My family members are all big fans of Jelly Belly jellybeans. (Well, the 1-year-old we’re not sure about. But I have a feeling…) And thanks to my older son – who could eat the multi-colored beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner – we’ve become near-daily consumers of Jelly Belly’s sour variety of beans.
As a matter of fact, we’ve even toured the Jelly Belly factory in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. Of course, “tour” might be a strong word. What we actually did was ride through a warehouse in a golf cart while wearing goofy paper Jelly Belly hats, kept safely far, far away from any actual manufacturing of the beans. But there was a bonus to the tour: At the end, we were allowed to sample all of the Jelly Belly company’s delicious flavors, one bean at a time. I prefer to eat them by the handful myself, but I will do almost anything for free candy.
So I am always happy to snarf down a new Jelly Belly product. And that’s how I ended up testing out a series of Jelly Belly Lollipops, known on the Jelly Belly Web site, though not on their packaging, as Lollibeans.
These look like a very large jelly bean impaled by a stick. About the size of a skewered Beenie Weenie, this is a rather odd shape for a sucker. The pop is 1.75 inches across and almost 1 inch thick. Yes, it is rather awkward to suck on. In fact, it’s almost impossible to civilly enjoy this treat without making a series of loud slurping and giant sucking sounds. Think of all the money being sucked out of your 401(k) account right now. Eating a Lollibean sounds about like that. Perhaps if they turned the sucker the other way around so you could enjoy it corn-dog style, it would be easier to eat.
For my review, I chose four flavors:
Cotton Candy: This one ended up tasting very similar to the corresponding Jelly Belly bean
cotton candy flavor. I’d rank it as nice, and not too sweet.
Lemon: Surprisingly, given my general blah reaction to all things lemon, this ended up being my favorite Lollibean flavor. It boasted a rich (artificial) lemon flavor reminding me of lemon meringue pie.
Grape: This one was not quite as good. It tasted a bit like grape Kool-Aid.
Bubble Gum: Bubble Gum is not my favorite flavor, even in bean form. So, to little surprise, I did not much enjoy the extremely gummy taste of this pop.
Lollibeans also come in Watermelon, Strawberry Cheesecake, Tangerine, Root Beer, Very Cherry and Sizzling Cinnamon flavors.
I hate to say it, because I am such a Jelly Belly fan, but I can only give the Lollibeans a rating of slightly above average. I’m sure that the 10 flavors the Jelly Belly folks chose are the company’s most popular. But what I wouldn’t give for a Toasted Marshmallow, Blueberry or Sour Apple Lollibean. Even Popcorn or Earwax would spice things up.
Mundane flavors, along with the pops’ unwieldy shape, add up to a rather ho-hum lolly. I found it impossible to finish even one Lollibean before I had the uncontrollable urge to brush my teeth. To me Jelly Belly’s jelly beans just have more pizzaz: They’re chewy, flavorful and, of course, aren’t so darn hard to fit in your mouth.
Buy Lollibeans Online:
- at Amazon.com
still, they look soooooooooo good!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:50 pm