I was shopping in Boots last weekend when I suddenly spotted a bag of Jakemans sweets that I regularly buy, but this time they were packaged within a newly coloured bag that I had not seen before. This meant there was a new flavour for me to try, and so I quickly picked a bag up.

I absolutely love Jakemans cough sweets, and I have tried all of the available flavours from the range, but tend to usually buy the original throat and chest cough sweets, purely because they seem to often be the only available flavour in most of the shops, garages or chemists that I use.

My Dad first introduced me to Jakemans original Throat and Chest sweets a few years back when I was suffering from a bit of the old 'man flu', and being somewhat of an expert on sweets in general, my dad turned up with a bag of these for me during a visit to see me.

The Jakemans brand has been in existence since 1907, and so they have a fully tried and tested track record, and the brand does seem to be getting more and more popular over the last few years since I have heard of them.

The new flavour that I had not come across before was Blackcurrant Menthol Soother sweets and they are based around the same idea as the other flavours in the range, in that they are basically a hard boiled sweet, which are dark purple in colour, and probably just a bit larger in size than a locket or tune. They come in a dark purple coloured plastic bag, with a see-through patch at the front of the bag which exposes a few of the sweets contained within the bag. Each bag contains 100 grams of individually wrapped sweets inside it, which roughly equates to about 15 sweets.


As with all the others in the Jakemans range, there is an instant strong smell of menthol, as the bag is opened up, and as the sweets themselves are unwrapped, this scent intensifies.
As mentioned above, the sweets are boiled, and very hard, with no soft centre, and the idea is to suck them in your mouth, until the sweet has dissolved. I usually find a sweet will last the best part of an hour before it has completely dissolved in my mouth, if I just suck it, and don't bite into it.

The blackcurrant flavour that these sweets are based on is strong and quite juicy which tastes great, and gets to work on clearing a blocked nose, or a sore throat very quickly. There is also a gentle hint of menthol present which is detectable when sucking the sweet, which is not too overpowering. They do have a strong, but inviting kick to them, which provides a soothing vapour to the throat, and helps to clear the airways. They also leave the mouth feeling fresh, fruity and Menthol after the sweet has fully dissolved!

They have the feel of a very good quality product, from the design on the bag, the wrappers, the taste, and the effects that the sweets have. For anyone interested they do not contain any artificial colours, and they are suitable for vegetarians!

The price of these bags of Jakemans cough sweets varies a huge amount depending on where you buy them from. I often pay around 70p a bag from my local Morrison's supermarket, and they are also available in a host of newsagents, petrol stations, and convenience stores, although most of these places only stock the 'Original Throat and Chest' flavour, so boots is a good place to visit to pick up the more unusual flavours.


I find them a really tasty alternative to mints, and so I probably get through a packet of these most weeks. These are a medicinal sweet though, and so it is sensible to restrict consumption to just a few a day, or one every few hours if being taken as a one-off to help cure a cough and sore throat.


For information, Jakemans now produce 6 different flavours of menthol cough sweets, all coming in very similar looking packaging, just differing in terms of name, and the colouring of the packaging designed to match the colour of the cough sweets inside the bag as follows:
Blackcurrant Menthol Soothers - Dark purple Bag / sweets
Throat and Chest - Black Bag / sweets
Menthol and Eucalyptus - Blue Bag / sweets
Cheery Menthol - Red Bag / sweets
Honey and Lemon Menthol - Yellow Bag / sweets
Blueberry Menthol - Purple Bag / sweets


Overall they are a fantastic addition to the Jakemans range of boiled sweets. It is great from my point of view to see the range of sweets becoming more and more popular in the UK, as they are obviously becoming more widely available in shops, supermarkets, chemists, garages, and even airports. I'm pleased to have found this new flavour, and it does rank highly on my list, and I hope there are more new flavours to come soon!


Thanks for reading.

© L500589 2011