Seriously, This Is How You're Going To Get Your Vitamin C? Okay, Sunkist Orange Jelly Bellys!

Sunkist Orange Jelly Belly Jelly Beans - 10 lbs bulk
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The Good: Taste good, Environmentally responsible bulk, Vitamin C
The Bad: Not the most vibrant flavor of all time.
The Basics: With a light "recommend," the very average Sunkist Orange Jelly Belly Jelly beans taste good, but are overpriced consider most competitors do this flavor well.


Even as I search for the last flavors I need to complete the fully Jelly Belly experience, I have been getting some of the non-50 flavor assortments to try and some of the less-common flavors of Jelly Belly in to consume and review. The latest of these was Jelly Belly Sunkist Orange flavor. I thought, for a time, that this was redundant, but as it turns out, there is no orange flavor in the regular line-up of Jelly Belly jelly beans. There are, however, two flavors which are close (Tangerine and Orange Juice), but rather surprisingly, fans of Jelly Belly jelly beans will only find the plain orange flavor in the Sunkist Orange flavor. And, given how orange is a flavor virtually anyone who makes fruit-flavored jelly beans provides, one has to wonder why Jelly Belly bothered. That said, these little beans have Vitamin C added to them, so it's hard to complain too much.

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 Sunkist Lemon, Orange Sherbet, strawberry cheesecake or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.

Who needs ten pounds of Sunkist Orange flavored Jelly Bellys? Anyone who has a severe Vitamin C deficiency and an aversion to actually eating citrus fruits or drinking juice. Anyone who might like Sunkist Orange Jelly Belly jelly beans will likely find that this is the best way to get them in bulk in an environmentally responsible way for the least amount of money.

Basics

Sunkist Orange is a flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans, a premium jelly bean, and this flavor is part of the Sunkist Citrus Assortment. 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 Sunkist Orange and they meet that fairly well, but to be fair, so do less expensive jelly beans by other companies.

Sunkist Orange flavored Jelly Bellys 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, I say people need a lot of Vitamin C and there's only so much in each of these beans! I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.

Sunkist Orange flavored Jelly Bellys are easy to recognize . . . except in the assortments they are put in by Jelly Belly. In the Sunkist Citrus Assortment, they are virtually indistinguishable from the Sunkist Tangerine as they are both translucent orange jelly beans. The orange is just a little darker than the more pale Sunkist Tangerine. When placed beside the regular assortment, it is very hard to tell the difference between Sunkist Orange and Orange Juice (reviewed here!) and Tangerine (reviewed here!). These Jelly Bellys are light, translucent orange, much like actual oranges. Of course, on their own in the ten pound box, there is nothing to confuse them with.

Ease Of Preparation

These are jelly beans, not trying to become super immune by ingesting a lot of Vitamin C, so it's not like there is a challenge to eating or understanding them. 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, Vitamin C can be vital, so you might want it quick, in which case just eat them out of the box.

Taste

Sunkist Orange Jelly Bellys have a faintly citrus/orange scent and that makes sense when one considers that actual orange puree is used in the manufacture of these beans. These smell appropriately like orange and this prepares the consumer well.

When one places the Sunkist Orange Jelly Belly on their tongue, they are greeted with a very typical orange flavor. The flavor is only slightly less sweet than the tangerine and slightly less overwhelming to the tongue than the Orange Juice. If Orange Juice is concentrated orange flavor, Sunkist Orange is a little more realistic and thus a little more watery than just orange. But the flavor of orange is quite true.

But, again, this is a flavor virtually everyone does and it does not seem like there is much of a challenge to getting it right. As such, this makes it seem like a very typical flavor, which is unlike most Jelly Belly flavors.

Nutrition

Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to understand that these have been taken over by Sunkist and infused with real Vitamin C! Sure, they might not have any other nutritional value, but in a single serving, consumers are able to get 25% of their RDA in Vitamin C! 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.

Even without the Vitamin C being taken into account, 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 most people will find that they remain good a full year (though they are less likely to last around most consumers that long!). 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, but you should wash your hands before eating them anyway (even if they do not get sticky like real Sunkist Oranges!). I've never had Sunkist Orange Jelly Bellys stain anything.


Overall

Sunkist Orange Jelly Bellys are a very average flavor of Jelly Belly and jelly bean, regardless of the brand name associated with them. While consumers will find a decent value from the bulk box, this is one that is harder to get excited about stocking up on.

For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Cotton Candy
Kiwi
Margarita

6.5/10

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© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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