Looking for the name of a candy

quote:

Originally posted by RubyRose
Oh, yes, I remember them so distinctly. There was orange (both flavor and color), yellow (lemon), white (peppermint), green (spearmint) and pink (wintergreen). I'm pretty sure they had the word "pastel" in the name and were made by the same people who made very thin round chocolate covered mint patties. The boxes were the same size and used to be next to each other on the grocery store shelf.

Are you thinking of NECCO wafers?

no-they are not Necco,Necco are hard wafers-these were softer...

quote:

Originally posted by Big Ugly Mich

quote:

Originally posted by RubyRose
Oh, yes, I remember them so distinctly. There was orange (both flavor and color), yellow (lemon), white (peppermint), green (spearmint) and pink (wintergreen). I'm pretty sure they had the word "pastel" in the name and were made by the same people who made very thin round chocolate covered mint patties. The boxes were the same size and used to be next to each other on the grocery store shelf.

Are you thinking of NECCO wafers?

There aren't too many 8-page threads about a candy as easy to find as Necco wafers.

Hi Delamere-
Like those that have posted before me, I have been looking for years to find another source for those special mints that my aunt brought out for special meals. I remember the peppermint, orange, lemon, wintergreen, and spearmint flavors, as well as the sandwich with a thin layer of chocolate. They were much larger than a quarter, about the size of a half dollar and about an eighth inch thick.

I am from Pittsburgh. I recall my aunt saying she obtained them from Demmlings. I believe this was a candy store in the downtown area. I haven't been back in 20 years and can't locate the store through the telephone directory. Perhaps it has gone out of business.

I relocated to Chicago from Pgh. Marshall Fields downtown store had a candy kitchen that produced the full line of these mints. The five colors, the strong mint taste, the ridged side and the gritty feel when you bit into the smooth top and the wafer began to melt. They even had the chocolate sandwich versions.

I later relocated to Phoenix. My in-laws, knowing of my fondness for these wafers, would annually send a selection. About 10 years ago, they stopped. Marshall Fields stopped making them. I let a few years pass, thinking I could and would find another source. No dice. Finally, I called Marshall Fields' candy kitchen and was informed that their chief candy maker had died and had not recorded the recipe for this confection. That seemed to end the search.

Frankly, I think Marshall Fields (now Macy's) must have kept the recipe. This candy was always in their case. It may be that it deteriorated so quickly that it wasn't profitable to continue making it and suggesting an employee death was a quick way to end the discussion. Perhaps someone has an inside track into Macy's to re-ask the question.

Like the rest of you, I would like to find someone that still makes them the way we remember.

I ordered the orange pastel mints from Olivers last week. I just ordered orange since I'd tried all the other colors in my post Christmas taste-test frenzy. They arrived incredibly well packed and in excellent shape. Not a one stuck to another. But they don't seem right somehow. They *look* right and the texture is right but the taste isn't quite what I think I'm looking for. I think orange was my favorite as a kid but these aren't them. So far, Oliver's yellows have come closest to my memory.

I still need to order Ben& Bill's but not till after the next pay day. This is an expensive quest...

Vlad

quote:

Originally posted by Delamere"Question: What Ever Happened to Fannie Farmer?

Nothing. www.fanniemay.com/aboutus/ Yet another reason I love Chicago.

Or do you mean Frances Merritt Farmer (sp?), who invented cookbooks with well defined measurements in the recipes?

MerriMints were a favorite in our Williamstown, WV household in the 1960s. We purchased them at the Big Bear grocery store in Marietta, Ohio. My brother and I both associate these mints with our late father who bought MerriMints regularly. During the past decade we have periodically searched the Internet for information about MerriMints and have exhausted the conversation several times. Recently my brother resurrected the MerriMints discussion. That’s when we found this site with eight (now nine)pages of posts about MerriMints! Over the years, I pieced together some information that I think will be of interest to this group.

I believe this information is very reliable.

MerriMints were made by the Delson Candy Company of New York, New York. On the front of the green and white oblong box with the cellophane window, it said Delson MerriMints. They were round, semi-soft candy wafers, about 2-inch disks with ridges on the bottom of each mint. They were made in five flavors, peppermint, wintergreen, spearmint, lemon and orange, each flavor with its own color, white, pink, green, yellow and orange.

The mints were grouped by color and stood on end in a single row in the box, their edges resting on top of a piece of white corrugated confectionary paper that mimicked the corrugated ridges on the bottoms of the candies themselves. There was another piece of that corrugated, white, confectionary paper between each color group of mints. This company also made Delson Thin Mints, a chocolate covered mint patty, probably the item referred to in a recent post.

Delson Thin Mints (the chocolate covered patties) were the subject of litigation filed against Delson Candy by the US Government in what was only the government's fourth attempt to enforce 403D of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Apparently, the government claimed the package looked like it contained more than it did because of the dividers between sections of candy. I do not know the outcome of that case but based on the similar packaging of Merrimints, I suspect the government failed to make its case (as it had in the previous three attempts to enforce the Act with three other manufacturers).

Anyway . . .

Delson Candy Company, based in New York, New York, was owned by Charles R. Adelson who was honored as the “Candy Industry Man of the Year” in 1952. Candy Industry Magazine created this award (a.k.a. the Kettle Award) in 1946 as a token recognition of the contribution for the “great or good” of the industry … The first recipient of this award was Russell Stover so this was not an insignificant honor.

Charles Adelson, Delson’s owner, had a daughter Ethel. In 1948 Ethel married Armin Schaper. Armin was a WWII decorated US Navy submarine bomber pilot. At some point Armin Schaper joined his brother-in-law, Richard Adelson, an engineer, and Charles Adelson's son, in the Delson candy business. Mr. Shaper was a sales/marketing and advertising talent. He was the recipient of the above mentioned Kettle Award in 1967. Mr. Schaper, deceased only since August 1, 2006, became Senior VP of the Sara Lee Corporation, after Sara Lee bought Delson Candy in 1968.

So, the original recipe was in the hands of the Sara Lee Corporation at that time. Reportedly, they subsequently sold the Delson interest to an unknown party.


For those who are experimenting with making their own . . . The following is not fact but rather just an opinion from someone who has been cooking for over 40 years.

I don’t think the commercially marketed MerriMints had any butter in them, or much fat at all for that matter.

I suspect these candies all got their flavor from flavoring oils which are several times stronger than extracts. Extracts are diluted, usually with alcohol. I find it interesting that while not all flavoring oils are natural, the five flavors of Merrimints are all available in a natural flavoring oil.

Do you remember that the orange and yellow ones were a bit creamier (or less grainy) than the rest? I suspect this is because citrus oil flavors are slightly less intense than mint oil flavors. It may require just a bit more citrus flavoring oil, than mint oil, to create the desired strength in taste. The additional amount of flavoring oil in the lemon and orange, and/or the citrus property of the oil, may slightly alter the texture of the candy. Just a thought . . .

Carol

wow Carol, what a great bit of research! Thanks for posting it. It's always nice to know we're not alone in our smal obsessions.

Have you tried any of the currently manufactured merrimint-like products. I'd be curious how you thought any of them compared.

Vlad

Hi Vlad,

Thanks for your comments. I guess not surprisingly, I have not had a response from Sara Lee. I thought they might at least acknowldege my inquiry.

I haven't ordered any of the mint candies suggested on this forum as yet. Do you have a personal recommendation? I thought I might order some to send to my equally obsessed brother as a gift.

While it was surprising to me that there were so many posts about MerriMints, I have been even more surprised by the results of a little experiment I have done locally.

Whenever I think of it, I ask whoever I am talking with if they remember MerriMints. I live in Indiana now and I wasn't sure if they were widely available here in the 60s. I'm sure now. Nearly everybody (age 50 and over)remembers MerriMints almost immediately at the mention of the name. Most react the same way. They smile and comment about the box or the ridges on the mints. Most people had forgotten all about them but seem to remember them fondly. I find it very interesting that many people have an individual they associate this candy with. They make comments like, "Oh, my grandmother loved MerriMints."

Maybe there is a bigger market out there than we might imagine for some confectioner to cater to our palates . . . and our memories.

Carol

i could be wrong,but on the vermont store web-there ia a box of mints in a long box called sherbert mints.Sounds like precisely what you are looking for...

quote:

Originally posted by annpeeples

i could be wrong,but on the vermont store web-there ia a box of mints in a long box called sherbert mints.Sounds like precisely what you are looking for...

They're not even close. The VCS sherbet mints are a mint flavored waxy white substance, similar to those white meltable candy making drops, as are the ones they sometimes stock at Cracker Barrel gift shops. They did carry ones similar to MerriMints but only for a short time and they are no longer available from VCS.

CORRECTION: Boy, am I glad to be able to edit my post. Thanks to SugarSyrup for pointing out that they're back and called Pastel Mints. Maybe they are just going to carry them during the holiday season.

http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=31398&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=mint

I just got the Christmas 2006 Vermont Country Store catalogue and it offers their version of Merrimints for $19.95. Has anyone tried this recently?

Also .. X-Mas flavors of the French Creams are for sale again at Olivers

How about this?

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Covered-Peppermint-Patties/Detail.aspx

I may try these after making my traditional after Thanksgiving shepherd's pie.

Great thread!

At my house, Delson MerriMints were a Christmas stocking staple every year from as early as I can remember until they stopped being manufactured. My parents even put them in our Easter eggs! (often a bit crunchy by then... they must have bought them all at Christmas) A few years ago my brother found some mints made at a candy store in Southern Maine that were similar enough to bring back a flood of memories, although something was wrong with the spearmint, and there was the odd addition of cinnamon flavored mints. The last batch we got didn't have separators between the flavors, which led to some strange hybrid mints, particularly those that were adjacent to the cinnamon.

The people that remember this candy from Pittsburgh may have gotten them from a candy store called Bolan's which closed their last store in the last year. They made these wafers and also made a version similiar to a sandwich cookie with chocolate in between the wafers. Even though they closed their stores (I originally got them at their location in Station Square on a visit to Pittsburgh about 12 years ago), the owner still makes the wafers and the sandwich wafers for a candy store called The Chocolate Moose in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Just got some this past weekend while on a visit there!

I also found them once from a store in Wisconson called Niemann's. Here is a web link with a picture of the candy:

http://www.niemannscandies.com/specialoccasions/fondant.htm

Thre was one other place my wife found them online. She trying to remember the name of it.

I remember this candy from my childhood, but I could never remember from where. Most likely either from a store in Louisville, KY where I grew up (we had Shillitos there which someone else mentioned) or from Chicago where we went every summer to visit relatives.

To all of those interested in Delson MerriMints, I will try to shed some light. I am the grandson of Charles R. Adelson and the son of Richard Adelson, the last President of the Delson Candy Company. I grew up touring the factory with my Dad several times a year. My last tour was in about 1972 when I was 16. Sara Lee had bought out my Dad and Armin Schaper. The assembly line ladies (whom my sisters had helped many times over the years) were in tears as my Dad made his last tour.

Zimmerwman has done a good job. Armin Schaper just passed away this past September; his memorial service was on November 11th. My Dad is in his 80's now and frail, but competely with it when it comes to candy.

The company was the brainchild of Charles, who founded it in about 1936. Armin, husband of Ethel, was the Marketing and Sales guru in the 50's and 60's. My Dad was "the man behind the curtain," who - as a mechanical engineer - developed all of the machinery and processes that populated the candy making floor. The factory was at 342 West 14th Street, NYC, until the purchase by Consolidated Foods (Sara Lee) in about 1968, at which time the plant was moved to Englewood NJ. The 14th Street plant was in the heart of the meat packing district; I remember having to dodge the flying sides of beef as we made our way to the factory, which was one or two floors over the street. Vermin in the factory were kept under control by "rat cats;" 20 lb or so felines that had the run of the plant.

Sara Lee tried to continue making MerriMints through the early 70's and stopped, I believe, in about 1975. The company was offered back to my Dad and Armin Schaper in the late 70's but they had both moved on in their lives by then. Why did they stop making the mints? The move to New Jersey was probably a mistake. Union control of the factory floor in NJ was far more stringent than on the lower west side of NYC. The wage contracts and trucking fees, dictated by the unions, made the product marginally unprofitable.

The mints - as you remember - are fairly soft when fresh, so packing had to be done by hand and with a lot care and love - a very tough process to automate, so as wages rose, especially through the late 70's, it did not make a lot of sense as a nationally distibuted product.

The recipes for the mints are a trade secret, but you should realize that the formulas were written for industrial sized batches: "heat the kettle to xxx degrees, pour in 200 lbs of cane sugar, etc." I am not sure if recipes for small batches exist. but I will do some homework.

The Company also made Thin Mints, which were the subject of the packaging lawsuit; After Eight was the only real competiion for many years. They also imported Hacks Cough Drops from Britain, which died I believe along with the Sara Lee closure.

I continue to be flattered by the demand for MerriMints. Maybe some day............

Hi Delson,

Thanks so much for your post. I very much appreciate you sharing your first-hand information and memories of the production facility and the course of events.

It's nice to learn that a person associated with the original MerriMints is aware of how fondly they are remembered. Beyond the taste of the candy, the smooth tops, ridged bottoms, and specific thickness, of those consistently round little discs are certainly a big part of the appeal. I suspect the "man behind the curtain" had a lot to do with that aspect of the product.

Again, thanks.

Carol

Delson,

Thank you so much for adding your information to this thread. It's almost like Moses stopping in to talk about the Ten Commandments.

Please pass along our admiration to your father for a fine product that continues to live on in the memories of an entire generation.

RubyRose

I have been reading these post for over a year hoping someone will say they have found the magic mint but alas after tasting the ones from Olivers and VCS they just are not the same since they aren't the round ridged candies. My mother used to take us to Richs in downtown Atlanta and they were in a candy case and I got to pick which mints I wanted.Then I remember being able to buy them in the box with all the flavors. What a trip down memory lane to remember these.

I'm enjoying Oliver's Christmas French Creams .. they just arrived today ...

Delson,
Thanks so much for the wonderful post on the history of our beloved mints. I hope it is heartening to your father to know how he helped to make so many people happy.

Vlad

tlcatl -

The candies I got from Olivers were round, ridged, and remarkably like I remember merrimints being. The yellow came very very close to my memory and the others were pretty close although each off in its own way. Are you sure you got the right candies?

Vlad
p.s. I still intend to try Niemann's and Ben & Bill's once the holiday spending is over. This is an expensive hobby....

I was surprised to see so many people talking about those wonderful mints. I use to go to visit my Great Grandma and she always had a box of them. She would say she saved them just for our visit. I miss those times, those mints and her. I ya all ever do find the ones, let me know. I would like to purchase some. The ones that look most like the ones I remember look like the ones on this site: http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=31398&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=Pastel

~*Kentucky Wild Rice*~

The ones at Vermont Country Store are made by Olivers (http://www.oliverscandies.com/)and are very close to what I remember MerriMints being like.

Vlad

I bought the christmas ones from Olivers...I shud have waited and bought the creme mints which they apparently don't sell at Christmas. I don't know why I keep thinking of these at Christmas time! I'll try the others after the first of the year.

Those ones at [url]Olivers.com [/url]sure do look like the ones I remember. I want some!

tlcatl - the creme mints are good but they are not at all like MerriMints.

Well, I had the chance to try the version from the Chocolate Moose in Pittsburgh. When I called the shop, they were very surprised that a group existed that was seeking the elusive Merrimint. They don't produce the item but purchase it from a local guy.

The package arrived with all the mints ajumble. There was some tissue paper but not enough to keep several mints from cracking. They had both single and chocolate sandwiches. The size and texture are a match, they melted on the tongue. Peppermint and lemon were spot on as to taste and intensity. The orange was wrong. I think it wasn't strong enough. The same problem existed for the wintergreen. Cinnamon was a good match. All in all, worth trying, especially peppermint, lemon, and cinnamon with and without chocolate.

Thought you'd like to know.

I am so excited to know there are others out there searching for these elusive mints! I'm wondering if they are the same ones I am looking for. My mother used to buy them for baby and wedding showers because they looked so pretty on the table. She bought them somewhere in the Akron, Ohio area but she can't remember where. The mints I remember were smooth on one side and ridged on the other probably from where they were laid to harden once they left the mold. They were very minty and pastel colored but very sugary not smooth like chocolate. I have not ordered the ones from Lammes Candies but they look similar. Help! This childhood memory is making me nuts!

Would love to know that recipe. Even if I had to make an industrial batch. They would be gone in a flash.

quote:

Originally posted by arnisarn

Were they called Meltaways or was that some other candy????

The mints I want are the ones called MERRIMINTS. They have a Grainy sugar texture that melt in your mouth and are very fragile.
The ones that LOOK like the merri Mints are called Sherbet mints and are nothing even close. The Sherbet mints are actually white/ colored chocolate (sans cocoa).
The vermont country store no longer carrys the merrimints and I don't see them on the Olivers website.

I am moving to Pittsburgh in a few months and hope to find them at moose choclates

BTW.. If any of you are located or get to South Florida, we have a Great candy store that opened a few years ago and carries almost any candy still made... Its called To The Moon, in Wilton Manors...
Later
ROB

quote:

The vermont country store no longer carrys the merrimints and I don't see them on the Olivers website.

Oliver's sells them as "Pastel Mints" and they do have them on the web page I just checked.
http://www.oliverscandies.com/storeproductdetails.asp?ssid=CCF05F18-DADB-473F-A6C6-DE5C8F094731&CategoryID=70&ProductID=219

quote:

I have not ordered the ones from Lammes Candies but they look similar.

The Lammes Candies ones are notat all what you want. They are white chocolate based and waxy. I love white chocolate but found the Lammes inedble and ended up throwing them out.

So far, of all the ones I've tried, Oliver's has been the closest o my memory of Merrimints.

I finally ordered the pastel mints from Olivers. Not the french creams which i had ordered before. THese are as close to merrimints I have ever had. They were VERY fresh (didn't stick together) and are delicious. I don't remember a lemon one but they were actually so good I believe I would have chosen those as my favorites had I tasted them at 9 yrs old. I give these a 10 for being as close to the original merrimints as I can remember. THanks for the forum in helping find these.

Well I found them !

I went to the candy place in Pittsburgh and the main store - The Chocolate Moose in Squirrl Hill, and bought all they had in the case..about 1 1/2 pounds which is about 50 mints. They are not all mint flavored they had Cinnamon ( too hot), Orange (too sweet), lemon, peppermint and wintergreen. I would stick with the last 3 flavors.
They also had two mints with chocolate in between.
The cost was about $30 ($20 per lb), not bad for something so rare.
Hope you all get to try them.
ROB

Chocolate Moose
732 Filbert St
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
(412) 688-8800

I have been following this thread for the past several months. Like all of you, I am a Merrimints fan, but have only had them maybe twice in my life, yet I still remember them as a special kind of candy that can never be replaced by something 'modern'.

I was not fortunate enough to have parents or relatives who bought them at Christmas or other special times. My older brother got married in 1968 and I remember them at the wedding reception my parents had. (I don't remember any of the other food but I do remember the Merrimints!) They were a common item to have at a wedding reception. It seems once or possibly twice I've had them somewhere else. I know it's been more than 30 years since I remember having them, so the statement that they were discontinued in the mid 1970's fits with what I remember.

I have searched on the Internet for them in the past. and found mention of them being no longer made, so this thread really caught my interest.

When I first found this thread several months ago, I went to the Oliver's website, searched, and they were not there! Someone else on this thread said the same thing, so maybe they occasionally are taken off the site.

At any rate, I did order two boxes of the Merrimints. I ordered them on Jan. 12, a Friday.They shipped them the same day I ordered, via Priority Mail. Jan. 15 was MLK Day, so there were no deliveries that day. I received them on the 16th of January (the following Tuesday).

You can't ask for any faster service than that!

A few of the mints were VERY slightly stuck together, but they were very easily pulled apart with no damage or even the slightest mark. They were VERY fresh, and had a piece of bubble plastic on top of the mints. They weren't jumbled around or broken.

All the flavors were very close to how I remember them. The white ones were peppermint and were the strongest flavored ones. They were my least favorite of the 4 flavors. The lemon ones were the most subtle flavored, and I think would be improved with a bit more lemon flavoring.

There were no orange ones available at the time I ordered (and I would have very much liked to have tried those).

I enjoyed every single piece and yes, I will be ordering more. Sure, they're expensive but worth it.

If you only order one box, the shipping is $9.00, if you order two boxes the shipping is only $9.90 and three boxes the shipping is only $10.00. So it is a bit cheaper to order more than one box at a time.

Besides, one box won't last you very long! Believe me, one box is being cruelly stingy with yourself!

I did share with friend at work a dozen mints (three of each flavor to try). She is older than I am (I wouldn't waste them on someone too young to remember how special they are) and she has good taste in candy. She said they were 'so fresh' and she loved them. She kept them all to herself (didn't share any with her husband!) and declared that she wanted a box of them for herself!

I love those candies too and was searching for them. Johnson candies has an online store called Spillevink Sweets. Since my nephew lives in MA I asked him to look this up. Here's their online store. :) Enjoy. http://www.spillevinksweets.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Delamere

Hi,

I wonder if anyone here is old enough to remember a mint candy wafer that came in a long box. This was back in the 50s and 60s. I remember them when I lived in northern Virginia. I think there were about 5 different colors each in it's own section of the box. There were white ones (peppermint) green (lime), pink (spearmint, I think), sort of an orange color one and a yellow one which was lemon. They were each about the size if a silver dollar and the backside of each mint had ridges like the potato chips. I cannot for the life of me remember the name, and would love to know if they're still around. The Vermont store had something like them a couple of years ago, but when I called to ask if each color had a distinctive taste they said no, so don't think they were the same.

Thanks everyone for any help you can give me.

Delamere

This is where you can order those online. My nephew lives in Somerville and found the site for me. *I* ordered some this morning. :) http://www.spillevinksweets.com/. Hope you enjoy them.
alice

I get a 404 (not found) when I try to go to http://www.spillevinksweets.com/

There's a December 1964 McCall's magazine up on eBay right now that has a full page ad for "Delson Merrimints". It's eBay item number 330114582843. I'm not going to pay $10 just for a Merrimint ad, but I think I will start looking through old magazines at yard sales.....

Vlad

p.s. I got a 404 for spillevinksweets, too.

$10. isn't so bad

boy, those colors are a whole lot more vivid than I remember. And they look fatter, in the box, than in my memory too. But it's so great to see an ad for them.

Vlad

I see Delson's Thin Mints in Dollar Stores all the time.

sigh...why couldn't it have been that the Delson Thin Mints were discontinued and the Merrimints were the ones still around?

A few weeks ago, I gave a few Oliver's pastel mints to my older sister (who is 63), she remembered them and said "I know they're nothing but pure sugar but I love them".

By the way, the page on Oliver's candies that has the pastel mints is gone, but I still see them come up in the 'rotating sidebar' on their site that features a different candy on each page visit.

I assume that they've temporarily taken them off the site again, as they seem to do at times. I would think they're still available if you call them and special order them.

Dasi, thanks so much for the picture! How cool to see an ad for them! I saved it to my computer. and I also 'photoshopped' a copy to make the colors of the mints more pastel, so they look closer to what I remember.

quote:

Dasl, thanks so much for the picture! How cool to see an ad for them! I saved it to my computer. and I also 'photoshopped' a copy to make the colors of the mints more pastel, so they look closer to what I remember.

Thanks to vladadog for the Ebay auction and the person nice enough to send a pic of ad .. I just posted it for the ppl here

I know it's been said many times, but I'm thrilled to find others looking for the same candy I've been obsessing about! I used to buy Pastel Mints at Marshall Fields in Chicago as a child. I'm a candy lover, truly addicted to sugar, and this is my favorite candy of all time.

The last time I was able to get them was for my wedding in 1985. Fields was no longer carrying them in the case, I had to special order them through the Fields candy department. Unfortunately I didn't get details on where they got them at the time. It took awhile to recover from the shock when I went back a year later and was told they're no longer available.

I look for them whenever I go into a candy shop around the country. The closest I've come was something called Crystal Mints in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. They are the same only granular sugar rather than smooth. The mints from Vermont Country store look the same so I'll try them. Of course, they weren't $22 a pound when I used to get them!

I know this forum is very old now, but please keep it up til we find those mints!

Sternfam3, order the mints from Olivers Candies, NOT from Vermont Country Store. VCS simply orders them from Olivers' and marks them up. They also take longer to get, as Olivers ships them to VCS who then ships them to you.

They're $13.95 a box from Olivers, and about $22 a box from VCS!

You also save on shipping from Olivers if you order more than one box (shipping for one box to my location is about $9, three boxes is $10.)

quote:

Originally posted by sternfam3 I look for them whenever I go into a candy shop around the country. The closest I've come was something called Crystal Mints in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. They are the same only granular sugar rather than smooth. The mints from Vermont Country store look the same so I'll try them. Of course, they weren't $22 a pound when I used to get them!

I used to make rock candy with peppermint extract in it as a kid. Are Crystal Mints like that?

quote:

Originally posted by sternfam3

I know it's been said many times, but I'm thrilled to find others looking for the same candy I've been obsessing about! I used to buy Pastel Mints at Marshall Fields in Chicago as a child. I'm a candy lover, truly addicted to sugar, and this is my favorite candy of all time.

The last time I was able to get them was for my wedding in 1985. Fields was no longer carrying them in the case, I had to special order them through the Fields candy department. Unfortunately I didn't get details on where they got them at the time. It took awhile to recover from the shock when I went back a year later and was told they're no longer available.

I look for them whenever I go into a candy shop around the country. The closest I've come was something called Crystal Mints in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. They are the same only granular sugar rather than smooth. The mints from Vermont Country store look the same so I'll try them. Of course, they weren't $22 a pound when I used to get them!

I know this forum is very old now, but please keep it up til we find those mints!

Sternfam3 - I was also married in 1985 and the last time I had those wonderful mints was in 1985! A few months before my wedding, I was at the Marshall Field's candy counter when they caught my eye. The fruit flavors didn't appeal to me, but the wintergreen and peppermint sure did. How I wish I knew that would be the last of them for me; I would have enjoyed them even more. It can be kind of silly what becomes special to us over the years.....

Any new info? Has anyone been ordering?

Hey, Where is everyone buying merrymints??? Are you sure there not chowards mints??? I found there site if anyone wants to buy. Mike
http://www.chowardcompany.com

Because of this discussion I picked up these at Daffin's in Sharon, PA.

http://flickr.com/photos/typetive/1435718037/in/set-72157602332381161/

They just call them Sugar Mints. They came in a bunch of different flavors: sasafrass, root beer, lemon, orange, lime, wintergreen, peppermint and cinnamon.

Here's more photos from my trip through the factory and their store:

http://flickr.com/photos/typetive/sets/72157602332381161/

You can order some of their stuff online, I bet if you called them they'd pack them up and ship them.

www.daffins.com

Wow, cybele-- those Sugar Mints sure look like Merri-Mints! I went on Daffin's site you linked and searched, but couldn't find them. I checked under "Boxed Candies" and a few other specialties and even did a search using "Sugar Mints" but came up empty.

Check out merrimints at http://www.benandbills.com/gift_boxes.html
scrolling down the page past the chocolates.

I came across them when doing an internet search for merrimints.

I bought them and they arrived quickly. Some of them were crushed, but they were very good, even the crumbs. The colors are not as vivid as the original merrimints but the flavor is as good or better.

In Seattle we got them at Frederick and Nelson. We called them wedding mints because they would tint them to your color scheme. Every wedding had them. They were also made at Baker's Candy in Lake City. To get the ridges on the bottom, they would make them on a corrugated rubber mat. Mmmm.

The mints were called MerriMints. The colors were greem, pink, white,yellow and orange and were in a thin elongated box with a clear plastic window so you could see the mints and the mints just fit in perfectly. It held 5 of each color. They were pure sugar with 5 flavors and melted in your mouth. I had looked on the internet for many years for these and they no longer make them. I bought them at Michaels drug store in Florida for years then at Eckerds drug store. They were my all time favorite candy then one day I could no longer find them any where. The lemon ones were just like eating a lemon with sugar on it and the orange tasted like a tangerine. The green ones were wintergreen, hope this helps.

I just want to thank all of you who have posted here. For so many years I have searched when there was no (www.Icanfindanything) for these merrimints. I started looking on the internet in 2001 and phoned,emailed candy places and came up with nothing except they were no longer made. I could not remember who made them but remembered they were called merri-mints. So I quit looking for awhile, but I thought I would give it another try and found this site by accident. I started at page one and read every post and when I got to page 10 and saw that picture of the box of mints I almost started to cry as that is the box and those are the mints I have longed for since 1974. I can not tell how happy I am now that I can buy a close to product but it will not be the original and wish Delson would come back with them again. Wasn't anyone just a little curious as to how he (Delson) happen upon this site? All of your reviews on the ones that are as close to the real thing and best place to buy them have saved me and others many hours. There are many many more of us out there in search of speciality candies and snacks from our past like that milkshake candy bar. Which was best when you put them in the fridge. I also had a go round with that Frito Lay company about their Taco doritos. You use them in this awesome taco salad recipe. When I lived in FL they quit selling them in that state. 2 years later I moved to Ga. I was there one year and they stopped selling in that state so I tried to buy them directly from the Atlanta office and that was a no go. They do not sell them in the east anywhere but if you live in this small area of Ohio you can buy them. The cost is 2.50 at the Hamilton Ohio Walmart but if you look for them on Ebay watch out with shipping it is over 12.00 a bag. I tried to get my walmart to order them that was a no go. I have to buy my Bit o Honeys and Clark bars online becauce where I live they are not selling them anymore. I also have been having a hard time finding 5th Avenue and Zero bars where I live in FL. Has anyone else noticed this with these older candy bars? Well keep up the Merri-Mint search, maybe someone will put up a search site just for vintage candies and treats.

quote:

Originally posted by WhiteFang

I have to buy my Bit o Honeys and Clark bars online becauce where I live they are not selling them anymore. I also have been having a hard time finding 5th Avenue and Zero bars where I live in FL.

Wal-Mart sells Zero bars in Florida ... Walgreens sells 5th Avenue
Bit O Honeys usually at Family Dollar .. Clark Bars at Cracker Barrel .. most of these at Candy Castle in Deland