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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Pastiglie LeoneOne of the great things about my trip to New York, long before the All Candy Expo was that I got to visit Economy Candy, which was great prep. It gave me a chance to look at the huge array of candy, including may European ones that just don’t get distributed here in the states. There’s quite a difference in candies here and there. But part of the charm of the imported ones is that they’re so different from what we have here.
I thought these would be tiny Altoids, but aside from the appearance of looking like inconsistent pieces of chalk, they’re quite the opposite of Altoids. One of the main ingredients besides sugar are the gums and thickening agents. One of these is called Tragacanth (which, I found out is not at all related to the living fossil fish the coelocanth). Besides having a cool sounding name, it seems to be add a rather interesting texture to the mints. They’re not chalky but very smooth when they dissolve. They have an almost gooey consistency as they dissintigrate that feels like a glycerine syrup or gelatin. The fruit ones are pretty and look kind of like little, lumpy conversation hearts discards. They’re about the size of an eraser you’d find on the end of a pencil. The Green Tea ones, not pictured, are a bland brownish-red but have a radically charged bitter tea taste to them. They don’t taste anything like green tea in my mind. More like black tea, but without the wonderful complex aromas. There’s also a strong component of mint at work here. They’re not terribly sweet, more flavorful and long after the bitter taste on the front of the tongue is gone, there’s a pleasant, refreshing taste left in the mouth. (Not at all like lingering tea breath.) The other interesting thing about these pastilles is that the boxes are identical. There’s a paper overwrap (as shown on the Green Tea one) but once you take it off it looks like the one on its side, you don’t know what’s in there if you have more than one box! The mixed flavors one went something like this: Lavender - Violet. It reminded me of flowers, of course, it’s sweet without being sticky. There’s an American version of this from C. Howard which is very similar. Yellow - Lemon. Very pleasant. An equal mix of the essence of lemon but with a slight tart bite to it that reminded me of a conversation heart, only about 10 times the price. Green - Lime. Sweet and also with a slight tangy edge to it. It didn’t have any of the associations with disinfectants, which is good! Pink - Strawberry. Beautifully fragrant, with nice floral overtones, like standing at the edge of a strawberry field, but with fewer bees. Only a slight tangy element here and it didn’t feel artificial at all. White - Vanilla? I’m not quite sure on the flavor on this one. It was pleasant and bland, but no real flavor. I couldn’t tell if I’d burned out my tongue with the other flavors. Pastiglie Leone has a beautiful, if strangely programmed website. The products flash by or you scroll horizontally (one of my least favorite directions to scroll) but there are so many different varieties. Overall, I loved the texture and the way that the pastilles dissolved. But I never really loved any of the flavors. The tartness or tang to some of them was refreshing, but I found the flavor overall to be a little washed out like the colors. Not something I’d buy again unless one of the flavors really caught my eye. (I’m a sucker for a classic package like this.) In a world where everything has become blisteringly strong, it’s kind of nice for a little mellow.
POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:10 am
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Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICEAll content (text and photos unless otherwise credited) is copyright 2005-2009 by Cybele MayPlease do not use my photos without prior permission directly from me, they represent what I ate in preparation for these reviews and are not to be used for other purposes. Design by Hop Studios & powered by Expression Engine
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Just a heads up not to eat too many of the Pastiglie Leone Lozenges at once - they are often recommended as a digestive to help settle the stomach after a rich meal (much like mint gum). Wonderful but don’t overdo!
just wanted to point out that the right spelling is PastiGLIE not PastiGILE, which doesn’t mean anything in Italian
great blog!
Kasha - thanks for the heads up, I’ve been parceling them out to myself pretty well. I can’t imagine eating too many of the tea ones because of the bitterness!
fiordizucca - thanks for the correction - seems I was very consistent with my typo! (the hazards of cut & paste). Sounds like it’s about time for me to bump up the font size on my monitor or get glasses.
I found these at CostPlus for about $1.50 a box. The cinnamon ones are addictive. The are like red hots, but better. If you eat enough at once you can achieve a very stimulating burning sensation!
Thanks for the great info. I bought a little box of Pastiglie Leone mints while in Italy a couple of weeks ago, just because the packaging was so unique and ethnic. I was glad to find your site telling about them, as I was hesitant to taste them lest they be a laxative or something, ha ha. Not bad. Thanks again.
Where else can you find these in USA? My boss brought it back from her vacation trip. I wanted to purchase more but the Pastiglie Leone website is not set up for shopping yet. I checked the CostPlus website, but came up with a dead end when I did a search.
Thanks.
Suzette - I got these in person at Economy Candy, but they do have web ordering:
http://www.economycandy.com/store/category.aspx?SID=1&Category_ID=71&
I’ve also seen them at Italian delis, but I’m not sure about how many of those there are in your area!
I just found the cinnamon Leone Candy Originals at World Market in Illinois….I ate all the candy within a few minutes…taste great…no side effect.
I’m going to include them as a treat for all the guests at the Pasfield House Inn in Springfield Illinois USA visit http://www.pasfieldhouse.com
Tony Leone
I found these at Epcot in the Italy pavillion and my friend told me they were pretty good. I got the lemon ones. They are pretty tasty little devils and now that I know they help tame an upset stomach…I will definately have these little bugger in my purse at all times. Plus…I found that they help soothe a horse voice after a long day of talking.
I am glad to see that you have found Leone Candies and are enjoying them. We are the exclusive importers of Leone here in the US. They have redone their packaging for us within the last few months and we are beginning to get more distribution on the product. If you cannot find the products in your city, you can always go to http://www.daprano.com and order them there.
It is a great company, with outstanding product and fabulous packaging…
heads up - the cinnamon flavor contains natural dye from bugs - I am not sure about the other flavors - so hopefully no one has a problem with that!
Seriously addict to cinnamon (Leone) ! the only candies I’m crazy of.
Someone says “no problem with that”... what about 50 per day ?
Looking for a shop to buy it in London
THANKS A LOT
i found these mints for $1/box on chestnut street in san francisco, it’s a tiny bakery and candy store in the middle of chestnut called “miette”.
Just finished my first and hopefully not last can of - Violetta—They are just wonderful. I’ll be on the look out for them in Philadelphia. Any suggestions as to where would be appreciated.
You can by them in London at Carluccio’s restaurant/deli in Canary Wharf. Lovely!
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