#34 - Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint

I am a sweets fiend. I know this. You ought to know this (the title of my blog should have been a clue). I love sweets. But I am still a human being. Therefore, I have arbitrary likes and dislikes just as any other member of the human race does. This can be a problem when trying to review a candy fairly, since my tastes (and ratings) have no bearing on anything whatsoever.

For instance, mint is not one of my flavors of choice. I have mentioned this before, but it may be worth repeating (if I'm being honest, it probably wasn't worth stating the first time). It was never a wish of mine that mintiness should be so incompatible with my taste buds, but that's how things stand nonetheless. Consider it a weakness of mine: there is an abundance of sugary mint-infused treats I cannot enjoy as well as I'd like.

Peppermint, being one of the more potent mints I've encountered, tends to be unwelcome in large doses. Thus, when someone offers me a package of particularly ambitious peppermint candy, I can only assume it means one of three things:

1. He/She has not been faithfully following my blog
2. He/She is sadistic and takes pleasure in my suffering
3. My breath is rancid, and he/she is trying to be subtle about it

I'm not sure which is the worst.

Now, being a sweets fiend and all, #3 is not out of the question, but, knowing my friends as I do, #2 is just as plausible (I shan't even consider #1 an option). Regardless of the reason, I find myself today with a package of Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint:

Why? I may never know (hopefully not all of the above).

Trebor (based in the U.K.) is one of the many brands owned by comestibles behemoth Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft  Foods, Inc.), which seems to eat up companies like I eat up sweets. Thankfully, they've put out some fantastic products, so I'm hopeful this will be one to add to the list.

The packaging is fine but a bit run-of-the-mill, especially considering the creativity Trebor has exhibited in its commercials over the years (such as this one from 1985, or maybe this one for their Softmints). I suppose it gets the job done, but I would expect more from the "Masters of Mintyness" (to be fair, they never claimed to be "Masters of Package Design").

On the plus side, everything is clear and concise (unlike the phrase "clear and concise," which isn't very concise at all); I immediately knew what to expect from the product. That's not always the case.

The cylindrical format does not provide much real estate for information, so there is not a whole lot to see elsewhere on the package, aside from a slogan ("More than a hint of peppermint!") and a small section with all pertinent data, which on my specimen is covered by an Americanized sticker (since I guess Americans can't understand British English) of dubious quality.

It's always encouraging to see sugar get top billing.

Right off the bat, one notices that the suggested serving size is the entire pack. That seems a bit overzealous to me (the suggestion for Altoids is three pieces, after all), but perhaps that's just my ambivalence towards peppermint rearing its ugly head. The 170 Calories for 41g is pretty average for a mint, consisting mostly of sugars (music to my ears!). So far, so good.

The ingredients list is short but suggests that, while the sticker was placed for an American audience, it may not have been produced by an American audience; the use of E numbers (E415 is Xanthan gum, if you were wondering) is highly suspicious (if only "candy detective" were a job). But I do appreciate knowing that the gelatin (while I know the extra "e" is acceptable, it still seems wasteful, given the limited space) is of bovine origin, because nothing gets me more in the mood for a mint than being reminded that it contains the boiled ligaments, bones, and tissue of a cow. Yum!

Last but not least, the "best before" date indicates that I've made it just in time. I'm so proud of myself, I think I will reward myself with an extra strong peppermint!
 

Collect four of these, and you've got one Trebor dollar.

 Removing a piece of the candy from the package revealed a pleasant surprise: the Trebor logo is imprinted on each mint. Granted, the composition of the mints does not seem well suited to such imprinting (they look as if they've seen years of wear/erosion), but the signature star and name are not beyond recognition.

Not a bad try, Trebor.

Each mint is about the diameter of a quarter (maybe that's where the U.S. Mint got its name), albeit much thicker, and a package of Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint is roughly the size of a roll of quarters, but only about 18% of the weight (so it'd be less useful for self defense). The weight difference is probably for the best, though, as it should eliminate accidental quarter consumption by those who make a habit of carrying both mint packs and rolls of quarters in their pockets/purses (swallowing coins is not a recommended pastime).

I only hesitated a moment before popping the first specimen into my mouth, and I must say Trebor makes good on all of their promises (well, I suppose they've really only made one promise). It is indeed an arguably extra strong peppermint; I wouldn't say it's the strongest in the world (it's by no means unbearable), but it is definitely not mild. The texture is slightly grainy, and the mint is not so hard that one can't chew it, releasing the peppermint "flaviring" with reckless abandon. Really, as far as I could tell, everything was spot-on, if a tad unexciting.

Unfortunately, my taste buds had no love to offer Trebor's accomplishments. As I've said, peppermint just isn't my jam (coincidentally, I don't mind mint jelly when used properly), so an extra-strength peppermint candy has little chance of winning me over. It didn't exactly wow my more peppermint-receptive friends, either; the general consensus seemed to be that the product was okay, but nothing special (a couple even hinted that the "extra strength" moniker might be unwarranted).

In the end, I am rating Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint a 1. I would not be adamantly opposed to eating another piece under the right circumstances, I suppose, but neither would I initiate it.

Do not let the low score dissuade you from trying it yourself, however; it is actually a fine product, and its score is more a reflection of the faults in my rating system than any true fault on the part of Trebor. If you love mints, Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint could very well become a staple in your life. Or not. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

As for me, I'll be off enjoying some candy having nothing to do with mint. And then I'll be brushing my teeth.

Just in case.

With minty-fresh breath (one can hope),
The Sweets Fiend

Frankly, I'd rather not put either in my mouth.
(More observant readers might note that the quarter is from the same year as the Trebor hot air balloon commercial; is this merely a coincidence, or have I been saving it for just such an occasion?)