Does Bigger Mean Better for Starburst?

Starburst Jumbo Jellybeans

Starburst Jumbo Jellybeans

To be honest, I've never been a fan of jumbo jelly beans, probably because most of them I've tried have come from tourist-trap souvenir shops and had the consistency and taste of stale cardboard. I'd rather eat a cheap bag plucked from a truck stop display, if you get my drift. Then again, Starburst jelly beans have been relatively reliable, so I decided that a bag of Original Starburst Jumbo Jellybeans was worth a try. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised.

When the dragon breathes...

Brach's Dragon Jelly Beans

Brach's dragon jelly beans

With Easter only a few days away, I’m having a heckuva time keeping up ith all the different bags of jelly beans that show up on store shelves. At the moment, there are three different open bags on the shelf and a fourth is waiting to be opened. And I haven’t even bought any Unicorn Jelly Beans yet!

Is it Possible for Jelly Beans to be Too Sweet?

Peeps Jelly Beans

Peeps jelly beans

Easter is fast approaching, and that means that jellybean season is upon us. Heck, candy companies are sending our press releases about their new varieties of beans, believe it or not! I know that because one of them came across my email not long ago. According to JustBorn, Inc., the latest thing in teeny little candy beans is Peeps Jelly Beans! And they’re not kidding: a visit to my local Kroger turned up a display of the little guys, so I was duty-bound to report back to my loyal readers. You know who you are, Mom…

Right up front, Peeps beans are different; at least when it comes to packaging. Like the somewhat cloying marshmallow birdies of the same name, Peeps Jelly Beans come in four flavors: lemon, strawberry, blueberry, and marshmallow. Also like the birdies, their packaging doesn’t mix flavors; so I bought a bag each of blueberry/marshmallow and strawberry/marshmallow. At about three bucks for ten ounces, they’re fairly expensive.

Pectin Instead of Corn Starch: So What?

Russell Stover Pectin Jelly Beans

Weirdos like me who just about live on jelly beans (not really – I also eat burritos) know we’re eating something that’s mostly sugar. It’s the other ingredients that set the various beans apart. While that’s usually a matter of flavor, there’s also a school of jelly-bean creation that calls for a slightly different gelling agent: pectin. The jelly in most beans turns from sugary glop into gel because of the addition of corn starch, but a few brands of beans use pectin instead – just like my mom used when making her own jam and jelly.

The easiest brand of pectin-based beans to find is Russell Stover Pectin Jelly Beans (a premium bean, according to the package). The beans are the traditional size and shape; none of that mini business practiced by the gourmet brands. Another difference is that Russ sticks to the traditional flavors. There’s no buttered popcorn, no banana cream pie, just seven fruit flavors like the Brach’s I bought as a kid.

I'd almost rather eat some of those Beanboozled flavors!

Nerds® Bumpy Jelly Beans

As Easter draws near, the jelly bean shelves in my local stores start to fill. Sometimes I’m desperate enough for a new and different taste to buy before the day-after-Easter sales, which is why I brought home a bag of Nerds® Bumpy Jelly Beans from the local Kroger. At least they were on sale, setting me back only two bucks for a 13-ounce bag.

Valentine's Day Jelly Beans? I'm a Fan!

Gimbal's Cherry Lovers

They say that in spring, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Mine, on the other hand, turns to jelly beans – that’s what happens when you’re a fiend! I usually have to wait for Easter to stock up on jelly beans, but this year I chanced on some that seem to have been made with Valentine’s Day in mind. They’re from Gimbal’s Fine Candies, and they’re called Cherry Lovers. The reason I think that February 14th is on the mind of the candy maker? They’re heart-shaped!

Not all that Good, but Plenty of 'Em

Wiley Wallaby Outback Beans (Red)

Who was I to know that when Wiley Wallaby called this candy Australian Style Outback Beans (with chewy red centers) that they didn’t mean they were jelly beans? I mean, really: the picture of candy on the package sure looks like jelly beans!

All it took was one little taste, though, and I recognized the little fakes for exactly what they are: the USA’s oldest candy, Good & Plenty, reinvented. By “reinvented” I mean that the center is red licorice… errr, “liquorice,” according to Wikipedia… instead of black, with a candy coating in green, yellow, and orange instead of pink and white. Thank heavens the center is red instead of black, or I might have just given them the ol’ heave-ho.

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream...

Starburst Ice Cream Flavors Jelly Beans

I try to always pick up some new jelly bean versions every “day after Easter,” but this year the pickings seemed to be a little on the slim side. I did get some that claimed to be Laffy Taffy flavored, but most of the rest were the usual suspects. Recently, though, I happened on a new offering from the folks at Starburst: Ice Cream Flavors. At first they were only available in 12-ounce bags, but lately I’ve seen some in little 8-ounce “ice cream cartons.” Cute…

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

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.

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.