Oddfellows

I've been eating Allen's Oddfellows (white peppermints) since my childhood, which is quite a long time. I'm not sure if Allen's always made them or if they took over the original company. Anyway, Nestlé's now makes them, having taken over Allen's.

For as long as I can remember, Oddfellows have been a certain shade of slightly-off-white, and they've been quite solid in texture. In the last few times I've bought the sweets, they've become whiter than white, as though Persil had got hold of them, and the texture is still hard but verging on the crumbly. To my eye there's been a change in the mix, so I wrote to Allen's today to see if I can find out if this is true. It would be a pity because the Oddfellows I've had recently don't seem to be up to the original standard.

I guess they'll tell me that nothing's changed and I'm imagining it. We'll see. I'll let you know.

Besides this apparent change they've brought in other versions of Oddfellows: mint-flavoured (which take a bit of getting used to but are okay), strong mints (which are exactly what they say, and aren't truly Oddfellows at all) and little mints, which are kind of mini-strong mints. I just note this by the by.

Finally, in relation to Oddfellows, here's the classic TV advertisement that used to be shown in the 80s, when the sweets were still very popular. You'll recognise a few familiar faces in it.

Update, 19.5.14
Part of an email from Nestlé:

Thank you for your feedback regarding our product, ALLENS Oddfellows 200 g Family Pack.

 

We endeavour to produce products of the highest quality that can be enjoyed by our consumers. Changes to our products are not made lightly. Much research is conducted prior to a change, in the hope that we can offer our consumers a product of the highest standard, both in terms of appeal and quality. We have moved to natural colours which has changed the Oddfellows to a white colour but should not have affected the size or texture of the lolly.

 

We are sorry to hear that you have not enjoyed our product since our change.  We understand your disappointment and sincerely hope this will not deter you from purchasing our products in the future.

29.12.20 Update: In the 'old days' it seemed that things went on forever, with no changes. Not today. Sometimes the changes are bad - as in Nestlé taking over the making of Oddfellows. Sometimes they're good. Another company is now producing Oddfellows, the oddly-named RJs-Licorice. RJs seemed to have reverted to something closer to the original recipe for Oddfellows. I'm not sure that they've kept the original size, but at least the things taste the way they should!