Mentos facts for kids
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| Type | Scotch mints |
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| Owner | Perfetti Van Melle |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Introduced | 1932 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | Van Melle NV |
| Tagline | "Can't Say No To Mentos" |
Mentos are a popular brand of chewy candies. They are known for their slightly hard outside and soft, chewy inside. Mentos are made by an Italian-Dutch company called Perfetti Van Melle. These candies were first made in 1932. Today, you can find Mentos in over 130 countries around the world.
Mentos usually come in rolls with 14 candies. Some special kinds, like "Sour Mix," have 11 candies per roll. You can also find smaller packs with 4 to 6 candies. In some countries, Mentos are sold in boxes. The current slogan for Mentos is "Stay Fresh." A famous old slogan from the 1980s and 1990s was "The Freshmaker." Each typical Mentos candy roll is about 2 centimeters wide and weighs 38 grams. The word "Mentos" is already plural, so one candy is still called a "Mentos."
Contents
What Are Mentos Made Of?
Mentos candies are made from several ingredients. The mint-flavored ones contain sugar, glucose syrup from wheat, and coconut oil. They also have rice starch, natural flavors, and gum arabic. Other ingredients include carnauba wax and beeswax, which give them their smooth coating.
Fruit-flavored Mentos have similar ingredients. They also include citric acid and real fruit juices from concentrate. These juices come from fruits like strawberry, orange, and lemon. The exact recipe can be a little different depending on where the Mentos are made.
Discovering Mentos Flavors
Mentos come in many exciting flavors. Some common ones are mint, mixed fruit, cola, and bubble gum. The mixed fruit rolls often have orange, strawberry, and lemon candies.
Mentos first started with a liquorice flavor. You can still buy "Drop Mentos" (liquorice flavor) in the Netherlands. New flavors are often tested in the Netherlands and Europe first. But many of these flavors eventually become available worldwide.
Popular Mentos Flavors Around the World
You can find many different Mentos flavors globally. These include green apple, cinnamon, grape, and wintergreen. There are also unique flavors like grapefruit, peach, and plum. Some fun flavors include strawberry yogurt and lemon yogurt.
In some parts of Asia, you might find 'N Cream flavors like Strawberry 'N Cream. Chocolate Mentos were made in 1989 but were later stopped. However, you can still find chocolate Mentos in some Asian countries.
Mentos also makes chewing gum. This gum is available in many countries, including Germany, Australia, and the United States. It comes in different flavors and packaging, like blister packs and bottles.
Sugar-Free Mentos Options
Since 2005, some Mentos flavors have been made sugar-free. These often use sucralose as a sweetener. In the Netherlands, you can find sugar-free mint, liquorice, and fruit Mentos.
Mentos Flavors in the UK
The United Kingdom has several Mentos roll flavors. These include Fruit (orange, lemon, strawberry) and Mint. The Rainbow roll has seven different flavors, like strawberry, apple, and blueberry. There's also a Spearmint flavor and a special Discovery roll with 14 unique flavors. A bubblegum-flavored Mentos called Tutti-Frutti was launched in 2012.
Mentos Flavors in Other Countries
In Greece, Mentos are very popular. Flavors there include Mint, Strawberry, Melon, and Watermelon. They also have an "Energy" Mentos roll, which has as much caffeine as two cups of coffee.
Mini Mentos are smaller candies found in the Netherlands. They come in fruit mixes or yogurt flavors. "Mentos Teens" are available in Brazil and Latin America. These are tiny Mentos, similar in size to Skittles, with mixed fruit flavors. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a special Brazilian team Mentos was released with green apple and orange flavors.
Some flavors are only found in certain countries. For example, Ume, Fuji apple, and Pine Fresh (pineapple) Mentos are sold only in Japan.
Mentos Commercials and Fun Ads
Mentos became very popular in the US and Canada because of its funny TV commercials. These ads started in the early 1990s. The commercials showed people facing small problems in their daily lives. After eating a Mentos, they would come up with a creative and often silly way to solve their problem.
For example, someone might sit on a freshly painted bench and stain their suit. Then, after eating a Mentos, they would roll around on the bench to make cool pinstripes on their suit. These commercials were so memorable that they were even made fun of in other TV shows and music videos.
The Mentos and Soda Geyser
You might have seen videos of Mentos causing a huge fountain when dropped into a carbonated drink like Diet Coke. This amazing reaction was first shown publicly in 1999. It became very famous in 2006 because of a viral internet video.
Scientists have studied why this happens. The rough surface of the Mentos candy is the main reason for the big eruption. Mentos have many tiny holes and bumps on their surface. When you drop a Mentos into soda, these tiny spots act like starting points for carbon dioxide (CO2) gas bubbles to form very quickly.
The CO2 gas, which is what makes soda fizzy, rushes out of the liquid all at once. This creates a powerful geyser. If you use fruit-flavored Mentos, which have a smoother, waxy coating, the reaction is much smaller. This shows that the rough surface of the mint Mentos is key to the eruption.
Some studies also show that ingredients in diet soda, like aspartame, can help make the reaction even bigger. This is because they lower the surface tension of the liquid. This means the bubbles can form and escape more easily.
This fun experiment has even set world records! In 2014, in Mexico, 4,334 Mentos and soda fountains were set off at the same time. The geyser from a Mentos and soda reaction can shoot as high as 6 meters (about 20 feet).
See also
In Spanish: Mentos para niños
