Product Review: Ricola Extra Strength with Natural Menthol



Compare the size of the box to a 3 month old baby.

I came home to what looked like the biggest box of Ricola I had ever seen.  I could only hope it was just one big block of the herby cough drop that I could chip and gnaw at during the cold flu ridden months of winter.  I would know that spring had come when the brick was completely consumed.

Sadly, when I picked up the box, it was so light there's no way I could have been a Ricola brick.

But when I opened it, I was greeted with the Ricola yodel, a big Ricola wrapped candy and my nosy cat trying to get all up in the box.  You can see the video on instagram. (Follow me while you're there.)




Could it be the Ricola brick of my dreams?

When I unwrapped the box, there was two bags of Ricola.  The Original and the new Extra Strength with Natural Menthol. 




That blue makes it look extra mentholy.

I should preface this whole review by saying that my husband gets sick a few times a year and inevitably he asks me to get him cough drops.  Except what he really means in to get him Ricola, the Original flavor.

Early in our relationship, he asked me for cough drops and I foolishly brought home Halls and was met with a deeply disappointed sick boyfriend. Lesson learned.



Wait, that's not Ricola brown.

Naturally, when he saw the blue bag, he immediately said, "I don't think I'm going to like this.  I like the mild menthol flavor of the original."

That packaging really makes the Extra Strength Menthol point.  And the candy is not Ricola's characteristic brown color.  This did not bode well.

But the Hosh is nothing if not an adventurer.  He was willing to try anyway.






"I'll try it anyway," says the Hosh.

But wait, there was the mild Ricola flavor we both know and love.  This doesn't seem extra menthol flavored.  Check the package, what does it say?  Almost twice the menthol of regular Ricola.  Oh, but it seems there's a syrupy center we have yet to experience.


Being one of those kids who always bit her way to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop, I naturally chewed as quickly as the hard candy would allow.  Boom!  There was that menthol explosion.

Here are a few quotes from our menthol center experience.

"It feels like I dunked my head into a winter stream," exclaimed the Hosh.

"This must be what swallowing a glacier feels like," I said while wistfully remembering the Titanic.

"I didn't even know I was congested," we both said almost simultaneously.

"Could I BE anymore cleared up?" I questioned in my best Joey impersonating Chandler voice. (Am I aging myself with Friends references?)

"I could definitely see wanting this while completely stuffed up and unable to breath," the Hosh admitted.

We will definitely be getting this Ricola the next time one of us falls ill which is hopefully not anytime soon.  You know, because we have a new baby and I don't think he's ready to play nurse yet.

*Disclosure: I received this product as a Klout Perk. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and may differ from yours.