Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 13th May, 2015)

Good photo of a famous toffee.

Can't beat 'em. UNCLE JOE"S MINT BALLS.

Would like to know the present size and the original size of an Uncle Joe`s mint ball.

Used to work next door at Platt' s printers and the fantastic smells wafting down the street.

Used to work there in the 60,s, making pear drops in the big drums, can see them turning now and coating in sugar, and the toffee and mint balls mix on the slabs, and yes the smell was at times overpowering. Didn't work there long but long enough for lasting memories.

It looks very old fashioned.

Some years ago I was diving down the slip road of the M6 at J27 while sucking on a mint ball and just as I was joining the main carriageway I got a nasty surprise at the back of my throat and I started to splutter and coughing so bad it made me loose my concentration and I could easily caused an accident.

Anyway I coughed up the surprise and it was a small splinter of wood, which I sent back to Uncle Joes and they said sorry and that the splinter of wood had come from the wooden spoon they use to mix the sugar and stuff.

They also gave me a big tin of mint balls.

Carry on Ernest let's have it. I would imagine they are a lot smaller now.

Am I right in thinking you used to be able to buy 3 mint balls for a penny (proper money) in the 1960s? did the big jars have a label round the neck that said so?

Am I right in thinking you used to be able to buy 3 mint balls for a penny (proper money) in the 1960s? did the big jars have a label round the neck that said so?

My son saw them for sale in San Francisco!

Mick it would take more than a splinter of wood to make you splutter...was it not a plank?

Not only do we buy Uncle Joe's, but other varieties of theirs - real old fashioned ones, aniseed balls, paradise fruits etc. we are waiting for a delivery as I write this. They have a good web site.

We can get Uncle Joes easily in deepest Norfolk. However, they are now individually wrapped in a sealed pkt which is very difficult to get into.

My son used to take them out to Singapore when he returned from GB. Now they are on sale in Singapore supermarkets, not so with Eccles cakes.

The first verse and chorus of Mike Hardings song.
🎼 🎶 Now there’s a place in Wigan a place you all should know
A busy little factory where things are all the go
They don’t make Jakes or Eccles Cakes or things to stick on walls
But night and day they work away at Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls

Chorus (to be sung after each verse)

Uncle Joe’s Mint Malls keep you all aglow
Give ‘em to your grannie and watch the beggar go
Away with coughs and sniffles, take a few in hand
Suck ‘em and see, you’ll agree
They’re the best in all the land 🎶🎶🎶

Apparently the Mint Balls were made smaller in the 1990s to fit the smaller palate of the then emerging lucrative Oriental market.

I'm not at all keen on Uncle Joe's, I much prefer Uncle Luke's as there are more flavours rather than just mint.

Ernest, go and buy some and then you'll know.

An old girl-friend many years ago worked at the Santus factory and used to get me those mint balls. By the eck, your throat went thru' the mill after Uncle Joe had invaded it!!

Nice one Brian.

Another foolish comment Garry.
How can I buy an original one?