Jelly Beans

[design_mom]

I love jelly beans, even the jelly bird eggs… and the black ones are my favorite. When I was young, a favorite teacher used to give out [single] jelly beans as rewards in class. Jelly beans make me think of her every time.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Jelly beans are a thumbs up for me. We had the cheap ones when I was a kid, and the orange were/are my favorite! I've never really liked the black licorice ones, but my dad loves them, so that always worked out - no orphan beans in the dish.

I've bought the Starburst ones since DS was little, and we all love them. That's the brand I sent in his Easter package at college this year.

I'm picky about Jelly Bellies - some flavors I really like, some I can't stand (Including the popcorn that so many adore). This year, I found a whole package of just the blue raspberry ones, and that's what I got for myself.

 

[Meriweather]

I bought Starburst in the big container this year.......it is half gone and I don't even eat them!!
I'm the one taking the big container of Cadbury mini eggs down

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Jelly Belly's are very good, but I prefer Gimbal's. IMO, they have better flavor.

 

[AppleDumpling]

My favorite brand is Brach’s and I much prefer the traditional spiced variety over the fruity ones. Favorite flavors are black licorice and red cinnamon.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I only like Jelly Belly and Just Born Spiced Jelly Beans. Just Born is the Peeps people

Current packaging:



Old packaging
:

 

[antmaril]

I didn’t buy any jelly beans this year, but if I did, they would be black.

 

[disneychrista]

I can't remember the last time I had jelly beans, it's been years. They are "just okay" in my opinion. Even the better Jelly Belly ones, aren't a go to candy for me.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I really don't like candy except for chocolate, which I like too much. I do like whatever the pink Just Born kind are. I've been infamous for picking through a bowl of jelly beans and fishing them all out.

 

[Sparkly]

Starburst ones are the best. They used to sell them here in the UK as Joosters and they were amazing.

 

[bcla]

bummer. it was an annual field trip for my kids when they were in elementary school. it's also one of my youngest's fondest b-day memories. back then you could book a birthday party that included a decorated private room and private tour. the kids loved the giant dancing jelly bean!

The Belly Flops aren't too bad.

The tours were always different - mixing up different things at the beginning and end. I remember a few visits where there might have been something like samples of uncoated jelly bean centers. They were all covered with cornstarch and were dropped in our hands with tongs. After a while they stopped handing out bagged samples (boxes or bags) at the beginning people were eating them on the tour and apparently leaving a mess. A lot of the free sample bags were holiday bags that were past the holiday, although some of those got sold at discounts.

The best part of the Fairfield factory is their clearance section with large boxes and novelties like T-shirts and other things. I remember getting a phone case for $1 and used it for a couple of years.

They also have a sample bar, but so do their stores. I'm not sure where they have them now other than maybe Nut Tree Outlet in Vacaville. Looked it up, and they still have their store at Nut Tree next to Fenton's. Also the outlet store in Gilroy at the outlet mall there. Those have clearance stuff too.

 

[bethbuchall]

I like certain jelly beans. I like Jelly Belly, but not all of the flavors. I like the Just Born spice ones, though I’m not fond of the clove (yellow). Annoyingly, Just Born puts the black ones (my favorite) in the fruity bag (yuck to most of those fruit flavors), but my husband will eat the fruity ones and leave the black ones for me.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Jelly Belly were the first designer ones I had and are fab but there is a soft place in my heart for the junk kind I had growing up which plainly just taste like, "red, green, yellow," because they didn't really even bother to try to taste like fruit flavors. Now the baskets can be all fancy, when I was a kid I got a clump of cellophane, a few boiled eggs with dyed white bits we'd end up having as deviled eggs and a bunch of junk jelly beans that would stick in the cellophane with a plastic egg search that would contain a nickel - I was content

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I like certain jelly beans. I like Jelly Belly, but not all of the flavors. I like the Just Born spice ones, though I’m not fond of the clove (yellow). Annoyingly, Just Born puts the black ones (my favorite) in the fruity bag (yuck to most of those fruit flavors), but my husband will eat the fruity ones and leave the black ones for me.

Just Born does have a licorice-only bag. It's purple.

 

[bcla]

I just bought a 4 oz bag of the Belly Flops from a dollar store. My kid was actually happy they had licorice in the mix, as they can be somewhat random. The other thing that was different was that the bag was marked as made in Thailand at Jelly Belly's overseas factory. That's primarily production for the Asian market, but I guess they have the rejects for sale in the US. As far as I can tell, they meet the same standards, but the obvious thing is that they use tapioca syrup/starch instead of corn syrup/cornstarch.

https://www.candyindustry.com/articles/85015-the-jelly-belly-wai

They have a factory in Illinois that used to make jelly beans, but they shifted to making private candies exclusively. That factory has been in the company even before they moved to California.

https://www.candyindustry.com/artic...s-will-no-longer-make-jelly-belly-jelly-beans

I do remember in the 80s seeing a local news piece on Goelitz primarily making Jelly Belly at their factory in Oakland, California. There probably wasn't room to expand. What they've got in Fairfield, California is in an industrial area. I don't believe the factory has ever expanded since they moved there, but it's a really big building that was oversized when the moved in.