Not All Girl Scout Cookies Taste The Same — Gasp!

Whatever other changes the new year brings, at least we can count on Girl Scout cookies... right? Think again, because it seems those sneaky little girls in uniform with the saccharine smiles have a (seemingly innocent) secret. As reported by Time, two bakeries produce Girl Scout cookies, and the result, apparently, is that Girl Scout cookies vary in taste, depending on whether they're from Richmond, Virginia's ABC Bakers, or Louisville, Kentucky's Little Brownie Bakers.

Though the Girl Scouts publicly acknowledge that their cookies are from multiple bakeries, they claim that the contents are "the delicious cookie you've grown to love" in any case. This is not exactly true, as anyone who's bitten into a Caramel deLite expecting a Samoa could tell you. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "conspiracy," though — many national and international chains rely on multiple suppliers to provision their various retail outlets.

For instance, you didn't think McDonald's got its apples or potatoes or hamburger buns from just one mega-farm or mega-bakery, did you? And anytime a process is distributed, there are bound to be a few differences in the final product. The Girl Scouts even provide separate nutrition facts for their two bakers' cookies on the official site, so it's not exactly a coverup.

Fortunately, the Girl Scout cookies' differences (documented in detail at Central Track) are merely a matter of taste and not one of food safety. You might want to stick with the baker whose cookies you grew up eating, so as not to feel disappointment rather than delight when you tuck into those fairly expensive little suckers. Then again, if you check the label on the boxes at a Girl Scout cookie sale in some parking lot and discover they're from the "wrong" bakery, you might make a disappointed Girl Scout cry, so remember also that variety is the spice of life.

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