Hey! These are Actually Pretty Nice!

Walgreens Nice! Jelly Beans

When it comes to house-brand jelly beans, the vast majority of them appear to be made at a factory in Mexico and then shipped to companies that package them for a given vendor. We’ve already seen a “Made in Mexico” message on the regional brand Sathers as well as beans packaged for WalMart and beans distributed by a help-the-disadvantaged company in Minnesota. They’re definitely not “gourmet,” and more to the point, seemed to be all the same. I say “seemed” because I happened to see that “Mexico” business on our latest find, but they aren’t quite the same: they’re Walgreens Nice! Jelly Beans.

We Know Who Makes This Store Brand!

Kroger Private Selection Gourmet Jelly Beans

If you’re old enough to remember the “generics” craze back in the eighties, when groceries sold canned peas marked only with a bar code and the word “peas” on a plain white label, you know about store brands. They’re not new, of course – the Kenmore appliance brand at Sears has long included units made by Maytag, Frigidaire, and other well-known brands. In groceries, store brands are no longer just plain generics, now bearing hifalutin’ names like “Safeway Select.” But who makes ‘em? That’s often nearly impossible to tell, but we stumbled across not one but two store brands of “gourmet jelly beans” lately for which there is no doubt.

I Wunder if Anyone Knows what “Unique” Means Anymore

Brach’s Wunder Beans Jelly Beans

The packaging claims “Jelly Beans in 24 Unique Flavors” – and now they’re claiming 25 instead. Whichever the count, I’m not so certain that blue berry, cinnamon, grape, lemon… etc. can be considered “unique” flavors today, or even a generation ago for that matter. Interestingly enough, the 25-flavor variety includes such flavors as “wild blueberry,” “hot cinnamon,” “grape lightening [sic]” and “lemonade”; which I rather suspect are simply the more common flavors renamed. Whatever you think of marketing language and the word “unique,” through, the simple truth is that Brach’s Wunder Beans aren’t truly “wunderful.”

I say that because although they emulate the small size of higher-end gourmet beans and incorporate some more esoteric flavors, Brach’s beans are still heavily flavored candy shells around a neutral-flavored whitish gel center. That differs from true gourmet beans, in which the flavor goes all the way through. Sigh.

Jelly Beans from the People Who Bring You the J for Your PB&J

Welch’s Jelly Beans

With a nickname like “The Jelly Bean Fiend,” you can bet I’m always on the lookout for a different brand or flavor of my favorite candy, so when I happened on a bag from the folks at Welch’s recently I took the plunge. The 8-ounce bag of Welch's Jelly Beans set me back a whoppin’ $1.99 at my neighborhood Walgreens – I was there in search of Brach’s pectin beans, but no luck – so I was pretty sure they weren’t “gourmet.” I was right. Unlike the super-cheap beans from WalMart and similar brands, these aren’t made in Mexico: they’re made in Brazil, and distributed by the Frankford Candy Company of Philadelphia.

This Must be what Happens When You Dehydrate Gatorade

Jelly Belly Sport Beans

When it comes to jelly beans, I love the little guys: I can only resist licorice and the snot- and earwax-flavored ones in the gross “BeanBoozled” collections. That means a packet of Jelly Belly Sport Beans is right up my alley, especially since I'm often looking for fortification and replenishment during exercise time.

Third Time's Not a Charm for Cheap Jelly Beans

Sathers Jelly Beans

Einstein is rumored to have said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (Al didn’t say it, but it sounds cool to claim he did). I guess that makes me insane when it comes to jelly beans, since I keep buying bags of different brands in search of something different. I don’t seem to be able to find anything different, at least among the traditional half-inch variety, since they seem to be pretty much all the same. This time I tried out a bag of Sathers Jelly Beans I found hanging on a peg at the local grocer, a test for which I paid $1.50 for a 7.75-ounce bag (working out to $3.10/lb).

More Old-Fashioned Jelly Beans (With a Good Message)

You can still find Jelly Beans in some… unusual places. Not long ago, we picked up a 9-ounce bag of more or less generic beans at our local lumberyard. Well, to call Menards a “lumberyard” is a bit of a misstatement, though they are definitely closer than Orange Hell (Home Depot) and Blue Hell (Lowes). Whatever… the beans we picked up are labeled Quality Products Jelly Beans, and they’re of the variety known as “peg candy” – you see a forest of smallish bags, all with a window so you can buy the product by sight, at lots of convenience stores and low-end groceries. They’re right next to the orange slices and the starlight mints…

Does Macy's Tell Gimbal's? Bet They Eat 'Em!

Gimbal's Fine Candies Gourmet Jelly Beans

If the company website is to be believed, the Gimbal family has been the purveyor of fine candies in the San Francisco area for four generations, though no word on how long they’ve been making Gimbal’s Fine Candies Gourmet Jelly Beans or whether they or that other company just up I-80 (Jelly Belly®) started making little beans with strong flavors first. Gimbal’s offerings are the typical mini-sized beans one expects to find with the “gourmet” label, although there’s no company name printed on the shell.

A “Jelly Bean” for the Coffee-Lover in Your Family

Trader Joe's Espresso Pillows

About the only jelly beans Mrs Fiend eats are the licorice ones that get left at her place on the kitchen table (someone has to eat them, and I usually don’t). That doesn’t mean she’s not a candy lover in her own way, but her drug of choice is chocolate – the darker, the better. So it was no surprise to find that, on her last visit to Trader Joe’s, she came out with the “adult” version of jelly beans: Trader Joe’s Espresso Pillows.

Jelly Beans the Old-Fashioned Way (Sort of...)

Great Value Jelly Beans (Walmart)

Not every jelly bean out there is “gourmet.” Heck, just a few decades ago, there was no such thing as a “gourmet jelly bean” (Jelly Belly® jelly beans are only about 50 years old and didn’t hit mainstream until during the Reagan presidency, 1980-88). About the only national brands in olden days were Brachs and Toms, and their beans were very little like what you get today – of course, they were also only about 49¢ a pound, too…

The New Jelly Bean Measurement Tool

Would you use jelly beans as a measurement tool? Well, the advertising company hired by Kia Motors thinks they’re a good way to compare volume: the company’s latest commercial for the Kia Soul CUV does away with those weird hamsters and instead fills the boxy little vehicle with bazillions of jelly beans.

What a waste!

It’s National Jelly Bean Day!

Brach's Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans

No kidding, someone – probably Jelly Belly – has named today, April 22nd, National Jelly Bean Day. Sadly, the bag we’re working on today (the third of our post-Easter half-price haul) doesn’t measure up to such an honor. It’s a bag of Brach’s Orchard Fruit, fourteen ounces of almost entirely sugar, that had an original price tag of $2.99 at our local Kroger.

Post Easter Bounty, Take 2

Starburst Fave Reds Jelly Beans

Yes, jelly beans were indeed half price the day after Easter – as promised! – and so I made my way to a couple of stores to get variation in my beans. After all, you can’t spend your entire life eating Jelly Bellys (well, I could, but…). The first bag I tried came from the people at Jolly Rancher (a division of Hershey), and I was a bit disappointed. Truth be told, I’ve never been a huge fan of Jolly Rancher’s beans, which is why I only got one bag. I also picked up a special bag called Starburst Fave Red Jelly Beans.

A Way to Use Leftover Jelly Beans

As if anyone ever has leftover jelly beans! If you, however, happen to know someone who doesn't gobble every last bean that comes into your house -- or if you just happen to have a hankering for a treat that incorporates your favorite candy -- here's a way to use up some of the little morsels. We assume, of course, that you want to use quality beans, preferably "mini"; and you probably want to pull out all the licorice beans first...

Lollipop Cookies

Jelly Beans and Beer? You Bet!

Who says children have all the fun at Easter and Halloween? Not me... at least since I discovered that Jelly Belly, the purveyors of jelly beans of darned near every flavor of bean known to man -- and a few flavors better left unmentioned (snot, vomit...) -- has concocted beans that are draft beer flavored! I kid you not!

As befits candy, they are of course, non-alcoholic (not to mention having no gluten, peanut, or tree nut in their makeup), so you're not going to get a buzz from a bottle of the little darlings. Except, perhaps, a sugar high.

Post-Easter Bounty, Take 1

Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans

I don't go through bags of jelly beans at the same rate I did back in the days that I managed to get the munchies on a regular basis, but I've finally finished the first bag of goodies, 14 ounces of Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans. You know what? they could've been better... The tale of the tape: Jolly Rancher's version of beans is based on the limited flavors available in their hard candies, meaning that there are only six flavors. Licorice lovers will note that the dark ones are actually deep purple, corresponding to a grape flavor. There are two versions or red - strawberry and watermelon - plus a blue (raspberry), an orange and a green (green apple). All have consistent color throughout: the raspberry version has blue jelly as well as a blue shell, for instance.

Art that Tastes Great: Jelly Bean Masters

Did you know that California-based Jelly Belly has an official artist in residence? Neither did I -- but they certainly do: Kristin Cumings has been working for the company since 2010, making four by six foot murals entirely out of the company's delicious little morsels. She starts each one by making an acrylic copy of the image on a prepared board, then places each bean with a spot of spray adhesive.