Girl Scout Cookies Taste Different Depending Where You Buy Them

3 minute read
Girl Scouts Sell Cookies From Street Trucks In New York City
Girl Scouts sell cookies on Feb. 8, 2013 in New York City.John Moore—Getty Images
By Food and Wine

Here’s a dirty little secret the Girl Scouts don’t want you to know: Not all Girl Scout cookies taste the same. And I’m not talking about how Samoas taste delicious, whereas Do-Si-Dos taste like someone rubbed your tongue with peanut butter sandpaper. I mean that the exact same cookie can look and taste differently in different parts of the country.

Those in the know have been aware all along that Girl Scout cookies are made by two different bakeries. The Girls Scouts of America doesn’t try to hide this fact too much: It’s listed under each individual cookie on their website. But from there, the story blurs a bit. In some places, they admit that “recipes and ingredients may differ slightly” between cookies made by the two licensed bakeries—which, for the record, are ABC Bakers (based in Richmond, Virginia) and Little Brownie Bakers (located in Louisville, Kentucky, and owned by parent company Kellogg’s). However, some cookies have different names depending on where they’re produced. For those varieties, the Girl Scouts say, regardless of the name, “it’s still the delicious cookie you’ve grown to love.”

The people over at Central Track decided to get to the bottom of all this with some extremely sugary investigative reporting, hunting down varieties of cookies from each bakery and comparing them side by side. What they found is that, for supposedly identical brands, the cookies varied rather significantly.

For example, when comparing the classic Thin Mints, Central Track discovered, “The Thin Mints from Little Brownie Bakers are less dense than Thin Mints from ABC, which have a much crunchier texture. As for taste, one bite makes it easy to see that ABC puts more mint flavoring in its Thin Mints than Little Brownie does. Also, Little Brownie’s Thin Mints are much smoother on the outside than those offered by ABC.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Samoas and Caramel deLites are supposedly identical, but Central Track found Little Brownie’s Samoas have dark chocolate stripes, whereas ABC’s Caramel deLites are adorned with milk chocolate. Samoas had more caramel as well.

It was like this for all five cookies they tested. Though close in appearance and taste, they all had distinct differences, with taste testers even having “a definite preference.”

So what are we to make of all this? It’s not to say that one bakery is good and one is bad; it’s just a reminder that the next time you’re in the market for Girl Scout cookies, you may want to check the label and shop around.

This article originally appeared on FWx.

More from FWx:

  • How to Turn Girl Scout Cookies Into Shots
  • The Girl Scout Cookie Geniuses Unveil Thin Mint Milk
  • The Definitive Ranking of the “Other” Girl Scout Cookies

    • The First Girl Scout: Portraits of Daisy Gordon Lawrence

    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence (rear), with a young Scout in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Caption from LIFE. (Left) First uniform officially approved was severe, military and khaki-colored. (Right) New uniform for leaders, designed by Mainbocher, is green but still severe.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Daisy Gordon Lawrence addresses a crowd in Savannah, Georgia, during a celebration honoring her aunt, Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Caption from LIFE. Signaling, Mrs. Lawrence waves semaphore flags. She can remember most letters up to M, also W (above). She has three children; all were boy scouts.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence, with young Scouts in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Caption from LIFE. Lighting fire with firebow, Mrs. Lawrence demonstrates friction method used in her day. The tinder failed to light. Today the Girl Scouts use matches.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Caption from LIFE. Tying knot, she makes clove hitch on a tree. Modern scouts do less knotting and woodcraft, concentrate more on homemaking and hospital work.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence, with young Scouts in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence, schools young Scouts on first aid in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    The Girl Scout Office and Juilette Low Museum in Savannah, Georgia.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence, with young scouts in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    Daisy Gordon Lawrence walks with young scouts near the Girl Scout office and Juilette Low Museum in Savannah, Georgia.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
    The First American Girl Scout Daisy Gordon Lawrence in 1948
    "The first Girl Scout," Daisy Gordon Lawrence (rear), with a young Scout in 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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