Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips

First of all, I feel the need to apologize to the nice people at Jelly Belly. They actually sent this box out to me just prior to Christmas, and due to snowballing events (a good majority of which included the six inches of snow that pretty much shut down Atlanta), I have not actually gotten around to doing the review until now...and really I hate being so tardy. Mea culpa.

I actually was really excited to try these beans after reading Candy Blog's review in early December, when Cybele got her hands on a box.

I have long loved Jelly Belly's beans, and oddly enough, as much as I dislike coconut, that is my favorite flavor jelly bean. I was sent the five flavor gift box. The official Jelly Belly website also offers a rather impressive selection of ways to get the dipped beans besides the gift boxes. Inside the box, in little bean-shaped wells, the dipped beans sit clearly marked so you don't have to guess which kind you're getting. The five flavors are Very Cherry, Orange, Raspberry, Coconut, and Strawberry. And since that's the way they're placed in the box, I am going to review them in that order.



As far as the chocolate coating goes, each bean is completely enrobed in a layer of glossy chocolate. But as Cybele points out in her review, the size of the bean is identical to its non-dipped siblings. This is because the chocolate replaces the normal sugary shell that would cover the bean's center. Knowing that kind of disappointed me prior to tasting, because I am one of those people who like the slightly crunchy texture that you get biting into a normal jelly bean. But hey, we have chocolate! So maybe I shouldn't be preemptively whining.



The chocolate is simply identified as Dark Chocolate, but I could not tell you the cocoa percentage. When you open the box, the aroma is vaguely chocolatey and sort of fruity. The beans, of course, are sealed by the chocolate; so I was not expecting a strong fruit smell.



Very Cherry:

This was the flavor I was least looking forward to. I am not a fan of cherry candy as a rule, but I was glad it was first, because I figured it would be all uphill from here.

The chocolate is a thin layer that dissolves quickly (if you're the kind who lets your beans melt in your mouth rather than chewing it). It tastes OK. It's not the best chocolate, but it certainly is not the worst. It is a very mild dark -- enough that in the case of the cherry, it provided some nice contrast to the sweetness of the bean. I have to say my fears about the texture were wasted. I really liked how it was basically a nice soft jelly. It reminded me of the chocolate covered jelly sticks I like.

The cherry itself is strong. They have always reminded me exactly of a Luden's cough drop. It will never be my favorite flavor but I give it points for not having a bitter aftertaste.


Orange:

Orange and dark chocolate are always a winning combination and this bean is no exception. It's a nice zesty orange. I really liked the fact that Jelly Belly didn't hold back on the flavor; this is a seriously strong orange. I think the chocolate helped sweeten it up a little, and that may help those of you who prefer your orange a little tame. I like the boldness and think this is one of the best orange-chocolate combos ever.


Raspberry:

Like the orange, this is pretty much a classic chocolate and jelly flavor combination. The raspberry has a very floral quality to it. It reminded me of a raspberry liqueur (like Chambord). I really liked the fact that it was a very grown-up, realistic raspberry flavor instead of something artificial. Again, I think for a time tested chocolate/jelly candy it is on par with the best of the best.



Strawberry:

Ok, I admit it: I was not really looking forward to this one. I love fresh strawberries, but strawberry-flavored items tend to have a nasty aftertaste for me. And unfortunately, this was no exception. Which was a bummer, because after the orange and raspberry beans being so outstanding, I'd gotten my hopes up. Sadly, this bean is just too darn sweet. It skirts the line between tasting like the actual berry, and every cheap strawberry flavored gum on the planet. I think I actually liked the Very Cherry more. And that, my friends, is saying something.

Finally, I saved the one I was most looking forward to for last. (OK, so I just messed up the order in which they're packaged. Shoot me, why doncha?) And that one would be...


Coconut:

Blame it on a young love of piña colada flavored items and the smell of certain sunscreens. Once again, while I hate actual coconut, the coconut bean has always been my favorite of the Jelly Bellys. I know that makes pretty much no sense, but that's the way it is. (OK, that and toasted marshmallow ones -- how great would that be chocolate coated?) I like the slight vanilla edge it has and the sweet tropical flavor. Incidentally, I have already announced I will not be sharing the remainder of these beans, so don't even ask -- y'all know who y'all are!


As a whole, I really liked the Chocolate Dips. I hope they expand the line to more flavors -- I am nominating the marshmallow and popcorn beans.

Since this is a gift box, I am going to give it an overall rating rather than rating the individual beans -- but remember that each bean is also available on its own. If I had rated them individually, I can tell you that the Orange, Raspberry, and Coconut would each be solid, orgasmic 11's...but the Very Cherry and the Strawberry dragged the average down. It's still a very nice gift box, though.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

PRICE:
My box was a manufacturer's sample. It sells for $5.99 on the Jelly Belly website.

CALORIES:
150 calories per 40 beans.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Box doesn't give any allergen information.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
jellybelly.com

Sweet's Candy: Cabernet Dark Chocolate Wine Gels

I love gel/jelly candy. There is something about the texture that always seems to rock my world...sort of like an edible Hugh Jackman, rising glistening from pristine blue water. (Sorry, Gigi just really likes the image.) I also really like Cabernet, but for various uninteresting health reasons I don't get to drink as much of it as I might like to. The idea of getting the flavor of the wine without the aftereffects really appealed to me.

These candies are long sticks of Cabernet wine flavored gels, enrobed in dark chocolate. The domed box opens from its side, and reveals the sticks ensconced on a protective bed inside a decorative plastic bag.



Each stick is thin and about 2.5 inches long. The sticks are a dark, rich brown and smell sort of like weak wine and chocolate. The candy is in fact made with wine. However, there is no actual alcohol in the sticks.

When you bit into the candy, it is very soft and a little sticky. It's incredibly smooth. The chocolate layer is thin and quickly flakes away when bitten into.



Honestly, I am glad the chocolate is so thin -- because while it's not bad, it's also not great. It's waxy and kind of grainy. It seems too sweet for a dark chocolate. It actually reminded me more of the type of chocolate coating you'd find on ice cream bars rather than a good dark chocolate. (There also a milk chocolate version as well. I had planned on picking that one up too, but by the time I got this box the milk chocolate boxes were gone.)



Really, this candy is all about the gel center. The gel is a shade of stained glass red -- and set against the darkness of the chocolate, it does make for a pretty candy. And woohoo! The gel in fact does taste like Cabernet!

OK, you wine snobs out there probably won't be impressed. No, it's not the most high end cab out there, but it's not the worst either. And we shouldn't expect it to the finest. After all, it's just candy, not a cherished, dust covered vintage from a French wine cave. It's sweet, but there is no mistaking it was meant to taste like deep red wine.

In my never ending quest to be as thorough as possible I discovered that there is however, a very real, very interesting aftertaste. Once the chocolate flavor wanes and the wine flavors back down the jelly that's left (this is assuming you are simply letting the candy melt in your mouth rather then chewing) tastes remarkably like sugared beets! Granted this flavor come up long after most people would have just swallowed and been done with it, so it is not something you will probably notice just casually eating the sticks. I don't know if the taste is caused by the wearing off of the wine flavoring or if perhaps the candy is made with Beet sugar or maybe it's just a subtle tribute to Dwight Shrute. In any event if you wait long enough it's there.

So-so chocolate aside I really liked these gels. It's a nice to have a gel option that isn't merely fruit flavored. The texture was addicting and it made me think about Dwight Shrute so how good that be anything other then good?

Cybele recently reviewed the Dark Chocolate Port wine version. Be sure to read her review HERE


PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

PRICE:
$2.99

CALORIES:
160 calories per 5 sticks

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Made on equipment shared with nuts. Kosher, gluten free, contains sulfites.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
sweetcandy.com

Jelly Belly Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Parlor Mix

I don't review jelly beans often, because I don't eat jelly beans as a rule. But even though I am not a huge jelly bean fan, I do like Jelly Belly's flavors and I thought the Cold Stone mix would be pretty good.



The five flavors in the mix are:
* Chocolate Devotion
* Our Strawberry Blond
* Birthday Cake Remix
* Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip
* Apple Pie a la Cold Stone

I won't lie to you -- opening the bag did NOT smell good. It was as if a Yankee Candle store had exploded like a modern-day Alderon, leaving little jelly-filled, artificially flavored meteorites behind.

So how did the jelly beans taste? Read and weep...



Chocolate Devotion: The package blurb describes it as "chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, brownie and fudge." In real life, it is more like the bastard child of a tube of chocolate Bonne Bell LipSmacker and a Cocoa Puff. The first flavor is an overwhelming strong, waxy cocoaesque flavor. Chocolate ice cream, chips, brownies or fudge, it certainly is not. I couldn't get past eating two.



Our Strawberry Blonde: "Strawberry ice cream, graham cracker pie crust, strawberries, caramel and whipped topping." It's funny that this was the flavor I thought I would like the least, and I liked it the most. The first flavor reminded me most of generic "pink" sulfa medication. Fortunately, that flavor quickly fades once you are through the crusty panned sugar top. After that, as far I am concerned, the flavor was exactly like cling peaches in heavy syrup. I didn't get strawberry, graham cracker, caramel or whipped topping at all. It fails as a strawberry flavor, but it's great for peach.



Birthday Cake Remix: "Cake Batter ice cream, rainbow sprinkles, brownie and fudge." I am not even going to try to nice this up. The only good part was when it was over. It's like eating a candle, and a cheap one at that. Actually, no, it's not even that good -- this stuff tastes exactly the way Johnson's Baby Powder smells. Birthday Cake Remix is my favorite Cold Stone ice cream flavor, and it's been massacred.



Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip: "Mint ice cream, chocolate chips, brownies and fudge." Sorry, no. Cheap mint mouthwash meets envelope paste meets LipSmacker meets chocolate Slim Fast is more like it. 'Nuff said.



Apple Pie a la Cold Stone: "French vanilla ice cream, cinnamon, graham cracker crust, apple pie filling and caramel." This reminded me exactly of apple oatmeal. It's got that fake dried apple flavor, but it's so fake it's actually good. The cinnamon comes through and even the caramel is there (just a little tiny bit).

Where did these go so wrong? Jelly Belly flavors are, as a rule, pretty close to whatever they are trying to taste like, and these beans just weren't. Next time I want Cold Stone, I am just going to get the ice cream. And if I want the beans I will stick to the Toasted Marshmallow that I love.


PURCHASED FROM:
CVS

Giant Chew Nerds-And A Cool Contest From Wonka!

Nerds are one of those candies that remind me of my childhood.
My brother and I LOVED them. Strawberry was both of our favorite and there was sometimes tense negations that went into who got the strawberry side of the box.

As an adult I can't remember the last time I had a box of Nerds. When I got the email from the nice PR people at Wonka I jumped at the chance to try the Giant Chewy Nerds.

Giant Chewy Nerds are jelly beans that have a bumpy Nerds shell. They come in 5 flavors:

Lemon.
The lemon is tart but not as sour as say a Lemonhead. I liked how the sour of the shell and the sweet center of the bean went together. It was a nice contrast.

Orange.
The Nerd shell reminded me of old school Orange Tic-Tacs and powdered orange drink.

Grape.
This reminded me exactly for grape soda. I don't drink grape soda all that often but this had me craving a can.

Green Apple.
Strawberry may be my childhood favorite but it has some competition from the green apple. Oh, it's a completely artificial green apple but that's what liked about it.

Strawberry.
Still the one I love the most! sour, sweet and perfect.

The jelly beans themselves don't have much of a flavor beyond "sweet" but I think that's a good thing because it let's all the focus be on the Nerd coating. I liked this new twist on an old favorite- so much that I have actually finished two bags worth!

Remember I also said that there was a contest. Well Wonka is doing is a contest for kids involving Raven-Symone (us old folk probably remember her best as Olivia from the Cosby Show)
Here's some more info from Wonka!

The Willy Wonka Candy Factory (July 21, 2008) – Emerging from his iconic candy factory today, confectioner extraordinaire Willy Wonka called on candy lovers from coast-to-coast to help his Oompa Loompas overcome a most-amusing situation – their complete loss for lyrics to sing about Wonka’s newest creation, Giant Chewy NERDS® candy.

“My normally melodious assistants have a candy chorus confusion,” he mused. “They tasted my new Giant Chewy NERDS, with their bumpy, crunchy NERDS shell and chewy, jelly bean center, and their tongues are tied. They’re singing complete gobbledygook!”

In order to help the Oompa Loompas regain their rhymes, Willy Wonka has launched a nationwide search for a new song to describe Giant Chewy NERDS. Now through September 21, 2008, tweens and teens can visit WONKA.com to submit a video of themselves singing their original lyrics about bumpy, crunchy, tantalizingly tangy new Giant Chewy NERDS. Music and images are provided on WONKA.com to help get the creative juices flowing. Aspiring lyricists can also submit an entry at the Wonkalicious Lounge events, which will be taking place at malls across the country this summer.

The lucky winner of the Loss for Lyrics video contest will be flown to Los Angeles to professionally record his or her song with the assistance of recording artist and actress, Raven-Symoné. One of Hollywood’s most talented young stars, Raven-Symoné is best known for her Emmy nominated comedy series, Disney Channel’s “That’s So Raven.” She was last seen on the big screen starring in Disney’s “College Road Trip” opposite Martin Lawrence and was an executive producer on the film. She starred on four Disney Channel Original movies and won a Young Artist Award for her performance as ‘Olivia’ on “The Cosby Show”. She recently completed her fourth solo album entitled “Raven-Symoné” and will go on tour this July. Willy Wonka has posted complete contest details on his web site, www.wonka.com .

In addition to creating a video, consumers can view all submissions and rate their favorites. Consumers who rate a video will be entered into a sweepstakes to win weekly WONKA prizes including Giant Chewy NERDS candy, a t-shirt and a plush toy; one grand prize sweepstakes winner will be selected to win a year’s supply of Wonka candy.

Many will enter, few will win. No purchase necessary for contest or sweepstakes. Contest ends 11:59 p.m., ET, 9/21/08. Rating sweepstakes runs 7/21/08 through 9/28/08. Open to residents of the 50 US & DC, between 8-18 years of age for Contest and under 18 years of age for Rating Sweepstakes. Void where prohibited. Subject to entry details, prize description, and full rules at wonka.com

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company