Looking for the name of a candy

Hi Dasl,

I don't believe they do, but the phone number is (215)343-6212.

Delamere

Thank you so much Delamere :)

I was so excited to find this topic and discover I wasn't the only one longing for MerriMints. It took me a while but I finally tried all the ones mentioned here.

For me, Oliver's (http://www.oliverscandies.com/) (the ones who make them for Vermont Country Store) comes closest. My box arrived with many of them fused together but that did not detract from the wonderful taste. They had the coolness I remembered and the "melt in your mouth" quality. The texture and taste seemed right on, too. Like Delamere I really missed the orange though. But the lemon's are heaven and all of them really reminded me of MerriMints.

I also tried Heberts (http://www.hebertcandies.com/). Some were too mild, some were too artificial, the orange and lemon weren't minty, and the texture inside was wrong. The guy on the phone was very nice though.

And I tried Yummy's (http://yummies.com/store/mints.html) which clbmd said were excellent. They are a tasty sugary treat but they are not "MerriMints" which is what I was looking for. They are msot like the french cream candies. I got Orange (since I was missing it from Oliver's) and Lemon (to compare to Oliver's). They aren't minty at all. They are too fat, they don't have ridges at the bottom, and they have sugar crystals outside. Like I said, a great treat but not MerriMints, which is what I am searching for. Also, some of mine were not only stuck together but sort of melted an squashed despite the packaging appearing to be intact.

Finally, I tried Sanborn's (http://www.sanbornscandies.com/candy.shtml) which I don't remember being mentioned from this forum. I just ordered the Orange since you have to order by the pound and they didn't offer an assortment option on the web page. They were the right size, shape, texture but not minty and not orangey enough. They had fantastic packaging though

And all of the place listed above shipped very very quickly.

For my money (and memory) Oliver's is the place to go for the closest approximation to MerriMints. I'll be ordering a box with Orange next Christmas for sure. And, I know if I ever get to Batavia. NY I'll be stopping at Oliver's.

Vlad

Oh Vald what a great synopsis! Thanks so much for doing this and including all the links. I have a feeling that you are as "obsessed" as we have been with this candy, so if you ever come across another company that you consider even better than "Oliver's" please keep us posted.

I'm the one who had the not too fun experience with "Oliver's" sticking together, and unfortunately it wasn't just a few as it seems to have been in your case. Mine were actually ALL stuck together so that it was like a colorful Yule log. I also remember spacers between each section of colors. Anyway, the taste was pretty good, although not as good as my childhood memory, but then again I'm sure nothing would be.

Thanks again,

Delamere

Hi Vlad,
I've tried all the suggestions here too and like you find Oliver's to be the best and closest to the Merriments. Along with the cost and shipping too. I usually get my order from them within 2/3 days. Which is great because it arrives before my craving turns to frustration! [|)]
I did recently try Yummies and found them ok and tasty as a candy but no where near a Merriment. The closest they came were being round. LOL
Also, Oliver's has the French Creams and they are just like I remember them. Very tasty.
Now too just the other day I got an email from Lammes.com and they inform me that their Sherbert Mints are available at Crackle Barrel Old Country Stores through Easter. I went to one and they were all out but might get more. I'll have to try other locations. I've yet to try the Lammes mints. I'll let you know how they are if I find them.

Laurie

Delamere I just recently ordered again from Oliver's and again my Merriments arrived in great shape. I think it was just a freak accident that yours were stuck together.
Might be worth another try?

Laurie

Thanks Laurie, you just may be right! I'll try them again, but must say it was good to hear Vald had the same problem although not to the same extent as I.

Delamere

Ok here's a heads up you might like to know. I wasn't able to find any of these Sherbert mints at Cracker Barrel locally (although they said they would ship them to me) so I called Lammes Candies and the gal told me their Sherbert Mints are not the same in flavor as the Merriments. They are all the same peppermint flavor, and do not have the ridges on the bottom, but do melt in your mouth like the Merriments.
So I didn't order any.
She did however ask me if I ever found any that were close to the Merriments to let them know so they could pass that information on to other customers. Apparently they've had so many who call looking for them. LOL
Pretty nice I think of one company to do that to satisfy their customers.
So I gave her Oliver's web~site.

Thought you'd all like to know just in case you thought of ordering these. Seems Oliver's is still our best bet!

Laurie

That's great Laurie! See what little 'ole us can do :-) . I agree that's very nice of Lammes to tell their customers where they can find ones that are similar to the ones they remember.

I also had checked Lammes a long time ago, and found out they were all the same flavor. Same with the original ones from VCS. I'd just love to find out what the original company name was that made the ones we all are looking for. I can see the box, but I'll be darned if I can remember the name.

Vlad, thank you for your review. It was very helpful to the Merriment fans. A couple of notes:

1) Ljbud44 - the Lammes Sherbet Mints from VCS are nothing like Merrimints at all. They're made from an entirely different material - sort of a waxy white chocolate. See #2

2) ***IMPORTANT RELEVANT UPDATE***
Vermont Country Store no longer carries the Pastel Mints referred to on this thread and seen on the link posted by dasl_4 on page 4. They do have the Sherbet Mints (see#1) but the Merrimint equivalent is no longer available.

3) As for the recipe I posted near the beginning of the thread: I have made it 2 more times and it's a very good mint pattie but not as close to a Merrimint as Herbert's or Oliver's. At the time I first made them, it was the closest we had. I did try using oil of wintergreen in the last batch and it was very similar in flavor to the pink Merrimints but the texture still needs tweaking. So you're welcome to try the recipe but it's not quite there yet.

Hi RubyRose,

Isn't that interesting about VCS. Wonder when they stopped carrying them. They were the ones from "Olivers". Maybe others had the same stick together problem as a couple of us did.

Delamere

Delamere-
Our earlier threads suggest that VCS and Oliver's may have had problems delivering the large order. Perhaps Oliver's has committed to take the job on themselves as they have increased selection of new flavors. . . .?? If I recall, companies had trouble with this confection because of a very short shelf life- 2 weeks . . .or sticking in humid and/or warm weather. OH, the price of mints!!!
Thanks for reminding me to try the recipe. I just had cataract surgery so, maybe I can try soon!!!

You just may be right, Puregrace---I'd forgotten those other problems. Just seems strange they've (VCS) kept the other more "uninteresting" mints and discontinued the "good" ones. Maybe the others are done by another company.

It's a conspiracy against us. Rise up and revolt!! Demand Merrimints Today!!!
Frankly, I am as puzzled as you. All I see at Oliver's is French Creams . . .
Easter seems like such a grand time to serve them. You would think the candy companies would take notice and throw us just enough of a taste to keep us begging for another year.

Laurie -
I can assure you that Lammes Sherbert Mints are nothing like MerriMints. The Sherbert mints are what got me restarted on my quest for MerriMints which brought me to this forum. One of my old university workstudy students lives about a mile from the Vermont Country Store and saw the Sherbet Mints and was sure they were the magical candy I had raved about for years so he got me some for Christmas. I thought they were terrible (i actually threw them away and that says something, me throwing away candy!). Shawn, my workstudy, described the white ones as tasting like the urinal cakes they put in men's rooms and even though none of us had ever tasted one of those cakes we knew EXACTLY what he meant and agreed.

Obviously some folks like the Sherbet Mints but for those us us questing after MerriMints I can promise you'll be very disappointed...

Vlad

I can't believe I found all this talk about these wafers. They were something special from my childhood. Someone mentioned buying them at Lazarus Stores early in this thread. That may have been where my great aunt bought them. I will keep following the quest with you all.

I wonder how many more people are out there searching for MerriMints? Is this a new Business Opportunity? How much would you pay to get authentic MerriMints again? In our quest to find them (as a group) we have spent from $5 to over $20 dollar per box. And we are all still looking...

Someone said they had the recipe - so lets make some. Really, what would you pay for tasting and bringing back the past, because that is what we are looking for.

I have a friend who owns a small candy shop, and she makes homemade candies. What if we could reproduce the original candy. I can see it now...starting out as a small local business and then blossoming into a multi million dollar publicly traded NYSE company, with all of us as stockholders. Oh wait reality check...We would eat all the profits in candy.

Guess I will have to just keep searching for and dreaming about MerriMints.

I'll eat profits!

does anyone remember a candy bar in the 40's-50's called rythym. Cannot remember the spelling. My mother is trying to recall what was in it.

Oh wait reality check...We would eat all the profits in candy.

quote:

You are so right Splady! But I like your thinking. Stranger things have happened. So who's the millionare here to help get things started?

Thanks Vlad. I know exactly what you mean about the urinal cakes. I've gotten the strangest responses from people when I descibe how something might taste by the smell of something you would never eat.
I was a credit card number away from ordering those from Lammes when she mentioned the flavor and I knew they were not even close to what I was looking for.

For the time being I'm completely happy with Olivers.

I sent "CARE" packages to two other MerrieMint rememberers. Each had a selection from my four sources. I'm still waiting to hear from my brother (who is an engineer and has an incredibly precise memory) but Renee said the ones marked "O" were exactly like the ones she remembers her mother having. The "Y"s were also a candy she remembered but a different candy. And the "H" and "S" samples were, in her words, "imposters".

so there's feedback from another person.

It's time to order again
http://www.oliverscandies.com/storeproductdetails.asp?ssid=3C15703A-BCE2-43EC-B8CC-FBCAABA7603E&CategoryID=70&ProductID=88

I can clarify a few details about Merriments and where, besides Vermont Country Store, you can get replicas -- including the orange ones that Vermont Country Store doesn't offer and maybe (or maybe not) lime flavor instead of spearmint for the green ones.

1. Earlier posts by several people said Merrimints were silver dollar size. No way. They were just a bit larger than a quarter and considerably smaller than even a half-dollar.

2. Several other people said the parallel ridges were on the bottom. Actually, they were on top. My interpretation is supported by three considerations: (1) The wafers were formed by dropping gobs of warm candy batter onto flat trays for cooling and hardening, which means the flat side is formed by the flat bottom of the tray, on which the wafer BOTTOMS rested while the candies were hardening. (2) The instrument used for forming the ridges had to be applied to the tops of the wafers, because the bottoms were not exposed. (3) The wafers tapered inwards from the flat side to the ridged side, just as the top is narrower than the bottom on most other candy having top-bottom inequality (e.g.,candy bars, jellied "dots," boxed chocolates).

3. I suspect the ridges were more than just decorative. They were probably intended to keep the wafers from sticking together (by greatly reducing the contact area).

4. Someone was unsure of how to recognize the wintergreen (pink) flavor. Wintergreen really isn't a minty flavor at all, despite the implication of the word "mints" in "Merrimints" that 3/4 of the wafers (all but lemon) are mints. Wintergreen does have the slightly cool sensation of mint. But the wintergreen flavor is best described as resembling that of root beer with just a hint of cinnamon. Buy a roll of Wint-O-Green Life Savers (green package, white life savers) if you want to sample the wintergreen flavor.

5. In earlier posts, several people described the flavor of the white Merrimints as peppermint. I remember them as having mint flavor. The distinction is hard to explain, but peppermint is a milder, sweeter flavor -- to my taste, anyhow. I agree with whoever said it that the white ones (mint) were too strong. I too used to avoid them. Still do.

6. I don't recall whether the green Merrimints were spearmint or lime. The Vermont Country Store (VCS) greens are spearmint. Since VCS seems to have done research on Merrimints, getting the size and the ridges and the wintergreen = pink right, I suspect the originals were spearmint. The distinction between mint and spearmint is again hard to make, but an inexpensive package of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum will quickly reacquaint you with the spearmint flavor. Compare that with the harsh flavor of jellylike, sugar coated green mint candies. Like peppermint, spearmint is milder than mint. I find it hard to distinguish peppermint from spearmint.

7. Merrimints had a creamy-grainy texture, where the graininess resulted NOT from a surface coating of sugar but from partially undissolved sugar crystals that permeated the candies.

8. Where can you get Merrimint replicas? In the late 1990s, while vacationing in Acadia National Park and its attached town of Bar Harbor in Maine, I found an all-candy-made-on-the-premises candy store in Bar Harbor: Ben and Bill's. The owners made and sold the equivalent of Merrimints. Their wafers were the right size and included the orange-colored ones that are missing from the Vermont Country Store mixture. (Ben and Bill's green wafers might be lime -- I don't recall.) I bought some Merrimint replicas at the store and a year later bought more by telephone order. I phoned after the tourist season closed, in late September I think (definitely after Labor Day). The Bar Harbor store, or at least its kitchen, was closed for the season, but someone answered the phone. He (she?) referred me to their second store, located somewhere on Cape Cod and open all year. I was given the Cape Cod phone number (see below) and was able to order several boxes from there.

You can choose your flavors and amounts. You don't have to buy every flavor or equal numbers of the flavors you do buy. I ordered one box that was all wintergreens (pinks) and another box that had only four of the five flavors (no whites = mint flavored ones).

The phone number for Ben and Bill's in Bar Harbor is (207) 288-3281. I think (not sure) that, for lack of a better label, they call these items "mint" wafers, even though only one or two of the five flavors are mint. (Only the whites are definitely mint; the greens could be either lime or spearmint.)

I can clarify a few details about Merriments and where, besides Vermont Country Store, you can get replicas -- including the orange ones that Vermont Country Store doesn't offer and maybe (or maybe not) lime flavor instead of spearmint for the green ones.

1. Earlier posts by several people said Merrimints were silver dollar size. No way. They were just a bit larger than a quarter and considerably smaller than even a half-dollar.

2. Several other people said the parallel ridges were on the bottom. Actually, they were on top. My interpretation is supported by three considerations: (1) The wafers were formed by dropping gobs of warm candy batter onto flat trays for cooling and hardening, which means the flat side is formed by the flat bottom of the tray, on which the wafer BOTTOMS rested while the candies were hardening. (2) The instrument used for forming the ridges had to be applied to the tops of the wafers, because the bottoms were not exposed. (3) The wafers tapered inwards from the flat side to the ridged side, just as the top is narrower than the bottom on most other candy having top-bottom inequality (e.g.,candy bars, jellied "dots," boxed chocolates).

3. I suspect the ridges were more than just decorative. They were probably intended to keep the wafers from sticking together (by greatly reducing the contact area).

4. Someone was unsure of how to recognize the wintergreen (pink) flavor. Wintergreen really isn't a minty flavor at all, despite the implication of the word "mints" in "Merrimints" that 3/4 of the wafers (all but lemon) are mints. Wintergreen does have the slightly cool sensation of mint. But the wintergreen flavor is best described as resembling that of root beer with just a hint of cinnamon. Buy a roll of Wint-O-Green Life Savers (green package, white life savers) if you want to sample the wintergreen flavor.

5. In earlier posts, several people described the flavor of the white Merrimints as peppermint. I remember them as having mint flavor. The distinction is hard to explain, but peppermint is a milder, sweeter flavor -- to my taste, anyhow. I agree with whoever said it that the white ones (mint) were too strong. I too used to avoid them. Still do.

6. I don't recall whether the green Merrimints were spearmint or lime. The Vermont Country Store (VCS) greens are spearmint. Since VCS seems to have done research on Merrimints, getting the size and the ridges and the wintergreen = pink right, I suspect the originals were spearmint. The distinction between mint and spearmint is again hard to make, but an inexpensive package of Wrigley's Spearmint Gum will quickly reacquaint you with the spearmint flavor. Compare that with the harsh flavor of jellylike, sugar coated green mint candies. Like peppermint, spearmint is milder than mint. I find it hard to distinguish peppermint from spearmint.

7. Merrimints had a creamy-grainy texture, where the graininess resulted NOT from a surface coating of sugar but from partially undissolved sugar crystals that permeated the candies.

8. Where can you get Merrimint replicas? In the late 1990s, while vacationing in Acadia National Park and its attached town of Bar Harbor in Maine, I found an all-candy-made-on-the-premises candy store in Bar Harbor: Ben and Bill's. The owners made and sold the equivalent of Merrimints. Their wafers were the right size and included the orange-colored ones that are missing from the Vermont Country Store mixture. (Ben and Bill's green wafers might be lime -- I don't recall.) I bought some Merrimint replicas at the store and a year later bought more by telephone order. I phoned after the tourist season closed, in late September I think (definitely after Labor Day). The Bar Harbor store, or at least its kitchen, was closed for the season, but someone answered the phone. He (she?) referred me to their second store, located somewhere on Cape Cod and open all year. I was given the Cape Cod phone number (see below) and was able to order several boxes from there.

You can choose your flavors and amounts. You don't have to buy every flavor or equal numbers of the flavors you do buy. I ordered one box that was all wintergreens (pinks) and another box that had only four of the five flavors (no whites = mint flavored ones).

The phone number for Ben and Bill's in Bar Harbor is (207) 288-3281. I think (not sure) that, for lack of a better label, they call these items "mint" wafers, even though only one or two of the five flavors are mint. (Only the whites are definitely mint; the greens could be either lime or spearmint.)

quote:

Originally posted by Delamere

Oh Vald what a great synopsis! Thanks so much for doing this and including all the links. I have a feeling that you are as "obsessed" as we have been with this candy, so if you ever come across another company that you consider even better than "Oliver's" please keep us posted.

I'm the one who had the not too fun experience with "Oliver's" sticking together, and unfortunately it wasn't just a few as it seems to have been in your case. Mine were actually ALL stuck together so that it was like a colorful Yule log. I also remember spacers between each section of colors. Anyway, the taste was pretty good, although not as good as my childhood memory, but then again I'm sure nothing would be.

Thanks again,

Delamere

Hi!
I'm new to this discussion and have just read through all eight pages(!) of discussion. I have memories of these candies also! My grandmother had them. Yes, they were in a long box with a cellophane window, were smooth on one side and ridged on the other(not waffled), came in several flavors (I do remember orange, but the wintergreens were my favorite)and colors. There seemed to be about five of each color (five colors). I also remember corragated paper as part of the packaging. My recollection is that they were more of a machine-made, uniform shape rather than hand made. Someone mentioned Fanny Farmer as a possibility (yes, FF went out of business).

I was on vacation on Nantucket Island, MA this summer and a candy store there (Sweet Inspirations Chocolates) carried something that reminded me very much of the candies from the past. I bought two wintergreen and two lemon and enjoyed the memories. They were hand made, a drop type candy. They were expensive, though, and sold by the pound. Not something you would want to try to order. I like to cook and so may try RubyRose's recipe.

I have recently ordered the pastel mints from VCS in which then I find they are made by Oliver's (which is in my hometown). I wish I would have found this site a little sooner, then I wouldn't have had to pay shipping. I thought the packaging was overkill. But after reading all the comments here, I think I know why now. I did not find a single broken mint nor were they stuck together.

As I was reading through all the comments, I found this discussion very interesting. Being so close to home for me and growing up with Olivers Candies.

I literally live right down the road from Oliver's Candies. I do know for a fact that they make the Orange mints and Cinnamon mints. They are my favorite 2 flavors. I just wish they would make them year round. For the chocolate dipped ones mentioned early here, they are wonderful too.

Piece of info that I have figured out in my research of Pastel mints. VCS is $19.95 plus $5.95 to ship. Olivercandies.com is $11.00 plus $9.00 to ship, still cheaper.

I did notice that there is alot of talk about VCS. My thought is, why pay all that shipping when you can get almost all the same products at the Cracker Barrel Stores.

OMG .. Olivers have raised their prices .. AGAIN

now instead of $16.95 for 14oz of French Creams they are $22.95 .. same price as Vermont Country Store .. no more saving money by ordering direct from Olivers it seems

$13.75 for 7 oz. and $22.95 for 14 oz. .. They are getting too close to Godiva prices for my liking :~( .. that is a massive increase in pricing in less than a year

http://www.oliverscandies.com/storeproductdetails.asp?ssid=9F9825D1-2D64-49CE-9ED9-8DB50970E0C2&CategoryID=70&ProductID=88

Olivers does have the pastel mints (merrimints) in all orange at the moment for the few ppl that wanted all orange before .. and I think they are STILL the same price .. all orange is in drop-down menu

http://oliverscandies.com/storeproductdetails.asp?ssid=9F9825D1-2D64-49CE-9ED9-8DB50970E0C2&CategoryID=70&ProductID=219

quote:

Originally posted by Heffalump

The phone number for Ben and Bill's in Bar Harbor is (207) 288-3281.