The Good: Tastes very good, Nothing bad in them
The Bad: Expensive.
The Basics: Strawberry Chocolate Jelly Bean Dips are a surprisingly good addition to the Jelly Bean Dips line!
I have come around on the Jelly Belly Dips, chocolate covered jelly beans. What I once saw as likely just a gimmick, I am now eagerly embracing. And why shouldn’t I? Jelly Belly had a clever idea that they executed remarkably well! The penultimate Jelly Belly Dips review I have is the Strawberry Dark Chocolate flavor.
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 their superlative Limited Edition Candy Cane, the BeanBoozled Assortment, Mint Mint Chocolate Chip, or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.
Basics
Strawberry is a flavor of Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Dips jelly beans. The Jelly Bean Dips jelly beans are approximately one-half inch long by one-quarter inch wide and they are roughly bean-shaped. These are marginally bigger than the usual Jelly Belly jelly beans by only a few millimeters due to the chocolate shell. These Jelly Bean Dips are a strawberry flavor, I suspect Strawberry Jam (reviewed here!) Jelly Bellys with a chocolate coating.
Strawberry flavored Jelly Belly Dips Jelly Bellys are currently available in either 2.8 oz. plastic packages which are terrible for the environment or the ten pound bulk boxes most of us appreciate. The bulk box provides a less severe environmental impact as well as a more economical way to get the Dips!
Strawberry flavored Jelly Bean Dips Jelly Bellys are impossible to recognize from other Dips flavors as the six currently-available Dips flavors are all coated in chocolate and thus look more or less alike. The Strawberry flavor are dipped in dark chocolate, so they are a darker shade of brown than milk chocolate products like the average chocolate-coated raisin.
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not finding a truly sweet sun-ripened strawberry in the supermarket! Preparing them is as easy as opening the packet or box, and popping the beans into your mouth. In the case of the stiff plastic bag, which is not resealable, the jelly beans may be consumed all at once or over several days with no adverse effects to the freshness. The bulk box can be opened and as long as the bag in the box is sealed, they remain fresh and delicious.
Taste
The scent of the Strawberry Jelly Bean Dips is strongly the scent of dark chocolate. There is almost no fruit flavor embodied in the aroma of these jelly beans.
Placing the Strawberry Chocolate Dips on the tongue, the consumer gets exactly what the bouquet hints at beforehand. The chocolate coating on these Dips tastes darker than the others for some reason and it is wonderful. Anyone who likes dark chocolate is likely to be initially pleased by these beans. As the chocolate melts away, the strawberry flavor of the bean beneath comes through and it is truly delightful. The strawberry and chocolate flavors blend like a chocolate-covered strawberry and this is a delicious twist on the standard jelly bean.
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone expecting them to provide the health benefits of even actual Strawberrys will be unpleasantly surprised. Jelly Bean Dips are not a legitimate source of nutrition. As a chocolate-covered sugary snack they are loaded with calories (150 in the 40 bean serving) and no real nutrients.
Unlike most Jelly Belly jelly beans, Jelly Bean Dips do have a little fat (4 grams per serving) and no protein. For those who have to worry about Vegan compliance, these are not Vegan compliant despite not containing gelatin! They have beeswax and, more importantly, milk fat, which eliminates them from consideration for Vegans, though milk-consuming vegetarians ought to be fine with them. The main ingredients are corn syrup, dark chocolate and sugar, so it's not like this is an all-natural food, but they could be far, far worse.
Storage/Clean-up
Jelly Bean Dips jelly beans have a shelf life of over one year and because they come in an individual sealed package, they retain their freshness. Kept in a cool, dry place, the beans retain their flavor perfectly. The package I received on Christmas would have expired in March 2012 had I been able to resist eating them all.
As for cleanup, unless one allows the Jelly Belly to get hot to the point that the chocolate coating on the bean melts, the beans do not bleed or denature, so there is usually no cleanup necessary, not even washing one's hands after eating them (though basic hygiene rules suggest it's a good idea to wash your hands anyway before eating them!). I've never had Strawberry Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Dips stain anything.
Overall
Strawberry Jelly Bean Dips Jelly Bellys are a pretty wonderful addition to the Dips line and I suppose all one could truly want more than these provide is a bit more of the strawberry flavor than they already possess. Even so, these are very easy to recommend.
For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Coconut Jelly Bean Dips
Our Strawberry Blonde
Cherry Passion Fruit Smoothie
7.5/10
For other food reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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