I have always known that Jelly Belly manufactures more than their trademark jelly bean; however, my knowledge of the rest of their product line is rather limited. I attribute this fact mostly to price issues.

As anyone who sees Jelly Belly products already knows, they are considered to be a gourmet line of candy widely accessible to the public. And while their candy won’t hurt your wallet as much as designer chocolate would, you’ll still be required to lay out a few more dollars for a product you could easily find cheaper, but most likely at a lesser quality.

One such product is their gummy raspberries and blackberries. These confections have arcane origins that originate in Europe, and the most association I have ever had with them was that a former boss of mine loved to consume the Haribo version.

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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. 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.

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Have you always dreamed of running your own candy company, making all the decisions, guiding the fate of flavors? Well, you still can’t do all that, but you can have a say in the choice of the newest Jelly Belly Jellybean flavor.

Out of over 200,000 flavor suggestions, five have been chosen to vie for public opinion and the chance to make it big as an official Jelly Belly flavor. The five choices are Sublime Chili Lime, Honey, Thai Iced Tea, Mojito, and Acai Berry. You can vote once per day through August 31, so if you see something you’d really like to try, get out there and vote!

A little while ago we came up with some new flavors of our own - check out Candy Addict’s Girly Beans! Somehow none of them managed to make it into the final five… oh well, maybe next time!

For the record, my choice is honey, but I think Acai berry could be interesting as well. Let us know your pick in the comments below!

• Jelly Belly Dream Bean Contest
• Jelly Belly Dream Bean Contest News Article
• Jelly Belly New Flavor Contest Press Release

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(picture courtesy of niftycandy.com)

In 1976, “Candyman” David Klein came up with the idea of a gourmet jelly bean that featured a then-unique fruit flavored jelly interior. He approached the Goelitz Candy Company and together they created one of the finest manifestations of sugar in the history of the universe, Jelly Belly jellybeans. Considering that Jelly Bellys have figured prominently in my young Addict life (in my youth, they brightened many a dreary Cleveland Sunday and they literally accompanied me to every single one of my Intro to Philosophy classes in college), I was thrilled (and a little star struck) when recently granted the opportunity to ask 10 (or so) questions of their creator.

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(idea blatantly stolen from Manoverse’s Manly Beans)
How could we not? Thanks to a little help from the Candy Addict staff, we are now able to offer the women of the world equal opportunity indulging. Because we’re more sensitive, some of our flavors might be a little more abstract than their manly jelly bean counterparts but, hey, that’s what works for us.

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Superman. Superglue. Supersize. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. When you throw the word “super” onto the front end of an otherwise unassuming word you’re really setting a high standard for whatever follows. It goes without saying that had better be an exceptional male, unparalleled adhesive, mammoth girth, and phenomenal califragilisticexpiali – well, you get my drift. So, understandably, I had some pretty high expectations for the descriptively named Emily’s Super Sour No Belly Sugar Free Jelly Beans.

Now, I’m not an insanely crazy sour fanatic. I’m more of a middle-of-the-road sour fan. I like red and orange Sour Patch Kids, for example, but not really green, and definitely not yellow. So when my sour-dusted shipment of No Belly Jelly Beans arrived directly from Can You Imagine That! Confections/The Sandy Candy Factory I was fearful that these self-proclaimed Super Sours might even be too much for my tender palate. I was mightily surprised then, when I opened the bag and was not greeted by an overwhelming sour aroma. Not even a hint of that citric Sour Patch scent that induces uncontrollable face-puckering and Pavlovian salivating.

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Bertie Bott and Beanboozled have nothing on these beans.

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Is there anything sweeter in this universe to look at than George Clooney’s beautiful mug? (Ladies, am I right?) Well there is one thing, it turns out, thanks to the Jelly Belly Candy Company. The gourmet jelly bean manufacturer commissioned artist Roger Rocha to create a mosaic likeness of the Academy Award winning actor using 10,000 of their tasty little beans. And the two-time “Sexiest Man Alive” has never looked so delicious, featuring Cotton Candy cheeks, Buttered Popcorn highlights, Cantaloupe laugh lines, and Coconut teeth. Really gives unprecedented meaning to the notion of “eye candy,” huh?

The artwork - and generous gift to female Candy Addicts the world over - was on display at Jelly Belly’s gifting suite at the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills for the duration of Oscar week, where it was to remain until its donation to a charity of Clooney’s choosing. On an unrelated side note, all of my paperwork for nonprofit status has been filed.

A little research quickly revealed that Jelly Belly has a history of bean portraiture, much of which is displayed in their online gallery. From “Famous People” and “Icons & Other Cool Stuff” to “American Historical and Political Figures,” there’s a little something for everyone here, but none make me salivate in quite the same way as the former TV doctor.

• Jelly Belly Museum of Bean Art

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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?

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… especially if you’re a fan of candy canes!

Each passing year seems to bring more and more variety to the candy cane aisle, and 2007 is no exception. This year’s crop of canes covers every flavor from watermelon to popcorn, and with so many choices, it’s hard to pick just one box.

Fortunately, I write about candy, so this wasn’t a problem for me. I walked in to my local drugstore, picked up seven boxes, and merrily went along my way. So now, after a week of eating more candy canes than I care to admit, I’m finally ready to bring you my Candy Cane Roundup of 2007!

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