Hershey’s introduced a product line around the turn of the century called Bites. I rather liked some of the products. One of them was the York Bites. They were tiny little York Peppermint baubles: a little gumdrop shape of firm fondant covered in glossy dark chocolate.
They were sold in a variety of bags, some for 99 Cents (I bought them for 50 cents at the 99 Cent Only Store last night). The cool thing about the size of the pieces was that you could take them to the movies or share them more easily.
Flash forward a couple of years and Hershey quietly discontinues Bites and introduces this sexy new product, the York Mints ... they shrink the little mints a bit and then coat them in a light candy shell and put them in a little retro tin. Pretty clever, huh?
These mints suffer from the same problem that the Bites did ... inconsistent consistency. Some of the mints have a crumbly center, a little firmer than a regular York Peppermint pattie. But others are pretty freakin’ hard.
What’s nice in this version of the mint though is that the white candy coating is also minted. It provides a couple of different options for eating. You can suck on it and take off the coating to get to the chocolate (which is rather minimal) or just chew the whole thing up. Both are good options. They’re not quite strong enough to be a breath mint and not satisfying enough to be a candy. However, each little mint is only 4 calories, so if you’re looking for something that you can use to control your portions (via your pocketbook), hey, maybe this will work for you.
The tin is certainly cool, but I don’t think I need more than one. (Junk Food Blog announced these late last year, you can find a list in the comments of where people have been finding them.)
Name: |
York Mints |
RATING:
- SUPERB
- YUMMY
- TASTY
- WORTH IT
- TEMPTING
- PLEASANT
- BENIGN
- UNAPPEALING
- APPALLING
- INEDIBLE
|
Brand: |
Hershey's |
Place Purchased: |
gift (thanks Vanessa!) |
Price: |
~$2.00 retail |
Size: |
1.35 ounces |
Calories per ounce: |
90 |
Categories: |
Chocolate, Mint, United States, Hershey's |
Around the turn of the century…?
oooh i found them a while back at ralph’s ^^ they are good but i wish they were more minty or more chocolatey ^^ i like the tin - makes for a good vitamin/candy holder
these look delightfully refreshing!
Saw these about a month ago and had to see what they were all about, thinking they would be a breath mint of sorts. I was pleasantly surprised even though it didn’t do much in the breath freshening department. The whole tin was gone in a day! Talk about tasty! I think they’re more similar to some of those after dinner mints with the colorful candy coating. Regarding the ‘inconsistent consistency,’ I had no texture qualms in my batch in Ohio, but the sizes may have been slightly inconsistent here and there.
Too bad. I wanted these to be good.
Try Target if you’re looking. I’ve seen them there. (Haven’t tried them yet, though.)
Haven’t tried them yet, but they do look good. I love York Peppermint Patties, so I’m hoping these are good
Samantha - aw, can’t we start calling it that now? Or maybe I should call it the turn of the millennium in case people get confused about which century it was.
sunny - did you ever try the York Bites ... they were much more chocolatey, in fact they had the most chocolate as ratios go in any of the York mint products.
Linda - thanks for stopping by!
Lauren - I love those little dutch mints that come in pastel colors that I think these are rather similar too. They also don’t do much to freshen your breath (unless you eat a couple of handfuls).
Dave - yeah, at $2 a tin they’re only okay. At 50 cents they’re much better.
Velvet - I think my Target is hopelessly behind (well, the one that they didn’t tear down). I can never seem to find the cool stuff there that everyone else does.
Christine - report back if you give them a try.
I have to say, the new chocolate-dipped Altoids are ridiculously addictive. Especially the ginger ones. Hey, at least it’s dark chocolate so it’s not totally unhealthy.
You have got to read a HILARIOUS rant against stupid new candy products: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fuji/
I tried them today after reading your blog. OMG! I really liked them. So much, in fact, that I ate the whole tin! I probably won’t buy them again, though, because I eat them too quickly.
Just tried the york mints. Can you say DELECTABLE? That’s what these were. Yes, I finished the tin (only 90 cals, though, for the whole tin. I did the math). The inside is like frosting. I think they do make my breath fresh, and they taste absolutely divine. I hope Hershey’s keeps these areound. I give them a whopping 10!
The new York peppermints in a tin are great! Every day, I usually buy a regular York Peppermint patty but these are so handy. One problem though…..the tin they come in is not easy to open. If it were just simply to unscrew open, it would be fine. Unfortunately, if you have arthritis in your hands and are trying to lift the tin, which I did, they all spilled out. I would think that either they are made where you can unscrew the top OR put them in a different type of container where you can just open up the small opening (like Eclipse mints)....this is the easiest.
I must admit I was quite tempted to try these little bits as they were advertised in so many magazines. And while I enjoy the look and taste I must agree with many of the comments. At around $2 they were gone a little too fast and the tin was extremely hard to open. As I write this I had to pry one open with a can opener and a knife. Needless to say I’ve decided not to ever close the lid and finish the tin up tonight…
The mints are super yummy but the tin is way too hard to open. Once it popped open, 5 or so mints went rolling across Target floor. So, I ate the rest without closing the tin.
hello - the york peppermint candies are good BUT
have you looked at the backside of the tin???
MADE IN CHINA - I’m sorry, but I don’t trust them…with all the lead products going out of that country! what do you think??? the patties are not made in china, just these little candies.
hummm…
Rita - the tin is made in China, the candies are made in the US. (Unless they’ve changed since I wrote up this review.)
I hate these mints, because the container is too hard to open. It’s too bad, because I like the candy inside.
These mints are wonderful! Opening the tin is not the end of the world, just have to get the right twist on it. It’s worth it, even if they are about 7 cents a mint.
HOW DO YOU OPEN THE MINT CONTAINER?
I personaly enjoyed them. They were very tasty with the chocolate, candy and mint layers. All in all they were pretty good. Exept for one thing… They’re imposible to open with out spilling them ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love these but they are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!!! I would definitely buy a several every week but the price really is ridiculous. They should sell them in bulk to refill the fancy “Fort Knox” tin. The tins are almost to pretty to throw away which is yet another reason I hesitate to buy them. I am a big fan of Jr. Mints but I would be as likely to buy these if I had a reasonable choice. I could pop these one after another at a movie. Price and packaging vs. taste? Two out of three are not good odds.
these are way to expensive! In Canada, there are mostly 1.80 $ for a tin.
I just found them on amazon a little pricey for the 8 pack though wanted them so bought them were quite good had them a while back
I just ordered them was only 10 dollars plus shipping
Thanks!!!!
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