Swedish Fish Jelly Beans: Tasty but Monotonous

Swedish Fish Jelly Beans

The day after Easter I did what I almost always do: I hit every store I could find in hopes of picking up some jelly bean brands I hadn’t already gobbled… errr, reviewed here. This time out I had a little luck: at my local Meijer, I ran across a bag of Swedish Fish Jelly Beans. No kidding, the company that sells Swedish Fish – Mondeléz International of New Jersey? is that in Sweden? – makes little red beans, in Mexico, natch, and sells them under the Swedish Fish banner. Not one to pass up a new brand, I dug in…

I had some disappointment right off the bat: first, the beans are all “gourmet-sized,” as if they were intended to compete with Jelly Belly beans. Second, they’re all red – cherry, I guess, or whatever flavor the original Swedish Fish gummies are. Even though, according to their website, the original fish are available in an assortment, that’s not the case here. Third, like the Life Savers beans I had a couple of weeks ago, they’re oddly misshapen and rarely have the classic kidney-bean shape. I wonder if they’re made in the same Mexican factory as the Life Savers…

As for the beans themselves, the (always) red shell is fairly soft and strongly cherry-flavored. It surrounds a somewhat mushy central gel that’s off-white and flavored mainly by sugar. It takes quite a bit of effort to separate the shell from the center, if that’s your bag, and once that shell is gone the filling tastes pretty much like chewing gum that’s past its prime.

I’m kind of underwhelmed by the bag, but perhaps it’s because I ate the whole bag by myself instead of sharing them – fortunately, I took a couple of weeks and I had open bags of other brands going at the same time. I would not, however, buy them again unless Monteléz decides to fill them with an assortment of flavors: all cherry, no matter how much I may like it, gets boring pretty quickly.

copyright © 2017 scmrak

More Like a Pillow than a Life Ring, but Still Tasty

Lifesavers Jellybeans

Easter has come and gone, and I’m on my way out the door to load up on half-price jelly beans: yah-yay-yay! But before I go, I thought I’d share a quick glimpse into a brand I don’t normally see except this time of year: Lifesavers Jellybeans (yes, they think it’s one word). I picked up a bag last week in a pre-Easter sale at my local grocery, and here’s the “tale of the tape,” so to speak.

They’re made in Mexico (what? that's a surpise?) for the Wrigley company of Chicago – go Cubs… The 14-ounce bag contains six flavors, not unlike a roll of Lifesavers candy. The big differences are that there’s no pineapple in the bean variety, and the green beans are “green apple” instead of lime. Like gourmet beans (think Jelly Belly and Gimbel’s), the gel center is has the same color and flavor as the candy shell, though the flavors are a bit more artificial.

The six flavors are cherry, lemon, green apple, orange, strawberry, and grape (cherry is scarlet, strawberry is pink). None are black, which is fine with me. The candy shell is quite soft compared to many other brands, and I find that the gel center is mushier than I prefer. The flavors, however, are sharp and well-defined without being tart or sour like some other brands I’ve sampled recently. Do note that the green apple is, as is common for the flavor, more tart than other flavors. One oddity is that the candies don’t have the classic bean shape; instead they tend to be like little flattened ovals. Many, at least in my bag, were somewhat misshapen and quite a few were stuck together. I don’t know that this is representative of the brand – perhaps I should get another bag after the holiday…

The irregularities in the shapes notwithstanding, these are tasty. I would personally, however, prefer a more robust texture instead of the soft candy shell and the mushy gel center. For taste, four stars; for texture, three – and that averages out to 3½ stars in my book. As they say, your mileage may differ!

copyright © 2017 scmrak

The Taste of SweeTarts Without the Tart

Wonka Laffy Taffy Jelly Beans

Every year around Easter the shelves of my local stores start loading up with different varieties of jelly beans. Besides the usual gourmet stuff (JellyBelly, Gimble’s) and the peg bags that I buy in an emergency, I start seeing other names on the bags; especially names of other familiar candies. Last year it was Jolly Rancher and Starburst, this year for the first time I found “Laffy Taffy flavored Jelly Beans.” So I bought a bag…

The classic candy Laffy Taffy comes from Wonka; the same people who give you SweeTarts. The company’s actually a division of Nestle®. This brand of beans’ relationship to SweeTarts came as no surprise to me once I’d tasted a few… Laffy Taffy jelly beans come in just four flavors (banana, grape, cherry and apple); in pale pastel colors that correspond to their flavors (yellow, lavender, pink, and green). Texturally, the candy shell bears a striking resemblance to the texture of the company’s SweeTarts, and – except for grape, which to my knowledge is unknown in SweeTarts – pretty much has the same flavor. The chief difference is that the beans aren’t as tart.

The flavor is all in the shell, which surrounds a mushy off-white sugary gel – the gel is merely a neutral sweet flavor. The shell is crumbly and a little grainy. As for any resemblance to Laffy Taffy flavors, I can’t comment – I haven’t eaten the stuff in decades.

When it comes to jelly beans, I find the texture of this batch lacking. The gel center is too soft and mushy, the candy shell too crumbly. The flavors are slightly better, though limiting them to just four makes a 14-ounce bag rather cloying (for the record, I paid $2.50 for this bag). At least they don’t include licorice…

All told, this is not a brand I’ll seek out next year.

copyright © 2017 scmrak