Uncle Joe's Mint Balls Uncle Joe's Mint Balls Uncle Joe's Mint Balls are mints produced by Wm Santus & Co. Ltd. in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England since 1898. Despite their name, the mints are not truly spherical but oblate spheroids. The ingredients of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls are: pure cane sugar, oil of peppermint and cream of tartar and are described on the tin as "suitable for vegans". The words "Gluten Free" are also on the tin lid. The early mint balls were made by William Santus' wife, Ellen, before production moved to a factory near Wigan Wallgate railway station in 1919. The packaging,
Liberty of the Mint (1883) and by George R. Sims in "How the Poor Live" (1883). The scandal created by Mearns' and Sims' revelations prompted a Royal Commission in 1884–1885 but the destruction of the Mint was underway. From 1881 to 1886, associated with the construction of Marshalsea Road, the area was cleared of most of its slums, although even in 1899 some remnants of the rookery were still in place between Red Cross Street and Borough High Street. The Mint is referred to by most 18th-century British satirists, including Alexander Pope in his "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot" and, indirectly, by John Gay in