Candy Corn Jelly Belly - 10 lbs bulk
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
The Good: Environmentally responsible bulk, Taste amazingly like what they are supposed to
The Bad: Expense makes it somewhat pointless.
The Basics: The seasonally available Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans are an incredible novelty which is unlikely to replace the candy they imitate.
Today has been a very Halloween-themed day for me with my reviews. So far, I have reviewed a Bath & Body Works Halloween-themed soap and dispenser (that's here!) and I have other, similar reviews forthcoming. As part of that, I thought today was an ideal day to review the Limited Edition, or seasonally available, Candy Corn flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans. To be perfectly clear, Jelly Belly now produces its own line of candy corn as well as a candy corn flavored Jelly Belly jelly bean. This review is of the Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly bean.
I received the Candy Corn flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans as part of the promotional package from the fine folks at Jelly Belly. I have never seen these in stores and they are even hard to find online outside the official Jelly Belly website. They are only available in the autumn and are released before Halloween and have been for at least the last two years. I decided before I started this review that I did not want to simply become mired in how pointless a candy the Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans were, but the truth is, that's the only real fault with these delicious jelly beans. Allow me to explain.
Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans are designed to mimic the taste of candy corn, one of the least-expensive most mass-produced seasonal candies available. It doesn't matter if you have gourmet candy corn or dime store candy corn, outside how hard the candy is, it pretty much all tastes the same as sugary candy that defines its own taste. Jelly Belly has made similar jelly beans of candies, like Bubble Gum and Cotton Candy, but there the flavors are pretty distinct and different from a jelly bean. There is a pretty close tie in texture, composition and, with lesser brands, taste between candy corn and jelly beans. Inexpensive jelly bean brands are generically sugary, just like inexpensive candy corn brands. Jelly Belly is certainly excused from this as they are always flavorful, but the purpose of Candy Corn flavored jelly beans eludes me. Jelly Belly is asking consumers to shell out quite a bit more money (around eight to nine dollars a pound) for a jelly bean flavored like another candy that is roughly fifty cents a pound. I don't see the point. And, not to belabor that, that is pretty much all that robs this seasonally-available flavor of a perfect rating. Jelly Belly gets the taste of candy corn spot on with this jelly bean!
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 Berry Sport Beans, the Snapple Assortment, Mint Jelly Bean Dips or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.
Who needs ten pounds of Candy Corn flavored Jelly Bellys? Anyone who wishes they could eat candy corn year round, but doesn't like it in that pesky triangle shape. Anyone who might like Candy Corn 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, though they are also available in less environmentally impressive bags, like the 9 oz. plastic gift bag.
Basics
Candy 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 Candy Corn and they nail that taste precisely.
Candy Corn 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 it's seasonally available, get as much as you can while you can (and, hey, your friends are likely to want to try them!). I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.
Candy Corn flavored Jelly Bellys are easy to differentiate from other Jelly Belly jelly beans. They are a yellowish orange with very bright orange spots. They do not look like any other Jelly Belly jelly beans, even the ones with the less bright, more yellow, mottling. This is a distinct Jelly Belly, even if it is not in any assortment where it might have gotten mixed up; there are no Jelly Bellys to mix them up with!
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not figuring out the volume of an actual candy corn! 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. Or you could put them in one of those Halloween-themed candy dishes with the hand that grabs at the hand of those reaching for them. Or you could eat them right out of the box, I suppose.
Taste
The Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans immediately set the bar high with their aroma. Candy Corn has a warm, sugary bouquet to it that is most analogous to warm caramel. The Candy Corn Jelly Bellys emanate that scent strongly when one opens the bag or box. In fact, this is one of the strongest scented Jelly Belly jelly beans I can recall and anyone who has ever had candy corn will recognize and appreciate the richness of the scent.
Placing the Candy Corn Jelly Bellys on the tongue, one finds their faith rewarded. These Jelly Belly jelly beans taste exactly like what they are supposed to. Not since having Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellys where the taste was so perfectly on, but the texture was off, have I been so unnerved. These Jelly Bellys are sweet, sugary and have all of the taste properties of actual candy corn, but their texture is of a jelly bean, so they hold together far better and are more gelatinous than actual candy corn. Candy corn is a flavor that defines itself - candy corn tastes like candy corn, not like any other candy or flavor - and Jelly Belly mimics that absolutely perfectly with these jelly beans. It's worth being unnerved, wondering what happened to the texture of your candy corn, to delight in the flavor of these jelly beans!
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to recall that this is a candy, based upon another candy. 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 and whether they are Vegan compliant or not depends on the Vegan. They do not have any gelatin, but there is beeswax in the coating. As far as nutrition goes, the Candy Corn Jelly Bellys 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 vastly worse than they are.
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 Bellys, even if these do not denature and liquefy like actual candy corn). I've never had Candy Corn Jelly Bellys stain anything.
Overall
Candy Corn Jelly Belly jelly beans are a seasonal success that is truly delightful, outside their utterly pointless nature. These are a great novelty and once a year it is easy for me to endorse a novelty, despite the fact that few will replace their inexpensive candy corn with these gourmet jelly beans.
For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Very Cherry Jelly Bean Dips
Fruit Punch Sport Beans
Orange Jelly Bean Dips
8/10
As I near the end of the stock of Jelly Belly jelly beans, be sure to check out my other Jelly Belly reviews by clicking here!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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