Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint-flavored candies owned by the Italian-Dutch company Perfetti Van Melle. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide.[1] The mints are small oblate spheroids, with a slightly hard exterior and a soft, chewy interior. Is sold in many stores and vending machines.
They are typically sold in rolls which contain 14 mint discs, although the "Sour Mix" variety contains only 11 discs per roll. Smaller versions also exist, which typically contain 4 to 6 discs per roll. Certain flavors are sold in boxes in Australia, the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The current slogan of Mentos is "Stay Fresh",[2] while the line previously used extensively in the 1980s and 1990s was "The Freshmaker". Some Mentos packages describe the mints as "chewy dragées". The typical Mentos roll is approximately 2cm (0.79in) in diameter and weighs 38 grams (1.3oz). "Mentos" is the singular form.[3]
Ingredients
Mint-flavored Mentos contain sugar, wheat glucose syrup, hydrogenatedcoconut oil, rice starch, natural flavors, gum arabic, sucrose esters of fatty acids, gellan gum, carnauba wax, and beeswax.[4] Fruit-flavored Mentos contain sugar, wheat glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, citric acid, fruit juices from concentrate (strawberry, orange, lemon) (1%), rice starch, gum arabic, natural flavors, sucrose esters of fatty acids, gellan gum, carnauba wax, colors (beta-carotene, beetroot red), and beeswax.[5] The formulation can vary based on country of manufacture.[6]
Mentos are available in several flavors including mint, mixed fruit, cola, bubble gum, and in an assortment of orange, strawberry, and lemon. Mentos first appeared as a liquorice-flavored sweet which can still be purchased in the Netherlands as "Drop Mentos". New flavors were initially test-marketed in the Netherlands and throughout Europe; however, most of the flavors have been available worldwide recently.
Other flavors include green apple, cinnamon, strawberry, mixed fruit (which contains a mix of cherry, strawberry, orange, and lemon flavors), grape, wintergreen, grapefruit, peach, plum, spearmint, strawberry yogurt, lemon yogurt, pineapple (pine fresh), red apple, currant and two versions of black licorice-flavored Mentos. Two varieties of the mint flavor, known as "Mentos Strong" and "Air action Mentos" are sold in the Netherlands. Also available in the Netherlands is the Special Mix 4 pack, containing the flavors mint, fruit, berry mix, strawberry, banana, cherry, and mango orange. Two varieties of the mint flavor are also sold in China, known as "Mint" and "Strong Mint". Grape and 'N Cream (presumably Apples and Cream), Strawberry 'N Cream, and Banana 'N Cream are also marketed in Asia. Chocolate Mentos were produced in 1989, but the flavor was discontinued. The chocolate variant is still available in some Asian countries. In 2006, the citrus mango flavor was introduced to the Japanese market. In the Philippines, a "Dalandan Fresh" variant is available. Other varieties of Mentos include: Mentos Sours, which recently became available in the United States, featuring Watermelon, Green Apple, and Lemon flavors; caffeinated "Energy" Mentos, sold mainly in Germany, where one roll equals the amount of caffeine in two cups of coffee; "Fresh Cola"-flavored Mentos released in New Zealand, Australia and parts of Europe and Asia; and "AIR Mentos" containing menthol, which are sold primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands. In India, the major flavors available are mint, lemon, strawberry, orange, watermelon and cola.
Mentos also make chewing gum, available in various flavors. It is available in Germany, Australia, Greece, China, Canada, Brazil, Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and recently, the United States in blisters and bottles, both in three different flavors. In the Netherlands, Mentos Gum is sold in blisters and bottles in six different varieties: Pure (four flavors), Fruit (four flavors), Regular (five flavors), Bubblegum, Cubes (four flavors) and White (three flavors).
Mentos Sugar Free
In August 2005, the variety of the mint which comes in "mixed berries" and "cool mint" flavors was changed to be sweetened with sucralose. In the Netherlands the flavors mint, licorice and fruit are also available in the sugar-free variety.
Australian varieties of Mentos are Fruit, Rainbow, Mint, Spearmint, Soft Drink and Smoothies.
The UK has five current flavors of rolls:
Fruit (Orange, Lemon and Strawberry)
Mint
Rainbow (with 2 dragees each of: Strawberry, Apple, Raspberry, Orange, Watermelon, Blueberry and Pink Grapefruit (the last two were new flavors for 2015, replacing Grape and Pineapple).
Spearmint
Tutti-Frutti - bubblegum flavored - new for 2012.
In the UK, Mentos Gum is also available in stick packs (peppermint, spearmint, pure white, air action (menthol) and fruit), Bottles (spearmint, peppermint and red fruit - which retails for approximately £0.99), as well as flip top boxes. Flavors include peppermint or spearmint with green tea extract, and a pure white with white tea extract. Sugar free versions are available, but these are rarer to find, usually only found in large supermarkets. Mentos gum holds a 4% market share of the UK gum market. A new Mentos 3 was launched in January 2011, in two flavors - mint and Strawberry/Apple/Raspberry, which are similar to Wrigleys' 5 in packaging. A new blackberry/kiwi/strawberry version was released into the UK market in January 2012.
In Greece, Mentos are very popular, and are available in the following flavors:
Mint
Strawberry
Melon
Watermelon
Fruit (Orange, lemon and strawberry)
Energy (each roll is equivalent to 2 cups of coffee)
Mentos gum in Bottles
Mentos Cube
Mentos in Boxes (mint and Fruit).
Cinnamon Mentos
Mini Mentos, somewhat smaller than ordinary Mentos, are available in the Netherlands in two varieties: Mini Mentos Fruitmix, which contains the flavors orange, lemon, strawberry and apple, and Mini Mentos Yoghurt, with the flavors strawberry yogurt, raspberry yogurt and blueberry yogurt. Also sold is Mentos KIDZ, a bag with 12 boxes containing 10 miniature candies, in the flavors strawberry, orange, lemon, apple and blueberry.
"Mentos Teens" is available in Brazil and the rest of Latin America. They come in a rectangular box. The mint is basically miniature Mentos roughly the size of Skittles, and they come in mixed flavors: white grape (green), lemon (yellow), strawberry (pink), orange (orange), raspberry (blue), and cherry (red).
During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a Brazilian team Mentos was released in Brazil to support the national team. The mint was green apple and orange flavors.
In some countries, the Mentos Ice candy can be bought in flavors such as, cherry (red), green apple (green) and grape (purple).
Ume, Fuji apple, and Pine Fresh (pineapple) Mentos are sold exclusively in Japan.
Flavors only available in certain countries; Enigma (Czech Republic) Rainbow (UK and US) Ume (Japan) Fuji Apple (Japan) Pine Fresh (Japan) Ice (Canada)[citation needed]
Marketing
Part of Mentos's popularity in the US and Canada can be attributed to its campyTV commercials and catchy jingle, which debuted in late 1991 and were used well into 2001 on American and Canadian television. Individuals facing various day-to-day dilemmas consume Mentos and are subsequently inspired to solve their problems at hand in a creative, often-humorous fashion. For example, a job interviewee sits on a freshly painted bench, staining his suit, and then solves the problem by rolling around on the bench until his suit has pinstripes. Another features a woman whose parked car is boxed in; she calls a crew of construction workers over who lift her car onto the road for her. These unusual behaviors are typically witnessed by nearby, sometimes antagonistic characters, and a roll of Mentos is boisterously displayed by the commercial's respective protagonist to the observer as an explanation for their actions.
The ad campaign was parodied in multiple television shows and music videos, including the Foo Fighters' "Big Me".[7]
Reaction with carbonated beverages
A Diet Coke bottle, shortly after Mentos were dropped into it
First publicly demonstrated by chemistry teacher Lee Marek on the Late Show with David Letterman on September 14, 1999,[8] and later popularized in a June 2006[9] viral Internet video by Eepybird, a Mentos mint expedites a rapid release of carbon dioxide when dropped into a carbonated liquid, such as a soft drink. MythBusters concluded that the potassium benzoate, aspartame, and CO2 gas contained in the Diet Coke, in combination with the gelatin and gum arabic ingredients of the Mentos, all contribute to the formation of the foam.[10] However, kinetic experiments with various candies have shown that the presence of gelatin and gum arabic in candies does not enhance the fountain.[11] Rather, it is the physical structure of candies that conveys the fountain effect.
The structure of the Mentos is the most significant cause of the eruption due to nucleation. MythBusters reported that when fruit-flavored Mentos with a smooth waxy coating were tested in carbonated drink there was hardly a reaction, whereas mint-flavored Mentos (with no such coating) added to carbonated drink formed an energetic eruption, supporting the nucleation-site theory. According to MythBusters, the surface of the mint Mentos is covered with many small holes that increase the surface area available for reaction (and thus the quantity of reagents exposed to each other at any given time), thereby allowing CO2 bubbles to form with the rapidity and quantity necessary for the "jet"-, "geyser"-, or "eruption"-like nature of the effusion.[12]
This hypothesis gained further support when rock salt was used as a "jump start" to the reaction. A paper by Tonya Coffey, a physicist at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, confirmed that the rough surface of the Mentos candy helps speed the reaction. Coffey also found that the aspartame in diet soda lowers the surface tension and causes a bigger reaction, but that caffeine does not accelerate the reaction.[13][14] On the other hand, it has been shown that a wide variety of beverage additives such as sugars, citric acid, and natural flavors also enhance fountain heights.In some cases, dissolved solids thatincreasethe surface tension of water (such as sugars) also increase fountain heights.[15]These results suggest that additives serve to enhance geyser heights not by decreasing surface tension, but rather by decreasing bubble coalescence. Decreased bubble coalescence leads to smaller bubble sizes and greater foaming ability in water.[16]
A Guinness World Record of 2,865 simultaneous geysers was set on 17 October 2010, in an event organized by Perfetti Van Melle (Philippines) at the SM Mall of Asia Complex, in Manila, Philippines.[17][18] This record was afterwards beaten in November 2014 by another event organized by Perfetti Van Melle and Chupa Chups in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico where 4,334 Mentos and soda fountains were set off simultaneously.[19]
The resulting geyser can shoot as high as 6m (20ft). The unofficial record, reached in MythBusters, was over 34ft (10m) with the use of a nozzle.[20]
Tic Tac is a brand of small, hard mint manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero. They were first produced in 1969 and are now available in a variety of flavors in over 100 countries.
Cream soda is a sweet soft drink. Generally flavored with vanilla and based on the taste of an ice cream float, a wide range of variations can be found worldwide.
Hubba Bubba is a brand of bubble gum produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Introduced in the United States in 1979, the bubble gum got its name from the phrase "Hubba Hubba", which some military personnel in World War II used to express approval. The main gimmick used to promote the gum is that, as Hubba Bubba is less sticky than other brands of gum, it is easier to peel off the skin after a bubble bursts. When Hubba Bubba was first marketed, the gum's flavor was similar to that of others but, over time, different flavors have been produced.
Nerds is an American candy launched in 1983 by the Sunmark Corporation under the brand name Willy Wonka Candy Company. Nerds are now made by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero Group. but is still distributed internationally by Nestlé. With their anthropomorphic covers, Nerds usually contain two flavors per box, each flavor having a separate compartment and opening.
Orbit is a brand of sugarless chewing gum from the Wrigley Company. In the United States, where it was re-launched in 2001, it is sold in cardboard boxes with 14 individually wrapped pieces per package. In the UK, where it was launched in 1899 it was originally sold as a traditional long-stick gum, later replaced by the same format as the US.
Eclipse is a brand of chewing gum and breath mint, first introduced in the U.S. by the Wrigley Company in 1999 as its first entrant into the U.S. pellet gum segment. It was modeled after Excel in Canada, which was launched in 1991.
Slice was a line of fruit-flavored soft drinks originally manufactured by PepsiCo and introduced in 1984 but discontinued by PepsiCo in North America in the late 2000s.
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group.
Dots, or Mason Dots, is an American brand of gum drops marketed by Tootsie Roll Industries. According to advertisements, more than four billion dots are produced from the Tootsie Roll Industries Chicago plant each year. Dots are vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, and kosher. They come in various flavors and varieties.
Polar Beverages is a soft drink company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is a manufacturer and distributor of sparkling fruit beverages, seltzer, ginger ale, drink mixers, and spring water to customers in the United States. It is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the United States.
Hi-Chew is a Japanese fruit candy sold by Morinaga & Company.
Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless, Reign and Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southern California, originally selling juice products. The company renamed itself as Monster Beverage in 2012.
A soda geyser is a physical reaction between a carbonated beverage, usually Diet Coke, and Mentos mints that causes the beverage to be expelled from its container. The candies catalyze the release of gas from the beverage, which creates an eruption that pushes most of the liquid up and out of the bottle. Lee Marek and "Marek's Kid Scientists" were the first to publicly demonstrate the experiment on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1999. Steve Spangler's televised demonstration of the eruption in 2005 became popular on YouTube, launching a chain of several other Diet Coke and Mentos experiment viral videos. Experiments carried out at altitudes ranging from below sea level in Death Valley to the summit of Pikes Peak have demonstrated that the reaction works better at higher elevations.
Stride is a brand of sugar-free chewing gum introduced in 2006 and owned by Mondelez International, sold in packs of 14 pieces. The company sold most of its chewing gum brands to Perfetti Van Melle in 2023, which didn't include the sale of Stride, to focus on other confections. In 2024, Mondelez discontinued sales of Stride in the United States, Canada, and Europe, but is still sold in China and Australia.
↑ Kuntzleman, Thomas S.; Annis, Jezrielle; Anderson, Hazel; Kenney, Joshua B.; Doctor, Ninad (2020). "Kinetic Modeling of and Effect of Candy Additives on the Candy–Cola Soda Geyser: Experiments for Elementary School Science through Physical Chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education. 97 (1): 283–288. Bibcode:2020JChEd..97..283K. doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00796. S2CID209710757.
↑ Coffey, Tonya Shea (June 2008). "Diet Coke and Mentos: What is really behind this physical reaction?". American Journal of Physics. 76 (6): 551–557. Bibcode:2008AmJPh..76..551C. doi:10.1119/1.2888546.
↑ Kuntzleman, Thomas S.; Davenport, Laura S.; Cothran, Victoria I.; Kuntzleman, Jacob T.; Campbell, Dean J. (23 February 2017). "New Demonstrations and New Insights on the Mechanism of the Candy-Cola Soda Geyser". Journal of Chemical Education. 94 (5): 569–576. Bibcode:2017JChEd..94..569K. doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00862. ISSN0021-9584.
↑ Katsir, Yael; Goldstein, Gal; Marmur, Abraham (1 May 2015). "Bubble the wave or waive the bubble: Why seawater waves foam and freshwater waves do not?". Colloids and Interface Science Communications. 6: 9–12. doi:10.1016/j.colcom.2015.10.002.
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