At the beginning of the month, I was contacted by Mentas Boggle who asked me if I would like to try some of their Spanish Mints.. These aren't just any Spanish Mints though - These are 100% natural, heat resistant, Spanish Mints! Originally designed for a hotter climate where the humble British Mint Imperial just couldn't hold its own, the Boggle Mint is made here in the UK and then shipped to Europe. Unlike the aforementioned, these will not crumble from the inside out and won't lose their flavour in the sticky warmth of the sun. With claims like those, I couldn't pass up the opportunity of giving them a go myself to see if they really do reign superior!
A few days after correspondence, 4 packets of Boggle Mints turned up at my door. I don't speak Spanish.. Or any other language for that matter, so haven't really got a clue what any of the writing says but I do like the blue design!
Imperial vs Boggle
I hadn't had Mint Imperials in years prior to picking up this bag from Tesco - I swear they never use to be that big in size!
The Taste Test
L-R Mint Imperial, Boggle Mint
I blind taste tested these with MSW to ensure we didn't have any predetermined thoughts on which was which. Both of us agreed that the Boggle Mint was a hell of a lot strong than the Imperial! The flavour was so potent and menthol-y it made my eyes water a bit at first. It was certainly a palate cleanser and made our tongues tingle as well as giving the "cool breath" sensation. Texture wise, it was smooth and solid. Rock solid. There was no chance of biting through the thing and in turn, it lasted for ages! In contrast, the much sweeter and milder Imperial lasted a matter of minutes as it disintegrated due to its chalky, crumbly texture. It was still refreshing though with a nice after taste even if it was more of a sweet than a Mint!
Snack Warrior does Science
As some of you may already know, Science is my thing. Any chance for me to experiment and really put things to the test, I will! I like this segment a lot.
The Whack Test
L-R Mint Imperial, Boggle Mint
Since the above reasoning isn't analytical enough for me, I decided that the only way to test how hard the Mints were was to bash em' one! Ok, so if this was to be a really fair test then I would have to ensure that the same force was subjected to each Mint with all other variables, on par but thats far to much of a faff for a Food Blog so I adopted the "whack with a glass" technique and hoped it was at about an equal strength - I'm not that strong so lets just assume it was. Thankfully. the proof is in the pudding and as Mentas Boggle claimed and as I expected, their Mint didn't crumble anywhere near as much as the Mint Imperial. So far so good.
The Heat Test
L-R Mint Imperial, Boggle Mint
Now, this is a new one for me. Even I haven't ever put a Mint in the oven before.. And that's saying something! I preheated it to 80ºC fan which is the lowest mine can be at. I didn't want to blast them at 230ºC after all! I stopwatched 5 minutes exactly and pulled them out of the oven. Guess which one is the Boggle Mint? Yes, the one on the right of course! Wait, what? The thing blooming melted?! That's the one that isn't meant to melt! I redid it to just double check I hadn't mixed the two up but lo and behold, the one on the right melted again. So much for being heat resistant!
Boggle has boggled me. The flavour is as promised, the texture is as promised, the fact it's heat resistant.. Well that's a load of cock and bull. You actually have to laugh really since that was the whole point of the Mints! Don't get me wrong, they are pleasant enough but when they are marketed as being x, y and z, they have to live up to it! Perhaps they didn't expect me to get my Nerd on and put it to test.. More fool them! Nice try Boggle and I thank you but it's a 3 out of 5 from me!
