The Girl Scout Cookie Flop That Was Filled With Shiitake Mushrooms

Girl Scout Cookies are always a hit, right? It's hard to imagine anyone ever having difficulty finishing a box. The cookies are so popular they've been reimagined in everything from Breyers ice cream to multiple brands of lip products, including drugstore brand Lip Smacker lip gloss (per Kroger & Makes Food Scents). Thin Mints are so iconic they've even inspired a beauty palette for eye shadow by brand HipDot, available from Ulta.

While everyone has their favorite flavor, popularity varies regionally, according to USA Today. That's not that surprising when you consider that Girl Scout Cookies are made by different bakeries in different areas of the country, so you're literally getting a slightly different product. Overall, Thin Mints reign supreme in the most states, making them the most popular of the 13 current cookie varieties (per Girl Scouts). Samoas came in second, capturing hearts as the most popular in 18 states. From fudgy mint chocolate Thin Mints to dense, caramel and coconut-smothered Samoas to indulgent peanut and chocolate Tagalongs, it seems almost impossible to go wrong with any of the cookie options. Almost.

There was a time when there was a questionable Girl Scout cookie. Hard to imagine, isn't it? The very phrase is synonymous with crunchy deliciousness. At one point in the 2010s,  the Girl Scouts made a cookie with shiitake mushrooms in the creme filling. That's right, mushrooms in the creme. And no, we're not talking about a mushroom stroganoff recipe.

The concept wasn't actually as weird as it appears. The Mango Creme cookie, introduced in 2013, was a vanilla and coconut sandwich cookie with a mango-flavored creme (per Mental Floss). Sounds tasty enough. But what got consumers squirming was Girl Scouts' attempt to turn cookies into a healthier food with the help of Nutrifusion. Nutrifusion appears to have been a combination of whole-food-derived ingredients coming together to add some nutritional value, primarily vitamins and minerals, to other foods (per Huff Post). 

Listed among the cookie ingredients were "nutrients from natural whole food concentrate of (cranberry, pomegranate, orange, grape, strawberry, shitake mushrooms)." While the inclusion did little to cut out the ample saturated fat in the cookies (one serving provided 20% of your recommended daily value), Nutrifusion did boost the vitamin content from the snack. This cookie variety boasted an impressive 15% of your recommended daily value of B1 and 5% of a host of other vitamins, including vitamin C, A, E, D, and B6. Apparently that just wasn't enough. According to Girl Scout Cookies Wiki Fandom, this flavor was on the market for only one year.