Candy Blog

1. 

   The pink ones are definitely bitter.  Shoes wasn’t what leapt to mind though.  At first, it tasted like a radish without salt.  Then it just got really bitter, sharp and yucky.

   I think the white ones are ginger.

   The black licorice ones are winners.

   Comment by Bronwen on 4/04/07 at 8:57 am #
2. 

   You’ve done a real public service there, identifying the distinct flavors of spice jelly beans.  As a kid I always found it dismaying to encounter a bowl of jellybeans (usually at my aunt’s house) and then get hit with that weird wintergreen/clove/toothpaste aroma that signified these weren’t REAL jelly beans but those strange things that adults seemed to like.  Now that I’m an adult myself, maybe I should give them another try—if only for the sake of nostalgia.

   Comment by good enough cook on 4/04/07 at 9:43 am #
3. 

   I really need to know if that pink is bitter new shoes or dentist office carpeting or unsalted radish, because I’m not gonna buy any if it’s the shoes!

   :^)

   Comment by Tricia on 4/04/07 at 10:16 am #
4. 

   I hate jelly beans. perhaps I should do a jelly bean-off with many brands and give them another shot. these sound interesting.

   “new shoes” heh heh too funny

   Comment by liz on 4/04/07 at 10:26 am #
5. 

   I loathe small jelly beans, and curse Jelly Belly for making them fashionable—thanks for bringing back the wonderful, big cheap beans of my childhood!

   I’m just curious—what is the history of spice beans, anyway, as opposed to regular jelly beans, and how did the original jelly bean flavor palate come about?

   Comment by HeartofGlass21 on 4/04/07 at 12:24 pm #
6. 

   I’m an adult, and I would still be very disappointed to find that the jelly beans were these flavors.  If they aren’t generally fruit (even Jelly Belly does fall into that category), then I would not bother.  This is like leaving around the spice flavor gum drops.  Picking up something that’s festively bright color only to find something that is weapons-grade disgusting has happened to me more than once and is unforgiveable.

   Comment by Dave on 4/04/07 at 2:08 pm #
7. 

   Nutmeg flavored jelly beans?  Pure genius!  Thanks for the heads-up.  I can only pray that next year they’ll include a cardamom bean in the mix.  Dare to dream…

   Comment by Joanna on 4/04/07 at 2:52 pm #
8. 

   Since when are lemons and limes “spices”?  Just wondering.  I think a nutmeg jelly bean sounds kind of good.

   Comment by April on 4/04/07 at 4:11 pm #
9. 

   Hmmm, spice flavoured Jelly Beans/Eggs. Not something I have come across here in the UK but I definitely would like to try.

   Have to admit to allowing myself a throaty chortle as your description of the Pink ones as ?Bitter new shoes? Really, I have no clue what this is. But that?s what it tastes like to me. Or maybe it taste like new carpeting at the dentist?s office.?

   Your description seems to out imagine the imagination of the Jelly bean flavour creators themselves.

   Just one other point, stop chewing the carpets in your dentist?s office ? he should be able to recommend a good floss! J

   Comment by KandyX on 4/05/07 at 8:25 am #
10. 

    Astral - not just shoes! Bitter shoes!

    Tricia - I think the worst part is that in the “spice” range, the often include lemon, so if you pick that one first, you might THINK that they’re fruit.

    I avoid all purple jelly beans as a rule, lest they be Clove. Of course this assortment messed with that too.

    liz - if you don’t like jelly beans, spend your time on stuff you love! (It’s like me trying to review cherry stuff ... I can be analytical, but I’m never going to enjoy it.)

    HeartofGlass21 - actually, I think spice flavored candies predate the fruit flavored ones. It was much more common back when candies were made by pharmacists to use herbal flavors for medicinal purposes (or to cover the flavors of medicine). I like both flavor sets equally well, you know, if they’re done well.

    Dave - yeah, I often get the feeling gumdrops are cruelty to children.

    Joanna - as Bronwen said above, she thought they were ginger. (Of course she also said the pink ones were radish and not shoes ... so what does she know?) So for all I know, they’re actually cardamom or passion fruit.

    Man, I really want some real spice flavored jelly beans. Cardamom, Black Pepper, Fennel, Ginger, Juniper, Curry, Orange Blossom, Saffron, Rosewater ... okay, maybe not all of those.

    April - maybe because lemon zest goes both ways, as a sweet and savory flavoring? Or they couldn’t think of what to use the yellow food coloring for.

    KandyX - I would have expected that the UK would still have the classic jelly bean flavors. (Yes, I gnaw on the furniture at the dentists office, it’s very stressful.)

    Comment by Cybele on 4/05/07 at 10:03 am #
11. 

    I know exactly what you mean about “bitter shoes”.  For some reason alot of pink candies have that kind of flavor to them.  I can’t imagine anyone actually likes it so I wonder why companies bother… Still, the nutmeg sounds intriguing so I might pick some up one of these days.
    P.S. Wow, you were not kidding about that website, yeesh

    Comment by Porgy on 4/07/07 at 1:17 pm #
12. 

    I always thought the pink tasted like old lady lipstick. Bleh.

    Comment by Adrien on 4/09/07 at 3:26 am #
13. 

    Wow, thank you so much for doing this review.  I’m a fan of the site but hadn’t visited in awhile, and as I found myself munching some Blueberry Hill Spice Jelly Beans, I couldn’t ID some flavors.  Guess what came up while googling it?  I wish the bags came with only mint, cinnamon, and licorice, but those flavors alone are totally worth the 38 cents I payed for the whole bag.

    Comment by Molly on 4/17/07 at 5:48 am #
14. 

    I never had the spice jellybeans, but I like the spice gumdrops (spice drops) a lot and have liked them since I was just a young’un in pigtails. I especially like the containers just of red (mint) and green (cinnamon) ones that stores put out during the winter holidays. I call the red and green mix “minties and cinnies”

    Comment by Sparkina on 6/18/07 at 6:02 pm #
15. 

    My mistake. The red spice drops are cinnamon and the green are mint. I feel like a doofus! :-(

    Comment by Sparkina on 6/18/07 at 6:04 pm #
16. 

    wow…so much hatred for the spice flavors! i think my taste buds are messed up. i guess i have weird taste, in that i LOVE strong flavors (as a kid i used to eat vicks…no, not the drops, that would be normal. i ate the vaporub. no lasting damage though, at least none thats been detected yet). basically, what i’m getting to is that i love the spice flavors, the clove, the wintergreen. all those medicinal tastes. same way i love really strong licorice, 85% cocoa dark chocolate and aniseed balls.

    i guess i’m not going to see reviews on any of these, right? *sigh*

    p.s:love chocolate too, am partly normal.

    Comment by ishma alvi on 12/26/07 at 11:02 am #
17. 

    i bought several bags of the spiced jelly beans as I have always loved them and spiced gum drops. i was very disappointed to find that all of the bags i purchased (6) in all had cherry flavored for the red (I HATE cherry) Jbs instead of the cinnamon flavor like they were marked on the pkg. The Pink are 1/2 Allspice (yuck) flavor and 1/2 cinnamon flavor. Disappointed they skrewed up the flavors and colors.I like to know what I’m popping in my mouth!

    Gigi

    Comment by Gigi on 3/03/08 at 11:50 am #
18. 

    How thrilling to find I’m not alone in the world in my love for spiced jelly beans.  Until finding this site I felt like some pervert for making up some reason to slip off to Wal-Mart when the only reason I really wanted to go was for a 50 cent Blueberry Hill Spice Jelly Beans (yesn they’re only 50 cents at Wal-Mart if you can bear Wal-Mart).  Anyway, they’re only stocked around Easter so every year I practically main-line God knows how many bags before the holiday arrives.  I agree cinnamon and licorice are the very best.  The purple peppermint and white nutmeg are dasdardly but I suppose both will pass in a panic.  The orange clove isn’t all that bad but it reminds me of my dentist’s office when I was five or six.  I rather like the yellow lemon but the lime’s so sweet it makes my teeth squeak!

    Comment by Holly on 3/10/08 at 1:21 pm #
19. 

    I hate to be a snoot about anything, but purple is the next best color for a mint jellybean next to green.  Almost every plant in the mint family has purple flowers!
    That said, I’ll go back to silently drooling over these great pictures.

    Comment by Bennet on 3/11/08 at 4:18 pm #
20. 

    My brother just sent me a bag of Albertson’s spice drops…......10 2o oz bags for $10 this week in Albertsons- he’s in San Diego…......

    Great drops- 6 flavors; cinnamon, spearmint, - the purple are licorice- wintergreen,clove and allspice.  And though I would love to have a stockpile- I ate the whole bag of 20 oz in 2 days- sharing only a little….....so I will decline any further temptation until next year!!

    And I found great spice jelly beans (a favorite since I was a wee lass in Madison NJ getting them from my Nana “Jellybean”) from Just Born-
    “Hot Tamale Spice Jellybeans”

    Comment by Mia on 4/28/08 at 1:07 pm #
21. 

    WE WOULD LIKE TO BUY FROM YA’LL SPICED JELLY EGGS OR BEANS, CAN NOT FIND THEM EXACT AT EASTER WE WOULD BUY A CASE AT A TIME.

    OUR DOGS AND GRAND KIDS LOVES THEM

    Comment by BILL LACKEY on 12/03/08 at 3:52 am #
22. 

    WE LOVE THE REGULAR BLUEBERRY HILL JELLY BEANS BUT CANNOT FIND THE IN THE STORES.  WHERE CAN WE BUY THEM

    Comment by MARY FAILLO on 3/22/09 at 10:17 am #
23. 

    I am trying to find out where I can purchase the Blueberry Hill Jelly Beans in Central Massachusetts?????

    Comment by Robert Chartier on 4/02/09 at 2:36 pm #
24. 

    i can’-t find a store to buy any spice jelly beans can you buy them on line

    Comment by donna master on 4/04/09 at 1:04 pm #
25. 

    spice jelly beans are my favorite, still trying to locate them before easter.

    Comment by va loans on 4/09/09 at 11:13 am #
26. 

    Where are these spicy jelly beans sold in this area.? Can they be purchased on line? Thank you

    Comment by Frances Glenn on 4/11/09 at 10:29 am #

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