Smoothie Blend Assortment Jelly Belly Jelly Beans - 10 lbs bulk
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
The Good: Intriguing flavors, Environmentally and economically responsible bulk.
The Bad: ? None of the flavors are absolutely indispensable.
The Basics: Delicious and fun, the Smoothie Assortment of Jelly Belly jelly beans is another Jelly Belly winner worth bulking up on!
As I neared the end of my cataloguing of the Jelly Belly jelly beans, I found myself in a strangely melancholy place about the whole endeavor. As I try the last few flavors and assortments before creating my ultimate Jelly Belly guide, I find myself saddened to think that I shall have to try to find a food that has so much diversity and creativity to it to keep my interest next. That is not a task I relish. One of the final flavors I have gotten in is the Jelly Belly Smoothie assortment. This is a surprisingly good assortment, though it has an obscure appeal to it and it is almost astonishing that Jelly Belly made such an odd collection of jelly bean flavors.
For those who might never have had Jelly Belly jelly beans, these are easily the best jelly beans on the planet, packing a lot of flavor into a very small size. Unlike most jelly beans which are only vaguely flavored and are more based on colors, Jelly Belly jelly beans have a wide variety of actual flavors, like Lemon, Peach, Dr. Pepper or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.
Who needs ten pounds of Smoothie flavored Jelly Bellys? I suppose anyone who likes milky, fruity drinks but doesn't want to have to go through the effort of making up so many smoothies might enjoy the Smoothie Assortment. Anyone who might like Smoothie flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans will likely find that this ten-pound box is the best way to get them in bulk in an environmentally responsible way for the least amount of money.
Basics
The Smoothie Mix is a collection of five unique flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans. Jelly Belly jelly beans are approximately one half inch long by one quarter inch wide and they are roughly bean-shaped. This is a simple bulking of:
Mixed Berry Smoothie
Mandarin Orange Mango Smoothie
Cherry Passion Fruit Smoothie
Pineapple Pear Smoothie
and Strawberry Banana Smoothie
These little candies are marketed to taste precisely like different flavors of fruity and milky beverages, fruit shakes, and they live up to what they claim to very well, at least in principle. As one who loves a good milkshake, it is hard to argue that Jelly Belly did not manage to get the subtle, milk taste into each and every bean. It’s actually quite amazing and this is a wonderful mix. In fact, it is close enough to call perfect given the way the beans embody so many of the flavors they are supposed to.
The Smoothie mix Jelly Bellys are available in a few quantities, but the largest quantity available is the ten pound bulk case. This is a decent-sized box with a plastic lining and while some might wonder why anyone would need a ten pound box, I say, “It would take a lot more fruit and milk to make this many smoothies!" I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.
Generally, the flavors in the Smoothie Assortment are easy enough to recognize. Mixed Berry is a light purple with purple spots, which is distinctive on its own. The Pineapple Pear is similarly easy to tell from the other beans as it is yellow with yellow spots. Cherry Passion Fruit Smoothie is a red bean, most frequently found with dark red dots on it. Within the assortment, the assortment, the two beans that are hardest to differentiate are the Mandarin Orange Mango and the Strawberry Banana. Strawberry Banana is a pale orange bean with very small red dots (on the ones that have additional coloring). The Mandarin Orange Mango are a more vibrant orange color with neon orange splotches on them. Either of these beans look like any of the several orange-colored beans in the main assortment. Of course, within this assortment, there ought to be no problems with differentiating any of the beans.
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not making a smoothie bar economically viable in these fractious times! In the case of the ten pound box, one might want to put them in a candy dish of some form as opposed to always going into the box. Then again, it's not like these jelly beans will go bad like milk sitting out if you leave the box open! Eat them out of the box or in open containers around the house, whatever makes you happy!
Taste
Mixed Berry Smoothie is a good Jelly Belly jelly bean. The beans do not have any sort of strong bouquet, so much of their taste comes from the actual taste, not the scent. As for the flavor, this is a tough to define one, because it does taste like berries, in a very generic fruity way. As well, there is a milky taste to them, a very smooth flavor which minimizes the usual sour that accompanies berries. As a result, this tastes like grape juice cut with milk. These do not taste like blueberry or raspberry alone, but they do taste fruity and like berries, as opposed to citrus. They have a milk-smooth aftertaste as well, which helps the flavor stay on the tongue. Mixed Berry Smoothie Jelly Bellys do not fade in their flavor no matter how many one eats, but because of the milky flavor to them, they do have something of a sugary taste that is hard to want to eat in vast quantities.
Pineapple Pear has a strong pineapple scent to the jelly beans and the taste is one of the more imaginative ones Jelly Belly has concocted. Tasting almost immediately like straight out pineapples, the Pineapple Pear Smoothie embodies pear and the milk flavor only after the bean lingers on the tongue. Rather astonishingly, the flavors of milk and pear compliment one another and while both are subtle flavors, neither one overwhelms the other. This is an exceptional flavor whose taste holds up over many beans!
The Mandarin Orange Mango Smoothie has almost no aroma, which is why it is almost astonishing that it has so much flavor to it. The shell is very fruity and tastes like orange without the sharpness of straightforward oranges. The center is much more subtle, blending mango and milk flavorfully. This flavor is a little less distinct the more beans one eats, but is still very flavorful, such that one's daily serving is likely to remain richly fruity for the entire run.
Cherry Passion Fruit Smoothie does not have much in the way of an aroma to it. Instead, it is flavored almost exclusively by the shell and center of the Jelly Bean. This flavor tastes very strongly of cherry as it is supposed to, though the more subtle passion fruit citrus flavor does cut through the sour aftertaste of cherry. This is the least milky of the Smoothie assortment Jelly Bellys, but it still has a slight muted quality that embodies the flavor of milk.
Strawberry Banana Smoothie is arguably the most milky in its primary flavoring. The milk and banana flavors dominate this bean, overcoming the tongue with the subtlety and deliciousness of banana before becoming tart in the aftertaste like strawberries. Still, this is one of the truest fruit flavors Jelly Belly has created!
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to understand they are based upon something that is only average in terms of nutrition. Jelly beans, even Jelly Belly jelly beans, are not a legitimate source of nutrition. These are a snack food, a dessert, and are in no way an adequate substitute for a real meal. A serving is listed at thirty-five beans, with each Jelly Belly jelly bean having approximately four calories. This means that in a single serving, there are 140 calories, which is 12% of your daily recommended intake.
The thing is, Jelly Belly jelly beans are not as bad as they could be in the nutrition area. They have no fat and no protein, but for those who have ever dated a Vegan, these are Vegan compliant because they contain no gelatin! (Still, some militant Vegans are not fond of the use of beeswax in the shell, so know your Vegan before giving these as a gift!) They have only one percent of the daily sodium with 15 mg and they are gluten free! The main ingredients are sugar, corn syrup and modified food starch, so it's not like this is an all-natural food, but they could be far, far worse.
Storage/Clean-up
Jelly Belly jelly beans have a shelf life of approximately one year and I have yet to run across a stale Jelly Belly (though that could have something to do with a package never surviving a year around me and this flavor is not even going to last six months or even three months!). They remain freshest when they are kept in an airtight container (the bag in the bulk box is sufficient if it is kept closed) and they ought to be kept in a lukewarm environment. Storing them in hot places is likely to make the beans stick together and be gross. Kept in a cool, dry place, the beans retain their flavor perfectly.
As for cleanup, unless one allows the Jelly Belly to get hot to the point that the waxy coating on the bean melts, the dyes on these do not bleed or denature, so there is usually no cleanup necessary, not even washing one's hands after eating them (always wash your hands before eating Jelly Bellys, even if they can't become sour like sour milk). I've never had any of the Smoothie Mix Jelly Bellys stain anything.
Overall
Close enough to perfect, the Smoothie Assortment is richly fruit flavored as well as milky in the way it is supposed to be to embody fruit shakes. A surprisingly delicious and authentic flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans!
For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Top Banana
Sour Watermelon
Crushed Pineapple
9/10
For other food or drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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