Canada. We hope you enjoy this deliciously cool and refreshing Canadian treat.” Also, from their website: “Maple Ice Mints offer the cooling refreshment of a breath mint, combined with the natural sweetness of real Canadian maple sugar.”
The Look: It’s got tourist bait written all over it. Metal tin with a faux woodgrain look, a red maple leaf and vintage-style lettering. Even though the tin is packaged in plastic shrink wrap, you can still easily smell the maple before opening the tin.
The Taste: A nice sweet maple flavour, followed by an almost medicinal twang that gets in the way of the maple. I imagine that’s an attempt at making it a breath mint, but, to be frank, they really should have just left well enough alone. It would have been a great little maple candy without the nasty “mint” flavour.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $1.99 for a 24 gram (0.85 oz.) tin of 30 mints at London Drugs in Calgary.
Value for cash money: Good for something like this.
Availability: The only place I’ve seen them so far is at my local London Drugs.
Nutrition?: The packaging doesn’t have any nutritional info on it. Instead, there’s a number (1-888-624-4759) listed that you can call for nutritional info.
The verdict: If it were left as a maple-only candy without the mint, it could have been delicious. Instead, we’re left with a practical reminder that some flavours just aren’t meant to be paired together.