Candy Review: Jelly Belly’s BeanBoozled

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - by Sera

Eating is a very complicated pastime when you think about it. Depending on the situation it can be a very social thing: you could easily be sharing a dinner with friends, out for an afternoon coffee break with co-workers or hosting a potluck party with family. While it’s easy to make daily meals more social, I find that when we treat ourselves with chocolate or candy, it usually tends to be a very solitary activity. There’s lots of reasons for this; maybe your friends or special someone don’t love chocolate like you do, perhaps you don’t want anyone to see you secretly indulge your sweet tooth, or hey, maybe you’re like me and don’t want anyone to notice so you’d have to share. Regardless of the reason, candy consumption can be pretty lonely, and usually in a good way. This is why, when Jelly Belly released its new box of BeanBoozled jelly beans, I was excited to give them a try.

How does eating these BeanBoozled beans relate to social activity you ask? Well, when you look at it, BeanBoozled is more of a game than anything else really, because in essence it’s an edible version of Russian Roulette. Picture this: in the box there are 10 different colored beans with 20 different flavors. The flavor can be a tasty one like buttered popcorn, plum, juicy pear or cafe latte. On the other hand, the flavor could be not so enticing: vomit, skunk spray, pencil shavings or baby wipes (just to name a few). See where this is heading?

So this past Easter Sunday I sat my family down for a game of some BeanBoozled taste testing. I know, the things I put my family through all in the name of candy.

I have to admit, right away, this was a nice change of pace. Instead of all of us sitting on the couch, zoning out to a movie and munching away at our baskets of treats, we instead gathered at the dinner table as I poured out the BeanBoozled beans into a dish in front of us. Here’s a full listing of the flavors:

• Black: Licorice or Skunk Spray
• Yellow with Brown Spots: Top Banana or Pencil Shavings
• White with Yellow Spots: Buttered Popcorn or Rotten Egg
• Blue: Berry Blue or Toothpaste
• White/Light Beige: Cafe Latte or Ear Wax
• Orange with Red Spots: Peach or Vomit
• Green with Green Spots: Juicy Pear and Boogers
• Light Yellow with Brown Spots: Caramel Corn or Moldy Cheese
• White: Coconut or Baby Wipes
• Blue with White Spots: Plum or Black Pepper.

We began our game by choosing a starter, then working clockwise from there. The first person would pick out two beans of the same color and decide on a person to “feed” them to. The rules? You have to eat both, and separately. No being fed twice in a row since that’s just cruel.

The game itself was hilarious and tremendously fun: the different reactions of horror, relief, delight and confusion on my family’s faces as they tasted the jelly beans were great. Here’s what I noted of the “gross” flavors I was fed:

Skunk Spray: I got dished a fair amount of these since only my Dad and I like black licorice (getting two “gross” flavors was a no no). These did taste a little skunky, but I got more of a burnt plastic flavor from them. I was able to eat them no problem, though.

Rotten Egg: I’d say 75% of the beans I ate ended up being this flavor. I didn’t like it at all, yet I still managed to swallow them. They did taste eggy; it was mainly a sweet sulfur-like taste and it was followed by a fuzzy, vegetable, moldy flavor. Yeah, it was gross.

Toothpaste: Bright, fresh and minty like toothpaste. I’d eat this one normally (heck, I already do in spice beans)!

Black Pepper: Sharp, burning, peppery taste with floral accents to it. I also liked this one.

Pencil Shavings: Oddly enough, these did have a woody essence to them, with notes of plastic and rubber. I’d say it wasn’t horrible, yet it wasn’t tasty either. Just interesting.

Baby Wipes: (from Brian) Wow – these taste just like baby wipes smell. You can’t truly appreciate these unless you have had kids. Brings back many unpleasant diaper memories.

I didn’t taste some of the other flavors, but they were already covered when we reviewed the gross flavors in the Bertie Bott’s Jelly Bean mix. (I’m looking at you, Vomit). I could have taken photos of my family’s scrunched up faces to give you an idea, but that’s just mean, am I right?

Despite the fact that I ate more Rotten Egg flavored beans than I cared for, this was really really fun! I didn’t expect it not to be, since eating candy and being with your friends and family always equates to good times. I recommend picking up a box of these for an interesting night of torture, er, fun. Oh, and be sure to share your thoughts on the flavors here when you do!

• Review of the gross Bertie Bott’s jellybean flavors
• Review of sausage and pickle flavored jellybeans
• Review of Ant Bully Sweet Rocks jellybeans
• Jelly Belly’s BeanBoozled Website

Buy BeanBoozled Online:

• via Stupid.com