"jellybelly" news and stories

Hershey isn't the only one buying up candymakers this week. Jelly Belly has also bought Los Angles-based Ben Myerson Candy Co., makers of Christopher's Candy and Sunkist fruit gems. Now, when I think of Jelly Belly I think entirely of jelly beans -- though the company says that they make "over 100 different candies including chocolates, gummies, candy corn, taffy, and... jelly beans" I couldn't name another candy brand they produce. (Perhaps a down-side of having a jelly bean for their corporate logo.) This purchase, however, will provide them with some new candy types to think of when the name "Jelly Belly" comes up.

Source

I'm a big Jelly Belly fan, but aside from the usual 49-flavor blend, there aren't that many opportunities to try some of their other flavors. Every once in a while, though, I spot a more unusual bland and snap them up. This week, I saw the "Soda Pop Shoppe" and "Smoothie Blend" mixes.

I was particularly interested in trying the soda ones after reading a review on the Candyblog and they did not disappoint. The flavors included are the A&W Root Beer, Dr. Pepper and Cream Soda from the classic blend and three new flavors, Grape Crush, Orange Crush and 7-Up. All the flavors had a slight zing to them that did remind me of soda, and the three new flavors bear an uncanny resemblance to their namesakes. Orange Crush, in particular, is outstanding.

The Smoothie mix was released earlier this year and contains a number of unconventional flavors including Mandarin Orange Mango, Cherry Passion Fruit, Pineapple Pear, Strawberry Banana and Mixed Berry. The cherry and mixed berry flavors seemed common, much like cherry and grape flavors in other types of candy. Strawberry Banana jumps out as the most easy to recognize flavor and the Pineapple Pear was pleasant, but the Mandarin Orange Mango was my favorite from this batch - vibrant and fruity.

All in all, both mixes were good and worth buying again, although I'll have to replenish my supply of the Soda Pop Shoppe beans, since I have already run out.

With the taste of Jelly Belly's Sport Beans still in my mouth, I've got energy food -- you know, the stuff you eat when you exercise -- on the brain.

As I see it, the problem with energy food is one of extremes: either it tastes like cake icing (energy gels are a good example) or it tastes like something from a '70s-era power-to-the-people co-op (i.e. healthy but gross).

With this spectrum in mind, I took a recent look at the Hammer Bar. Made by Montana's sports supplement powerhouse E-Caps/Hammer Nutrition, the Hammer Bar does a pretty good job of reconciling taste and nutrients.  It's got all the right stuff (it's full of phyto-nutrients and enzymes and essential fatty acids from flax, quinoa, sesame seeds, and almond butter; on top of that, it's non-GMO, vegan, non-dairy kosher, organic, and it may just own an Ani Difranco album). And the chocolate chip bar I tried -- made with real Belgian chocolate -- tasted good. Mind you, it didn't taste Butterfinger good, nor Snickers good, nor even Baby Ruth good. But it tasted good.

My next problem? Finding energy. That may prove even harder than finding decent energy food.

New from Jelly Belly -- the company that got Ronald Reagan through all those cabinet meetings during the Iran-Contra affair -- is the sweet tooth's answer to Gatorade: Sport Beans.

The company has been sponsoring a professional bike racing team for the last few years, and working with those athletes, Jelly Belly has developed a jelly bean that's certifiably good for you. It's fortified with electrolytes, carbohydrates and Vitamins B and C.

The idea, apparently, is to provide athletes an alternative to the nutrition products that bike racers and other endurance types use: sports drinks, like Gatorade, which are sticky; and energy gels, like Gu, which seem just plain gross.

A cool idea, to be sure. But when is somebody going to make an athletic version of Snickers? 

With all the coverage we've been giving Peeps – good, bad and otherwise – it was quite refreshing to find a snarky critique/history of jellybeans on the Web. The author makes short work of the jellybeans of yesteryear deriding them as glucose-laden and cloying. Agreed, but I have fond childhood memories of the black and white varieties.

While he cheers Jelly Belly for developing treats that use natural fruit  flavors, he is a purist at heart.  Hence a distaste for such great flavors as buttered popcorn. He gives no clue to his opinion of jalapeño, one of my favorites. In a brilliant sendup of flavor formulae (one blueberry two buttered popcorn=blueberry muffin) peach, cappucino, buttered popcorn, kiwi, French vanilla and top banana combined are depicted as tasting like an oil spill.

Yes, there is a jellybean that this fellow actually likes: Starburst. I didn't even know they existed, but his foodgasmic praise has got me curious.

[photo: candyblog]

Source