I like Mentos (which I think is obvious from an entire topic category dedicated to them on this site). I have liked Mentos for a very long time. I’m not sure exactly when my obsession love of Mentos started. It was probably sometime in high school, or maybe a bit earlier and was tied to the kitschy ads they were running in the 90’s. I got hooked, and never turned back.
My love of Mentos also turned into a collection over the years. I discovered that you could find unique flavors in different countries that were not available in the U.S. To feed my need for more (special) Mentos, I created a Mentos Ambassador Program so that when friends traveled abroad they could be awarded for bringing back flavors I’ve never seen or can’t get domestically. As you can imagine this led to a lot of Mentos!
I still love Mentos, but started some much-needed cleaning of the basement storeroom recently. This involved going through boxes that I’ve moved houses with multiple times and boxes that I haven’t opened since I got married many many years ago. Well guess what I found… a lot of Mentos that I’ve collected over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about what to do with a (quasi-perishable) collection of candy over the past 30 years and never really came up with a good answer. I love that these Mentos are somewhat unique, and they do bring back memories of when I got them and who gave them to me, and of course, the amazing flavors. I’m not really sure what to do with them. I’ve thought about somehow finding a way to archive them by taking photos and writing up tasting notes, but never really got around to it. At one point this site is where those new/special Mentos posts went, but I’ve fallen out of that a bit. So now I’ve got boxes(!) of old Mentos.
Some of these boxes and rolls needed to go. As I pulled them out of the storage boxes, they kind of stuck to the sides. It made me a little sad, but I guess it wasn’t that surprising that a perishable food product (even though they are the candy of the gods) would eventually spoil. So I tried to take some photos as a nod to archiving photos of the ones that I had to throw away.
I also have a bunch of Mentos-branded memorabilia. Obviously I don’t have the same spoilage problem with that, but thought it also had a place here. I don’t need to throw that out… but would like to find a way to display it somewhere. I will still from time to time do a random search for collectibles on ebay for Mentos.
I also found the letter and folder I was sent when I won a “year’s supply” (note the quotes, they did not last a year) of Mentos from a competition they held around 1998. I think they were doing some sort of Mentos music tour and I had to write a response to a prompt on their website and send in a certain number of wrappers.
This was not the only Mentos contest I won. Unfortunately, my second Mentos prize did not survive. It was an inflatable Mentos hot tub (with jets!) that was thrown away sometime in the early 2000’s. I probably have a 35mm photo of it somewhere in one of the other basement boxes I haven’t opened in 20 years.
As you can see… lots and lots of Mentos still live in my basement. Any ideas on what I should do with them? They have sentimental value to me, but soon they’ll just be a puddle of Mentos goo on the bottom of a box.
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