There Are No Kernels In Your Teeth With Caramel Corn Jelly Belly's!

Caramel Corn Jelly Belly Jelly Beans - 10 lbs bulk
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The Good: Delicious, Environmentally responsible bulk
The Bad: No real nutritional value
The Basics: Caramel Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans are another near-perfect flavor of these great candies!


After about a year of reviewing Celestial Seasonings teas, I found myself in a strange, joyful place over reviewing Jelly Belly jelly beans. Quite simply, reviewing Jelly Bellys gave me far less to complain about for a very simple reason: they have a tendency to taste exactly like what they claim to be. This is both wonderful and, at times, terribly creepy. Caramel Corn is one of the flavors that walks the fine line between delicious and disconcerting.

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 Tangerine, Island Punch, Bubble Gum or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn. In fact, the Caramel Corn flavor bears a strong resemblance to Buttered Popcorn.

Who needs ten pounds of Caramel Corn flavored Jelly Bellys? Anyone who likes the taste of caramel corn but loathes the Kernels that get stuck in your teeth or the sticky caramel that gets all over one's fingers!

Basics

Caramel Corn is a flavor 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. These little candies are marketed to taste precisely like Caramel Corn and they live up to that extraordinarily well.

Caramel Corn flavored Jelly Belly's are available in a wide array of 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, others ask "who's asking" from behind a locked door. The Caramel Corn flavor, particularly, is one that is so intriguing and delicious that once one starts eating them, one needs to come up with a reason to stop. My reason to stop is traumatic childhood memories involving a carnival; if it weren't for that, I could probably live on these delightful little beans. I want to say that a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans, they would certainly keep for a year even in this level of bulk, but once a box like this is open, they are lucky to last six months around my house.

Ease Of Preparation

These are jelly beans, not staying awake while reading the unabridged text of the Patriot Act. Preparing them is as easy as opening the box and popping one (or a handful) into your mouth. 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, dictating how to eat candy is unpatriotic. Eating them out of the box is fine!

Taste

Caramel Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans are a brilliant bit of candy science. When placed on the tongue, they have an amazing buttery, smooth taste that is just like the coating to caramel-covered popcorn. Biting into it seals the deal and there is a burst of caramel flavoring that is utterly authentic.

There is something truly disconcerting about Caramel Corn flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans and that is that they taste precisely like what they claim to. The beans do not have a bouquet, so smelling them does not smell like a ball of caramel-encrusted popcorn, but placing a bean on one's tongue reveals a taste that is the exact taste of Caramel Corn. This flavor is perfectly and accurately titled, tasting just like kernels of caramel-flavored popcorn.

The reason this is disconcerting (other than not being able to write anything more because the taste is exactly like what one would expect if one has ever has popcorn drenched in caramel) is the texture. Because the bean tastes so exactly like Caramel Corn, it is weird to have the texture and sweetness of a jelly bean when one bites into a bean. Texture aside, the taste is absolutely perfect and despite the growing fear of diabetes, I find it remarkably easy to sit and watch a movie satisfying my oral fixation by downing these beans (often more than) one at a time.

Nutrition

Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to reread important chapters in Our Bodies, Our Selves. 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! 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 . . .). 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 Belly's, though, it shows respect for the beans!). I've never had Caramel Corn Jelly Belly's stain anything. That said, it's pretty wild to be able to eat something that tastes so much like Caramel Corn and not have to clean caramel off one's fingers afterward!

Overall

There is nothing particularly wrong with Caramel Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans and all that truly knocks it out of being a perfect food is that it lacks any nutritional value. Tonight, I feel it's about time I knocked a Jelly Belly down for that. Other than that, this is a perfect flavor of these great confections!

For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Sunkist Lime
Soda Pop Shoppe Assortment
Green Apple

9.5/10

For other food or drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject. To do that, click here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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