Andes Mints- Candy Cane

My sister is a seasonal-candy junkie. Bunny-shaped SweeTarts for Easter? She’s at the register. Pink strawberry-flavored York Patties for Valentine’s Day? She’s gotta try them. So when Andes came out with a candy-cane flavored version of their delicacy, she practically flew to Target to snatch up a package of them, and was nice enough to share a few with me. We both liked Andes well enough, but neither of us called it our favorite. The mint-and-chocolate is my favorite flavor combo (along with raspberry-and-chocolate) but I preferred Ghiradelli white mint squares.
Candy canes are, of course, mint candies, so I figured these would taste the same as the original, without the chocolate. Well, I was half right. I can’t exactly remember the structure of the original Andes, but I think there was mint flavor sandwiched between two layers of chocolate. These have only two layers: a minty red strip on the bottom, and a creamier minty strip on top. In the “creamy” strip, miniscule bits of candy cane have been mixed in to add a little texture. It’s a cute little candy, about two inches long, one inch wide, and half an inch thick. The red against the off-white gave the slim rectangular treat a festive striped appearance.
As for the taste, well, it’s all right. It’s basically a generic mint flavor that seems more “breath mint” than the sweet variety that you usually get in these sorts of candies. Being one not unaccustomed to squirting toothpaste on my finger and licking it off, I enjoyed it but thought it was a bit weak. I did like the candy cane bits as they added a nice crunch, but bigger pieces might have been better. That might mess with the perfect rectangular shape, though. We wouldn’t want that.
I guess what they really lacked was chocolate. Mint by itself is fine, but chocolate always brings out the delicious flavor. So I’d take a regular Andes over these any day.
If I ever come across these again, I will leave them on the shelf. There’s nothing particularly wrong with them, but with all these new mint candies coming out in honor of wintertime and Christmas, why settle for these less-than-spectacular treats? However, if you are just looking to settle a craving for mint, these will do the trick. Another bonus is that you get a lot of them, definitely your money’s worth! (Or your sister’s money.)

6.5 out of 10