When I first encountered Jelly Belly jelly beans, I would sort them by color so I would learn which ones were popcorn flavored. They tasted like butter and corn, but also were very sweet, and I didn't find that tasty at all. I wanted to eat the eggnog flavor beans, but I didn't want to eat them in the same mouthful as, say, lime flavor. Since then, the range of flavors that the jelly beans come in has exploded.
Where did all these jelly beans come from? The Goelitz family made candy, but their businesses in the US had their ups and downs. You have to admit that Jelly Belly was a better name for a candy company. They didn't invent jelly beans, but they made them better, with more and better flavors. However, it still took a celebrity fan to make these beans a global hit.
But why do they make them in flavors called earwax, earthworm, barf, and black pepper? Mainly to keep you on your feet, but there's more to it. You can even get jelly beans that act as a dare, because the good flavors and the bad flavors can't be distinguished by color. As for me, I prefer to get mine from a fancy candy store, where you can mix and match only the flavors you want.
I can certainly confirm the whole Reagan thing regarding Jelly Bellies. Those little suckers were everywhere. And yep, sometimes you couldn't start a meeting until the jar was passed around. Never any candy corn though.
ReplyDeleteOne hundred flavors? Wow. Obviously includes the Harry Potter stuff since the 4lb bag I'm currently working through has 49.
I don’t know how many they had back in the 80s, but some might remember the mixed bags all came with recipes. Something like 1 vanilla, 3 coconut, 1 lime, and you've got a margarita. Don't need to that anymore. And I have no problem taking a small handful and chomping away. From experience, that doesn't work with Mr. Potter's line. Gotta tread carefully there.
The mix and match was great, I also sometimes tried the 'cocktail' mix recipes but my favourite was always the buttered popcorn
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