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Jelly BellyFriday, April 17, 2015
Jelly Belly Pancakes and Maple SyrupThe newest flavor from Jelly Belly is Pancakes & Maple Syrup. Though the name of the new flavor is a little trendy, the idea is pretty solid. Maple is a great, distinctive but mild flavor. It’s an ideal addition to Jelly Belly’s line because it can be combined with other flavor beans. Though I didn’t have any on hand to try out, I would think that Banana and Strawberry would go well. The packaging is fun, an aqua gingham motif on the bag gives it a homespun feel. The image on the front, though is not of Vermont maple trees with running sap and buckets, like I might have imagined, instead it’s more in line with what I see any neighborhood diner, a plate of pancakes with butter and a little pitcher of syrup. (Now, I love my little diner I go to, but I highly doubt they use actual maple syrup because their menu just says syrup.) The beans are uniform looking, a medium caramel color, kind of like Sugar Babies. The bag does smell a lot like maple syrup, which is a sweet smell with notes of bourbon and vanilla with a little molasses or pipe tobacco. The interesting things is that these are not just maple flavor but also pancake, so there are other flavor notes to the actual beans. Though the primary flavor is definitely, and perhaps over-the-top maple syrup, I also caught sort of buttery notes. It’s not the overwhelming buttered popcorn flavor, just a sort of salty and creamy flavor to it. (There are 25mg of salt per serving.) So, there’s lots of maple-y flavor and buttery notes, but no actual pancake, which is fine, because just a jelly bean that tastes like pancake topping is good enough. The fun part for many candy fans is that Jelly Belly are gluten free and peanut free. So if you can’t have actual pancakes because you’re gluten intolerant, you can have these. I think the trendiness of these makes them appealing in the short term for buzz, but maple should stand the test of time. Of course the Honey jelly beans introduced a five years ago didn’t do so well and I think those did better in combination with other flavors than Maple. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:48 pm Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Jelly Candy • Kosher • 7-Worth It • United States • Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Pastel Malted Milk Eggs ComparedOne of my favorite candies is malted milk balls. Easter brings the pastel version, which is egg shaped and has a candy coating. I rounded up four of the most popular versions in stores today for a little comparison. I have various sized bags from Jelly Belly, Necco, Brach’s (Ferrara Candy) and Whoppers (Hershey’s). Though there are some size differences in the eggs, and some other sizes available from these brands, pastel malted eggs are usually larger than malted milk balls and less focused on the milk chocolate coating. They’re generally an attractive candy, but with a large variation on the look and texture of the shell and color palettes. From left to right: Necco Mighty Malts, Jelly Belly, Whoppers and then Brach’s. Name: Mighty Malts Speckled Malted Milk Eggs Verdict: It’s too messy to eat around the awful coating, so I can’t recommend these at all for eating, only decoration. Name: Speckled Chocolate Malted Eggs Verdict: The shells are very thick, probably too much shell for me and the flavor was not a good mix for the other flavors. I still loved the colors and have eaten two full bags so far this season. However, they’re also very expensive ... about 5 times more expensive than the Necco Mighty Malts, though imminently more edible. Name: Whoppers Robin Eggs Verdict: The unappealing pink shells and less appealing mockolate layer just make these unbearable. I actually find myself doing the extra work on the Necco Mighty Malts instead of eating these, even though they have an excellent malt center. Name: Malted Milk Pastel Fiesta Eggs Verdict: Of the four, I prefer these, though they still don’t quite shine on their own merits, only in comparison. I’ve eaten two bags so far this season and do find them comforting, but I only keep eating them on the naive hope that I’ll find “a good one” as if that’s ever happened or will happen. The result of this tour only confirms that I love the idea of a great Malted Milk Pastel Egg, but I haven’t found it yet. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:54 pm Candy • Review • Easter • Brach's • Ferrara Pan • Hershey's • Jelly Belly • Necco • Chocolate • Malt • Mockolate • 4-Benign • United States • Dollar Tree • Target • Walgreen's • Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Jelly Belly Bubbly (Champagne)I suppose Jelly Belly is already considered the champagne of jelly beans. It’s only natural that at some point they’d make a champagne-flavored jelly bean. Jelly Belly announced their new Champagne Jelly Belly just before New Years. I haven’t seen them in stores, but I picked up this sample bag, that calls them Jelly Belly Bubbly. I suspect they’ll be in stores for Valentine’s Day, but I haven’t seen them at my regular haunts like Dylan’s Candy Bar and Cost Plus World Market. Jelly Belly suggests a flavor pairings with the beans, such as combining them with orange to create a mimosa. I’d imagine strawberry and peach would also go well. The beans are lovely, with a light sparkling sheen to them. They have a light honey scent, but not much else going on before you eat them beyond the good looks. The flavor is mild, not like the Draft version they made as a beer flavor. There’s a hint of white grape, a little yeast note ... maybe a touch of honey sweetness. But that’s about it, there’s not tartness or dry bite. They’re appealing, but if you gave them to me without telling me the flavor, it’d be pretty far down on my list of guesses. Out of curiosity, I went to Dylan’s Candy Bar and picked up just a handful of the Champagne Bubbles, which are white grape jelly drops covered with nonpareils to compare them. They’re similar, the grape and honey notes are on the same wavelength, but there’s a distinct juicy tartness to the Bubbles that isn’t in the Champagne beans. They’re both quite cute and would make a lovely pairing for a candy buffet or favors for a wedding or engagement party. The beans are certainly less messy (the Bubbles do leave little white spheres around from time to time) and can be combined with the other colorful iridescent that Jelly Bean now makes for their favorite flavors. As a special flavor, I’ll pass on these. I don’t actually like champagne, so a bean flavored like it isn’t of much interest to me. I look forward to seeing folks use them in bean combinations and of course they’ll look nice for special occasions. Jelly Belly are peanut free, dairy free, gluten free, and considered vegetarian. There is no actual alcohol listed in the ingredients. The beans contain confectioners glaze and beeswax so aren’t vegan. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:09 pm Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Jelly Candy • Kosher • 6-Tempting • United States • Monday, August 18, 2014
Jelly Belly Beanaturals: 14 FlavorsIt seems odd that I picked up Jelly Belly jelly beans while I was in London, but this particular box isn’t available here. I bought this cute little pocket-sized flip-top box of Jelly Belly Beanaturals: 14 Flavors at Selfridges. These beans are made in Thailand. In fact, if you see Jelly Belly candy in a store outside of North America, it’s probably going to be the Thai-made version. Many European countries have strict rules about genetically modified ingredients, the factory there uses non-GMO sugar and non-GMO glucose syrup (from tapioca instead of corn. (You can read more about that here.) So, in addition to being free of any GMO ingredients, the beans are also made with all natural flavorings and colorings. They’re kosher, made in a nut free facility and gluten free. This is actually not that different from many of the jelly beans and other candies that Jelly Belly offers ... except for that GMO thing. Jelly Belly has plenty of beans mixes that are all natural ... so what I’m really trying out here is the European version. The box is not large and only holds 1.59 ounces, so there were not even that many beans in there considering there were going to be 14 different flavors. In my assortment I had six Lime. Only one Barbecue Banana, but six Lime beans. These are the hazards of random distribution. The first thing I noticed was how quickly the beans lose their freshness. The box was shrinkwrapped, and when I photographed them over the weekend, the beans I ate were soft and normal. But later in the week, oh, about Wednesday, when I worked on this post in earnest, they were suddenly hard. They were kept in the flip top box, closed, out of the sun and within a reasonable temperature span. Yet they were stiff and, well, stale. Lime (light green) is nicely rounded, a little bitter towards the end and missing more of the juicy tartness. Plum (dark maroon) is sweet and sort of like actual plum ...maybe just the plum skin but not much of the fruity, juicy notes. Barbecue Banana (speckled yellow) is quite nice. Very sweet but the banana does have more of a baked sweetness to it, instead of the artificial vanilla note. I actually thought I only had one of these until I realized later that I had a bunch of opaque yellow ones that weren’t lemon leftover that were banana. Yum. Orange (orange) is sweet but with a zesty note towards the end. It reminded me more of an orange jelly slice than a jelly bean as it lacked that tart bite. Tangerine (orange) was really similar to the orange, so much so, I wasn’t sure they were different except that there were several of those and they were definitely a lighter orange. I wanted something intensely orange with that hint of lemon that real tangerines have. They were fine, but I really had my hopes up. Lemon (yellow) was in the citrus zone that I hoped Tangerine would be. It was both sweet and tart and had a strong lemon peel bitterness at the top. Cherry (red) was good. It was fruity without any hint of the bitterness that artificial colors can bring. The flavor also lasted a while, with a sort of jasmine floral finish. Strawberry Jam (light pink) was actually more like jam than fresh strawberries. This left it more on the sweet side, without that delightful cotton candy floral note, but still good and nice in combination with my many Lime beans. Juicy Pear (medium green) was weird and grassy and maybe even a little garlicky ... to the point where I was wondering if I got a Bernie Bott’s bean by mistake. But I only had one of these beans, so there was no way for me to get someone else’s opinion. Pineapple (uncolored) was bland overall, like canned pineapple instead of the fresh stuff. Too much syrup and not enough acid. Passion Fruit (speckled orange) is okay, it actually didn’t taste like much except for that generic “tropical candle” flavor. Coconut (white with small speckles) tastes undeniably like coconut. It just does. Sometimes I thought there were actually coconut bits in it. You’d think it would go well with Pineapple ... and you’d be right. Yup, there’s one missing here ... I didn’t get any Fruit Punch in my box. I’m okay with that. I don’t think I’ve had this issue with the beans getting really hard so quickly before. Jelly Beans are one of those candies that is intended to be put in an open container for serving ... a bowl of jelly beans. If they can’t take being in a closed but not sealed box for several days without losing their freshness, I’m not sure I can commit to eating the full box (I know, it’s less than 2 ounces) within a day. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:18 pm All Natural • Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Jelly Candy • Kosher • 7-Worth It • Thailand • Monday, January 20, 2014
Jelly Belly Draft Beer BeansOn Friday I got my first press embargo ever on Candy Blog. I got a box from Jelly Belly that said, “Don’t open until January 18th.” I opened it, but dutifully kept the contents of the package to myself until Saturday. Jelly Belly has a new jelly bean flavor, which debuts at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this week: Jelly Belly Draft Beer Flavor Jelly Beans. Jelly Belly uses beverages for flavor inspirations all the time. They have their Soda Pop Shoppe line of carbonated drink flavors and went branded with the Snapple flavors. As far as alcohol goes, Jelly Belly came out with their Cocktail Classics a few years ago, based on fruity flavored alcoholic drinks, but this is a first for this type of jelly bean. (What’s next, wines?) The beans are very pretty, they’re little honey colored pieces with a pearlescent gold sheen. I guess that’s supposed to be like the head on a beer but feels a little deluxe for a beer jelly bean.
They smell like roses and sake. It’s a floral scent with a hint of yeasty fermentation. The yeasty note continues with the bean itself, it’s not overt and doesn’t burn like some alcoholic flavors do. It’s just mild with a note of bread, honey and roses. I got no hop bitterness at all, which was what I was expecting with a beer bean. If you hadn’t told me these were beer beans, I might not have guessed. The yeasty flavors are pleasant, the mild sweetness and fermented notes are a welcome change from the fruits and spices of regular beans. Jelly Belly also sent some little packets of beans to combine with the beer for different flavors: Red Apple, Tabasco, Peach and Lemon Lime. I found that two beers to a single flavor bean was a good ratio to emulate flavor enhanced beer. The Red Apple tasted like a hard cider. Lemon Lime and Beer did not taste like Corona, perhaps too much lime. Peach actually went pretty well, but was far too floral for my tastes. Tabasco was definitely tempered by the beer, but I didn’t know what that was going for. It just burned. (I later read that I was supposed to combine that with the lemon lime and the beer for a Michellada.) Overall, it’s a successful jelly bean. I can’t say that it will convert over any beer lovers. The candy contains no alcohol. They’re made with natural and artificial flavors and artificial colors. They also use beeswax and confectioners glaze. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:29 am Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Jelly Candy • Kosher • 7-Worth It • United States • Friday, October 18, 2013
Candy Tease October 2013Name: Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups Name: Lancaster Caramels Name: Werther’s Original Caramel Popcorn Name: Werther’s Original Baking Caramel Name: Jelly Belly Camo Beans Name: Fruit Vines Bites Name: Ovation Mint Filled Break-A-Part Name: Ovation Milk Pumpkin Spice Break-A-Part Images courtesy of the respective candy company Update 10/31/2013 - An earlier version of this post listed Welch’s PB&J Snacks, but I was just informed that the information is not accurate, so I have removed it. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:52 pm Candy • New Product Announcement • American Licorice • Jelly Belly • Nestle • Storck • SweetWorks, Inc • Highlight • News • Friday, December 21, 2012
Jelly Belly Soda Pop Shoppe Gummi BottlesA few years ago Jelly Belly introduced a mix of jelly beans flavored like popular sodas under their Soda Pop Shoppe line. They’re sold as the pre-mixed flavors or in individual packages and even in little soda bottles. Their newest addition to that brand is their Soda Pop Shoppe Gummi Bottles which are gelatin gummis. Each little bottle shape is about 1.75 inches long. They’re flat and lightly dusted, perhaps with starch, to keep them from sticking together instead of being shiny. The ingredients are quite interesting. They start with corn syrup but use potato starch instead of corn starch. They do contain gelatin, but it’s Kosher gelatin (so it’s not pork, but not otherwise identified). They also contain small amounts of coconut oil and caffeine and phosphoric acid. They’re gluten free and peanut free. To emulate soda bottles, the shapes are “full” of color, though the flavor goes all they way to the top of the bottle. They’re soft but not quite a bouncy as many other gummis. They’re like a cross between a Swedish Fish texture and a gummi bear. Grape is fun. There aren’t really that many grape gummis around, so it’s refreshing to see it included in a mix. It’s tangy and artificial but not quite as intense as a grape SweeTart which is pretty much my favorite. Orange is ordinary. I only got one in my mix, so it’s hard to say more than it was just like Tang. Root Beer is a star. It’s quite spicy and intense, much more than I expected from it’s rather muted appearance. They’re sweet, a little like wintergreen and bubble gum. It’s missing that little pop of nutmeg that sassafras often has, so it came off more like Birch Beer ... not that I object. Lemon Lime is actually more lime. Lime soda is good, and this has a lot of zest to it and a nice tangy bite. But ultimately it’s just a piece of lime candy, which always ends up as one of the last flavors I pick when included in a mix. (Which is strange considering how affectionate I normally am towards citrus.) Cherry Cola is, well, disappointing. It tastes to me more like Dr. Pepper, but my experience with actual cherry cola is absolutely empty. The cola flavors are mostly in the background, there’s no spicy cola bite and there’s no cherry tartness, it’s more of the maraschino flavor than a black cherry. They’re not the first candy I’d pick up, but I love the concept and the execution is pretty good, better than the Trolli version. For folks looking for American-made candy that’s gluten & peanut free and fun for kids, this is a good mix. It’s too bad they didn’t go all the way and use natural colorings and flavorings. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:43 pm Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Cola • Gummi Candy • Kosher • 6-Tempting • United States • Dollar Tree • Friday, December 14, 2012
Jelly Belly TabascoIf you’re tired of all the other red flavors of candy that are especially prevalent at Christmas like cherry, cinnamon and peppermint, perhaps you’ll enjoy Jelly Belly’s newest: Tabasco Jelly Beans. The new flavor is an officially sanctioned Tabasco product, so it’s not just your ordinary spicy pepper jelly bean. The ingredients list Tabasco Brand Pepper Paste in the 2% or less part of the listing, which makes sense since it’s pretty concentrated stuff in its liquid form, a paste must be extra potent. The do smell a bit like Tabasco, which has a bell pepper and tomato paste sort of scent. They are quite strong and spicy, not just in the sugary shell but clear through to the core. The peppery flavor is a good blend of the cayenne-style heat along with a hatch chili sort of green, earthy flavor with a little hint of a vinegar tang towards the end. On the whole, very convincing. It does cause a bit of heat in my mouth ... a lasting one for me, so much so that I had to eat some crackers after the build up over about 10 of them. I’m a lightweight when it comes to chili heat though I’m fine with horseradish/wasabi and curry spices being cranked up, so some may find these tame. The only issue is really, are you the sort of person who would enjoy these? They’re not for me, they’re just not “candy” enough to eat one after another and not “snack” enough to be added to some other sort of mix. I don’t expect them to stay around very long, though they are well done for the goals they must have had. (In the sample package Jelly Belly sent me, they included some Citrus Mix ... I’ve finished that bag, but could barely get through five of the Tabasco.) They’re currently sold as an individual flavor, not in the standard mixes, so no need to be cautious around Jelly Belly varieties. They’re made in a peanut free facility and are gluten free as well. Jelly Belly uses beeswax and confectioners glaze, so these are not a vegetarian product. Related Candies
POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:40 am Candy • Review • Jelly Belly • Jelly Candy • Kosher • 7-Worth It • United States • |
Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.
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