Yeah, I know. Candy. How can something with that name not be bad for you? In fact, isn’t it the case that if it is actually healthy, it’s a snack or treat, but not candy, per se? Well, not really. From organic chocolate to an increasingly wide variety of confections, there’s been a big change in candy over the last decade or so and if you’re still grabbing something from Nestlé or M&M Mars, you might be missing out.
One of my weaknesses is mints. I just like the little tins and the quick breath freshener, and as a bonus the tins are super portable and easily stashed in the car. Altoids? I don’t dislike those, but there’s another sheriff in town, uhm, candy option that offers mints in a tin called Ice Chips. I reached out and they sent me a flavor sampler for a home taste test:
As you can see in the photo, the six flavors they have are Piña Colada, Berry Mix, Strawberry Daiquiri, Lemon, Peppermint and OrangeCream.
Before I tell you my favorite and my daughter K-‘s favorites, let me highlight that these are sweetened with something called xylitol. Now that’s a name that only a chemist in a laboratory could love, but don’t be put off by that. Turns out that xylitol is a naturally occurring sweetener commonly from birch trees or corn cobs, doesn’t promote tooth decay and has a super low glycemic index (8 on a 1-100 scale). It also has only 40% of the calories of regular sugar, though of course in a tiny candy, it’s not that big a deal.
The bowl in the middle of the above photo shows the weird appearance of the Ice Chips, and why they’re called “chips”: It’s like the fragments of a broken sheet of candy and it’s definitely fun and different if you’re used to factory-produced pills or lozenges from other candies. Here’s a closer look at what’s in the Piña Colada tin:
You can see that they are a uniform thickness but various sizes ranging from tiny to a pretty hefty shard or two. I quite like this as you never really know exactly how big a piece you’ll get when you reach in and snag one. Fun.
And in terms of flavors, well, I definitely like the Berry Mix more than any other flavor, while K- says that both the Peppermint and Lemon are her favorite flavors. The one I liked the least was Piña Colada, which did not taste very good to me at all. Maybe I just haven’t had a piña colada in too long, but pineapple and coconut should be a good combo. Just not as Ice Chips.
Anyway, good stuff, tasty, fun and popular with friends and family (and kids). Check it out if you see some Ice Chips Candy at the local store and tell me what your favorite flavor is!
Disclosure: Ice Chips Candy sent us the six tins to try out. And my breath is now fantastic…