Why the hell do they call them Mintstrels? Just to confuse my mind? (Mars Galaxy Minstrels)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Mars Galaxy Minstrels
Date:	24/08/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Chocolate

Disadvantages: Price

So just been tossed a packet of Minstrels and as I'm not the sort to turn anything free down (apart from maybe Strongbow and Carlsberg Lager) I'm going to enjoy these...and review them whilst doing so. Coming in a brown bag and containing 42g of the sweets the treat from Galaxy are seen as one of those sweets that are a bit more quality (and that needs to be paid for) than some others, and sadly this is reflected in the price all to often (these were 51p). However lets not complain about the price of something I got as a relative freebie.

The sweets when picked out of the bag have a light chocolate tinge smell wise, as their crisp shell hides a minted chocolate flavour deep inside the depths of Galaxy chocolate. Just for the sake of experimenting, I tried to snap one in half, which partially succeeded, though it seemed to crumble too easily in the centre and left a mess on my shirt, kids, don't try and copy it.

So lets do to them, what is meant to be done and just eat the things, which are easy to take, they look like large brown Smarties with out the letters on them and yes, just in a dark brown colour. The shell is actually very much like that of the Nestle sweets brittle as opposed to what I'd describe as being hard with the entire UFO shaped sweet covered in it. When broken a pleasant combination of both chocolate and mint hits your taste spud, but the flavour isn't that of "mint chocolate" (see After 8's, Mint Matchstick, Trident Chocolate flavour and Mint Poppets) where the mint is the flavour in charge. Often the cause of that flavour is a white minty centre either fondant or a minty cream, of flavouring to that extent, which can often make the product (as in Poppets) quite sickly and overly sweet. This however depends more on having a chocolate base with a mint twist, meaning the mint flavour is a secondary taste and takes a back seat. This allows Galaxy to do what they do well and use their chocolate to make the centre of the sweet and result in what could well be described as a Galaxy version of Smarties.

Though looking at the packet there is no mint or mint flavour in it, so I may be imagining a minty after taste (quite disconcerting tbh) the chocolate and the hard coating are delightful and wonderful, showing how chocolate based sweets can be done. Though some may prefer Smarties I'd personally say these are better and bigger, but they are more costly.

Nutritional Information (per 42g)
211 Calories
2.2g Protein
29.5g Carbohydrates
9.4g Fat

Sadly that is quite limited, I do know it's around 10% of an average calorie intake (2000 for women, 2500 for men) it does look heavy in carbohydrates and I'd assume they would be mostly sugars and so, like all chocolate it's not exactly healthy. Perhaps it's time for a low sugar chocolate, like a Minstrels Diet or Minstrels Zero. Thankfully though they are brilliant and a great little treat to have every so often, a wonderful freebie, though at full price I'd probably only get them for special occasions in a bigger bag than the 42g ones.

Overall I swear I tasted a very light mint flavour... but obviously I can't have done, so lets just stick it as them being a large tasty Smarties with a better quality of chocolate in them. If you like Smarties and you like chocolate you will obviously love these.

Summary: Big Smarties that made me think they were minty