Monday, February 23, 2009
Foods Mint Condition
Posted by Carrington Fox on Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 5:44 AM
As a former Girl Scout who holds a badge for cookie sales above and beyond the call of duty, I'm going to come right out and ask: Does anyone else think the cookies taste different this year?
I know the packaging and size of cookies have changed so we're getting less cookie for our money, and frankly, I applaud the Little Brownie Bakers' nimbleness in these hard times--so long as cookies sizes go back up if transportation costs ever go back down, that is. But have the recipes changed, or do the altered sizes just make things seem different?
I've been trying doggedly to figure it out. It's the kind of research I'm prepared to do. My first Thin Mint of 2009, by God, tasted different from last year's batch. Then again, I could have just brushed my teeth or something. The next few seemed a little off, too, but by the time I finished the first tube, I was thinking they seemed pretty familiar.
Meanwhile, am I off base here, or are the DoSiDos a whole different animal? They seemed to have lost that intriguing crumbly sawdust finish, which was almost enough to make them a viable fiber supplement. Now they're textured more like ginger snaps. They behave entirely differently when dunked in milk.
On my honor, I am not trying to complain. I love me some Girl Scout cookies. I just want to know if anyone else has noticed a change.
Comments (15)
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Thinking only of the good of the herd, I just ate a thin mint from a package left here this weekend. Perhaps a touch mintier than in years past, and perhaps a micrometer less chocolate coating. But otherwise seemed about like I remembered.
Now the trefoils are another story. Anyone else find them less sandy and more artificeally flavored than in the past? Maybe it's the same process that left your do-si-do less sawdust-y.
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"so long as cookies sizes go back up if transportation costs ever go back down, that is"
If sales of the smaller packages don't drop more than the savings from smaller packages/fewer cookies, then there is no incentive for prices to be lowered or sizes to be increased, and unless the Girl Scouts decide they want less money, the packaging won't change. This is just a basic economic truth about demand and pricing.
Well, this posting has already made it to "The Week."
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/93543/A_Girl_Scout_cookie_slump
Meanwhile, I think this question requires a more longitudinal study, so I'm going to see if the ladies upstairs have any more cookies I can experiment with.
The Girl Scouts (along with the Boy Scouts) discriminate against homosexuals, and as such, I do not purchase their products.
DG -- Sorry I didn't see your post before I wrote my last comment. "The Week" story implies that reduced sizes might be negatively impacting cookie sales. Like I said, I'm a Girl Scout through and through, so I hope cookie sales go well, but it will be interesting to see what happens next year. I smell a Harvard case study ripe for the writing.
By the way, our postings are landing on the page in a funny order, so please know that my posting that follows Anonymous' was not intended as a response to the issue of discrimination. I'm just talkin' about cookies.
I didn't notice a change in the Thin Mints but the Do-Si-Dos are a whole different cookie. Weren't they sort of a peanutbuttery-oatmealy kind of cookie with peanut butter inside? Now the cookies themselves remind me of pressboard.
Yes, the Do-Si-Dos are an entirely different cookie. Weren't the cookies originally a peanutbuttery-oatmealy cookie? Now they seem like brittle pressboard. Unfortunately for my waistline, the Tagalongs are still delicious.
Anyone who has taken a good look at the population employed by the Girl Scouts would have a good laugh at the thought that the company discriminates against homosexuals. Boy Scouts may be another matter.
I thought it was just me with the DoSiDos, but you're right that they're not as wonderfully crumbly as in past years. Would this have anything to do with the cookies now being free of trans fats? Maybe it was Crisco that made them texturally great.
I still lament the fact that the lemon cookies changed a few years back...hate that, just hate it. Though, I'll still knock-out whatever current lemon version they sell in a heart beat.
I've been selflessly checking out the Samoas for any hint of change in their taste, content or calories and, although I'm only into the third box, I haven't seen huge differences - yet.
