An airline hiccup (and major blizzard!) this holiday season left me with more time than usual to browse the duty-free shop at the airport. Once only open to international travelers, this shop now serves everyone and carries an unusual range of food items, including some, like Nestle's After Eight mints, that are hard to find elsewhere.
After Eight mints are thin square chocolates with a creamy mint filling, more delicate than a peppermint patty, and packaged rather elegantly in individual black paper sleeves. At first, I associated them with the Andes mints my grandmother used to give me and I wrote them off as an out-dated treat. But when I picked up a box on my way home last week I was blown away - After Eight mints aren't like anything else available on supermarket shelves.
Made in the U.K., these chocolates are a tasty addition melted over warm desserts like poached pears or a just-out-of-the-oven brownie. They're also great on their own or straight from the freezer! The duty-free shop also carried a selection of larger teardrop-shaped After Eight chocolates, along with a variety of other products not often seen on U.S. shores. Pick up a box next time you're traveling!
Have you tried After Eight mints? What are your favorite duty-free treats?
• After Eight mints, $10 for a 400g box at Duty Free Americas
Related: Edible Souvenirs: Rules for Bringing Food and Drink Back Into the United States
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Comments (21)
I remember these from when my parents would have dinner parties in the early '90s - they were put out to have with coffee after dinner. I always resented that they were strictly for the adults only and I never got one! They were called 'After Dinner Mints' in Australia.
I absolutely ADORE Nestle's After Eights! Thankfully it is possible to find those in a market in here now. :)
Tee hee. I love that these are foreign to those of you in the US. They're not hard to find at all up here in Canada. We usually see them in the stick form more than the squares, but you can find either kind easily in most stores that sell chocolates.
Ditto, AlisonCJ. We also don't have to pay $10 per 400 g. They'd be worth it though1
Where the heck do you folks live? These are (and have been) widely available, at least in the Boston area, for years. Walgreens, CVS, even the local grocery chains always have them. Cadbury made in the UK? Now that's a duty free score worth noting!
@tweetie - I have found these only once in an NYC supermarket, but they are not widely available here at all. Lucky you! I agree, Cadbury is a killer duty-free find as well!
I am in Michigan and can find them at a huge number of places.
These are all over Chicago too....
Huh? I've bought these many times over the years here in NYC (and also the Berkshires of Massachusetts).
We had these all the time when I was growing up in upstate NY, and I see them at the checkout in supermarkets in NYC (they're in the candy aisle most of the year, move up to checkout for Xmas). Seems these are Northeast available all the time.
Perhaps because of the Northeast's proximity to major Canadian cities? Because these are pretty bog standard up here.
Yup, they are common in Canada. We have an Xmas tradition that I always get a box of them (which I don't want), and I steal Dad's Willowcrisps while he steals my After Eights. It is absolutely not the same for him to get After Eights and me to get Willowcrisps, though!
I used to buy these at the regular grocery store in Massachusetts but don't see them as regularly in Southern California.
Thanks for sharing! After reading the post this morning, I was thrilled to find them at one of my local grocery stores. $3.50 for a 200g box. I live in Metro Detroit, Michigan, tho, so I'm guessing the other readers are right about our proximity to Canada.
they are something i never every buy but whenever I get a box for xmas, I always eat all of it. lol
Not just a North or Northeast thing - After Eight mints have been available in Dallas for a long time.
Trader Joe's also has very similar dark chocolate mints with a creamy center; they're only available during the holidays, though, so get them fast!
These are far too common in Sweden (with older population). Very typical after dinner dessert with coffee or for the holidays. I find them dreadful as I like my chocolate and mint separate.
Has anyone played the After Eight game I wonder? Best played after dinner and a drink or two... All you have to do is get an After Eight mint from your forehead and into your mouth using only your face muscles. Hilarious every time!
These were fairly accessible in the grocery stores of my youth (in Pennsylvania), a fact that had slipped my mind until this Christmas when I spied a box of Divine mints at my co-op. If you're looking for a fair trade alternative to the After Eight mints, I highly recommend the Divine ones.
I love in Connecticut and these mints are available in grocery stores and drug stores.