MetaChat - Do YOU remember what baby aspirin tastes like?

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07 June 2007

Do YOU remember what baby aspirin tastes like? I'm being met with skepticism that an adult can recall the unique flavor of St. John's baby aspirin. Prove me right.

post by: mudpuppie at: 15:47 | 40 comments

I definitely remember it. A very disappointing orange flavor.

posted by BoringPostcards 07 June | 15:49

The best I can recall is a dry sugary-ness, like a Necco wafer or something.

posted by box 07 June | 15:49

Er, St. Joseph's. One of them holy dudes.

posted by mudpuppie 07 June | 15:50

It tastes like hard chalky orange ear wax.

posted by iconomy 07 June | 15:50

Are you kidding? I love baby aspirin. I remember exactly what it tastes like. I thought everyone did. It was like a little dessicated creamsicle.

posted by jrossi4r 07 June | 15:53

I even remember the jingle: "Thank goodness for St. Joseph's..."

Sadly, my kids will never know the joy as aspirin is strictly verboten for the wee ones. Reye syndrome or somesuch.

posted by jrossi4r 07 June | 15:55

Yup, creamsicle. Loved it.

posted by Otis 07 June | 15:55

Orange chalk. It would never crunch up properly and would create a hard to reach paste around the molars. I'll never forget it.

posted by Divine_Wino 07 June | 15:56

Like crumbly pasty orange-soda-flavored sweetened chalk with a faint bitter undertaste that always made me think of the Halloween poisoner urban legend.

What I really remember, though, is the stuff disintegrating into powder and globules right on my tongue.

posted by Elsa 07 June | 15:56

Chalky orange. What ico said.

posted by shane 07 June | 15:58

Hmmm..maybe I loved it so much because we were poor and it was as close as I got to candy on a regular basis.

posted by jrossi4r 07 June | 15:58

I totally remember it!

I liked it. It had a tangerine-y thing going on and was slightly drying to your mouth.

posted by Specklet 07 June | 16:02

You haters are nutso. That shit was tha bomb!

Also yummy:
orange Triaminic
chewable cherry-flavored Vitamin C tablets
unflavored cough medicine (the kind that came in an opaque brown bottle)

posted by Atom Eyes 07 June | 16:03

tastes like a Orange Creamsicle.

posted by jonmc 07 June | 16:10

Like the chalky orange DISTENDED RECTUM OF A CHALK EATING ORANGUTANG WITH DUBIOUS HYGIENE.

Yeah, I remember it. :)

posted by loquacious 07 June | 16:11

Did you purposely spell it OranguTANG to emphasize it's artificial orangey goodness?

posted by jrossi4r 07 June | 16:14

Yes--I remember the toxic smell of Super Elastic Bubble Plastic too.

posted by brujita 07 June | 16:15

The inimitable combination of Tang and chalk dust.

posted by mischief 07 June | 16:25

Absolutely - orange drink mix with a bitter aftertaste.

I thought it was St. Joseph's.

posted by Miko 07 June | 16:35

Man, I loved Super Elastic Bubble Plastic! The new stuff doesn't smell the same. [huffily] Probably non-toxic, too. Losers.

posted by Elsa 07 June | 16:36

And here is a lyrical reference from the Mountain Goats:

you or your memory
I checked into a bargain priced room on la cienaga,
gazed out through the curtains of the parking lot.
walked down to the corner store just before nightfall in my bare feet.
black tarry asphalt, soft and hot.
and when I came back I spread out my supplies.
on the counter by the sink,
I looked myself right in the eyes

st. joseph's baby aspirin,
bartles and james,
and you or your memory.

I ducked behind the drapes when I saw the moon begin to rise,
gathered in my loose ends switched off the light.
and down there in the dark I can see the real truth about me.
as clear as day, lord if I make it through tonight
then I will mend my ways and walk the straight path to the end of my days.

st. joseph's baby aspirin,
bartles and james,
and you or your memory.

posted by craniac 07 June | 16:38

I thought it was St. Joseph's.

It is. I corrected myself.

posted by mudpuppie 07 June | 16:38

What jrossi4r said. A desiccated creamsicle. Yum! Almost as good as Dimetapp - grape dimetapp was the best stuff.

posted by mygothlaundry 07 June | 16:45

St. Joseph's was a weirdly appealing mixture of tangy-sweetness and comfortingly medicinal bitterness. It was my gateway drug to Aspergum.

posted by scody 07 June | 16:47

I don't think I've ever had it.

posted by Hellbient 07 June | 16:51

Orangey, definitely. Powdery too.

posted by JanetLand 07 June | 17:04

You guys nailed it. And Super Elastic Bubble Plastic & I spent a LOT of quality time together so I definitely remember that smell too. I vividly can picture putting the junk on the end of the little red straws and patching up bubble holes.

posted by miss lynnster 07 June | 17:31

Mine we're kids Tylenol, and it was chalky strawberry.

posted by dabitch 07 June | 17:38

I remember baby aspirin

posted by edgeways 07 June | 18:07

I recall it so vividly that I can taste the taste right now.

posted by getoffmylawn 07 June | 18:11

I guess I was just never in pain as a child.

posted by kyleg 07 June | 18:46

Well, it was all worth it when it meant that the Smiths Brothers Cherry cough drops were soon to follow.

posted by StickyCarpet 07 June | 18:53

In Canada, we had something called Tempera, and it came in a little bottle with a dropper-kind-of-mini-turkey-baster sort of thing. I loved the taste of it, sort of bitter cherry-ish...I'll never forget it.

posted by chococat 07 June | 19:25

I remember the stuff well. As a small child, I found it was one of the few redeeming aspects of running a fever.

I just checked and the stuff's still around, which is good, as I'm getting on toward the age where I probably ought to ask my doc about aspirin therapy.

posted by PaxDigita 07 June | 22:10

Yep, I remember it. Loved the taste.

One of my cousins didn't want to take it when she was sick. My aunt told her it was candy. Sure enough, my cousin overdosed on it and had to have her stomach pumped.

posted by deborah 07 June | 22:33

Heck yeah, I totally love the flavor and can call it up in an instant.

posted by rainbaby 07 June | 22:43

Heh. I don't know if it was baby aspirin, but it seems entirely possible. My parents were visiting friends, and toddler-stilicho was being babysat by not-much-older daughter-of-friends. We got into the medicine cabinet, apparently I had the majority of the bottle in me before the 'rents got wise, and I had my stomach pumped.

Punchline? The dad was a doctor.

posted by stilicho 08 June | 00:44

Ooooh, grape Dimetapp!--the tablets still have that flavor.

posted by brujita 08 June | 01:48

In case your friend needs another "me too" to be convinced:

I haven't tasted one for well over twenty years (conservative estimate), but easily recalled the taste when I read your post.

posted by D.C. 08 June | 03:26

That chalky, faux-orange flavor with the astringent sourness of aspirin behind it used to be one of my favorite things as a kid. I liked it so much that I would ask Mom if I could have some more.

posted by ikkyu2 08 June | 10:52

← in which i redact my rant and suggest a foto phriday theme... || The man's only complaint was that he spilled his soda... →

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