Honey Bean Jelly Belly Jelly Beans - 10 lbs bulk
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
Click to buy directly from Jelly Belly!
The Good: Great realistic flavor, Environmentally responsible bulk, Taste does not fade
The Bad: No real nutritional value
The Basics: Surprisingly perfect, the Honey Bean Jelly Bellys are worth stocking up in the ten pound bulk box!
Last week, on the way home from a trip to Michigan, my wife and I stopped at one of my new favorite places on Earth. That place is, rather ridiculously, a little Jelly Belly jelly bean store in Erie, Pennsylvania. This specialized store seems to be one of the only places I can find brand new Jelly Belly jelly bean flavors, outside online marketplaces. It was there I found the Honey Bean Jelly Bellys I had only previously heard about on the Jelly Belly website. And for those who have wondered whether or not these are worth buying, I can state with full confidence: YES! This is one of the brand new Jelly Belly flavors that represents one of the best opportunities to stock up on for consumers. They are delicious, the taste does not fade and one gets all the benefits of the sweet taste of honey without the annoying stickiness.
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 peanut butter, jalapeno, caramel corn, or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.
Who needs ten pounds of Honey Bean flavored Jelly Bellys? I suppose anyone who would like a big vat of honey, but doesn't want to get their hands sticky would!. Anyone who likes the sweet, pure taste of honey without the nutritional benefits or the risk of bees will go right for the ten pounds of Honey Bean Jelly Bellys. Anyone who might like Honey Bean 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
Honey Bean 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 Honey Bean and they live up to that exceptionally well.
Honey Bean 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 ask, "Have you ever tried to extract ten pounds of honey from a working beehive? Not fun my friend!" (No, I haven't either, but I know it would be hard!). I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.
Honey Bean flavored Jelly Bellys are remarkably easy to recognize and distinguish from other Jelly Bellys, as they are a translucent brownish orange. This easily distinguishes them from the opaque brown of peanut butter and the closest one might have to this flavor is the Chili Mango flavor, though Honey Bean does not have the little red spots of that bean.
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not getting ten pounds of honey away from bees on the fly and making it home without anything sticky on you!. 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, you could put them in a bee hive and eat them out one by one for all I care! Eat them freely from the box if you are so inclined!
Taste
The Honey Bean Jelly Bellys have a fairly strong scent, like honey heated up in the morning sunlight. Anyone who has ever smelled fresh honey will recognize the aroma from these jelly beans the moment they open the box.
And the Honey Bean Jelly Bellys live up perfectly on the taste front. From the first to the last, these taste exactly like Honey and it is easy to imagine that they are actually softer than other Jelly Bellys, making it seem like there might actually be real honey inside! These are sweet without being sugary and have the slight clove-like aftertaste of actual honey, so Jelly Belly got the taste just right!
More than that, the taste of these delicious little beans does not fade. No matter how many of the Honey Bean Jelly Belly jelly beans I have eaten in one sitting, I have never had one that tastes less flavorful. To be fair, though, because these are so sweet, it is hard to eat more than a handful at a time.
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to understand they are based upon a sugary food product, so they're not going to be terribly nutritious! 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! However, as I was recently contacted by the fine folks at Jelly Belly, they have had some concerned Vegans write to them about how the wax in the coating does not make these Vegan compliant. I suppose it depends on just how strict a Vegan your Vegan is, if this matters at all. Generally, they are animal free! Jelly Belly jelly beans 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 isn't even going to last 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 cool 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 (fortunately, these are not sticky like actual honey!). I've never had Honey Bean Jelly Bellys stain anything.
Overall
Jelly Belly created a flavor I thought would be a novelty with their Honey Bean Jelly Belly. I'm already looking through the fifty flavor assortment and trying to bet which will be pulled so this one might make a permanent appearance. The Honey Bean is so good, it deserves to be around in perpetuity. If you're reading fine folks at Jelly Belly, get rid of Tutti-Fruitti (Cotton Candy and Bubble Gum are close enough flavors!) and replace it with Honey Bean. Fans like me will be glad you did!
For other flavors of Jelly Bellys, please check out my reviews of:
Cappuccino
Cold Stone Ice Cream Parlor Assortment
Grape Jelly
10/10
For other food reviews, please visit my index page for an organized listing by clicking here!
© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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