h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice to be reminded of an old hobby

There was a time I was fairly interested in Tic Tacs, and attempted to collect as many varieties as possible.

Did you realise that on the Continent Tic Tacs are mostly sold in coloured boxes, while the sweets themselves are almost uncoloured? My favourite was Frutti di Bosco (Fruits of the Forest) - a sort of raspberry flavour. I was never keen on the Tangerine and Lime bi-packs.

Also in vending machines they used to have different sized boxes, so a box of Mint Tic Tacs bought for one Franc on the Eiffel Tower (years ago) was the same height but narrower than the standard box.

To see what can be claimed to be in Tic Tacs I found American boxes the most informative (with bigger labels and smaller text), even to claiming how much Vitamin C you could get from Orange Tic Tacs - negligable really for a healthy diet.

From memory the flavours I've tasted are: Mint (white), Spearmint (dark green?) , Wintergreen Mint (very pale green), Aniseed (blue), Lime (lime green), Mandarin (pale orange), Orange (yes), Cinnamon (red), Fruits of the Forest (mauve).

Have I missed any? Nowadays I prefer and .

Lime Tic-Tacs are relatively new in the States, and we don't have as many flavors available to us as seem to be in Europe. Wintergreen, Orange, Spearmint, Cinnamon and Peppermint and now Lime are it. They test-marketed the Lime in the area where I live and I spent months and months looking for them before they were finally released nationwide. Also, the boxes are always the same size and clear with a label over the top that seals the box. The label has all the ingredients and, as you noted, the dietary information. The flavor is on the part of the label that comes down on the front of the box in the color corresponding to the flavor, red for cinnamon, orange for orange, etc. I've noted that if I suck on five or more of the Lime flavored ones at the same time, my tongue goes a little numb. That concerns me a bit.