W hether you're a kid or a kid at heart—the bright colors, chewy texture, and fruity flavors of jelly beans are sure to bring a smile to your face. They're also the perfect Easter treat: If you have to fill plastic eggs, bulk up a basket, or set out a sweet snack, jelly beans perfectly fit the bill.
But not all beans are created equal. A great jelly bean has a firm but yielding texture, a prominent but not overpowering sweetness, and a pronounced fruitiness. We tasted our way through 13 brands of jelly beans to find the very best for your Easter baskets.
Pros: A stunning variety of cheerful, vibrant colors is what caught the judges' eyes, but the chewy texture and easily identifiable flavors sealed the deal. Cons: The only criticism of these beans was that they're a bit on the small side. That means you'd need to eat 1, of these Cappuccino jelly beans in order to get the equivalent jolt of caffeine as one large cappuccino.
It's safe to say eating that many jelly beans in one sitting would be a poor idea with undesirable results. Stick with traditional coffee. While Jelly Belly and their staff of food scientists are responsible for some amazing flavors that oftentimes taste like exact replicas, their Cotton Candy flavor was a swing and a miss. There is nothing about this jelly bean that tastes like cotton candy. Sure, it's really, really sweet and is basically pure sugar — but that's where the comparisons end. If you pop one of these beans in your mouth, you will be disappointed that all you will taste is an overwhelming amount of sweetness and none of the goodness that makes real cotton candy an airy and pleasant snack.
Strangely, Jelly Belly's Bubble Gum flavored jelly beans actually taste more like cotton candy. They are also pink just like the Cotton Candy flavor albeit a slightly lighter shade of pink , which adds to the confusion. If you're desperate for jelly beans that taste like cotton candy, go ahead and purchase the Bubble Gum flavor and skip the Cotton Candy flavor. Neither you nor your taste buds will ever know the difference. Of all the flavors Jelly Belly has to offer, Chocolate Pudding is the biggest tease.
When you first taste it, you will be excited. It truly tastes exactly like chocolate pudding for the first few seconds it's in your mouth. Tragically, it all falls apart before reaching the finish line. The aftertaste is much too neutral and it loses all the amazing chocolatiness by the time it's going down your throat.
Not only does the chocolate taste dissipate, you soon realize that the texture that makes chocolate pudding fun to eat is nowhere to be found in your mouth. Instead of rich, creamy goodness, you'll be left with gooey, tasteless mush. To Jelly Belly's credit, they do use real chocolate in these beans in the form of cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate liquor.
That true chocolate taste will tease you but will ultimately leave you yearning for some Jell-O chocolate pudding. With their Caramel Corn flavor, Jelly Belly is attempting to replicate the commercial success of their Buttered Popcorn flavor — but the results are underwhelming. Instead of adding a new flavor option to the mix, Caramel Corn tastes like a knockoff.
If you've tasted Buttered Popcorn, this flavor tastes the same except it has even more sweetness. And, unfortunately, the sweetness doesn't have a caramel flavor at all. Calling it Sweeter Buttered Popcorn would have been more honest. Visually, it's also difficult to figure out whether a bean is Caramel Corn or Buttered Popcorn.
The Caramel Corn variety is slightly darker but both flavors are multicolored and rely on colors ranging from off-white to orange. Even if you enjoy Jelly Belly's Buttered Popcorn flavor, don't make the mistake of thinking Caramel Corn will be an upgrade. The sweetness is too overpowering and makes this flavor tedious to eat after a while.
After munching on a bunch of these jelly beans, a sense of regret is guaranteed to set in. The Top Banana flavor sounds like it'd be yummy. It's made from genuine banana puree and the jelly beans look exactly like small pieces of bananas. These Jelly Belly beans are bound to be another hit, right? Two things make Top Banana an epic fail. First of all, these jelly beans taste like brown, overripe bananas and nothing like a delicious banana that has just finished changing from green to yellow.
Prep Time 10 minutes. Cook Time 50 minutes. Resting Time 6 hours. Total Time 1 hour. Servings jelly beans. Calories 12 kcal. Author Stefani. I used an actual margarita for mine. Oh no! US Customary - Metric. Bring to a boil, stirring regularly to ensure that no clumps of gelatin form. As soon as the temperature reaches F, take the pot off the burner - the syrup should still be quite liquidy. This should not take more than 25 minutes. If your syrup gets any hotter than F, it will make your jelly beans too hard.
Set the pot in a bowl of ice to stop the temperature from rising. Spray the jelly bean molds with non-stick spray and pour the syrup into the molds. I found that it was better to overfill the molds than to underfill them. The beans that I underfilled a little bit were harder to remove from the molds. Let the jelly beans sit for four to six hours, or until the gelatin has hardened.
It will still be gummy and sticky. Pop the jelly beans out of the molds and transfer them to parchment paper. This part is a little bit tricky. I used a small spoon to dig them out. The great thing is that the beans are very forgiving. Lightly dust the beans with cornstarch to help them dry. Let them sit for another few hours. Pour the mixture into a jar along with the jelly beans. Seal the jar tightly. Tilt the jar at an angle like a slide and turn it in your hand as you would a doorknob , preserving the angle.
This step is extremely important. If the candy is not well-coated, it will not have a hard outer shell. Tumble for minutes. This, my friends, is the workout portion of your candy making experience. Fish the coated beans out of the liquid and place them on fresh parchment to dry and harden overnight. Once the top side is hard, flip each bean and allow the other side to dry. Have you tried this recipe? Click here to leave a comment and rating!
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Who invented jelly beans? What are they made of? What comes in a nearly endless supply of flavors and colors, contains about 4 calories, has two days named after it, and has been an important part of Easter baskets, holiday gifts and other events for decades? Jelly beans are made primarily of sugar and corn syrup, thickened with cornstarch. No one really knows when jelly beans were invented, but the idea has its origin in Turkish Delight. Also known as lokum loh-KOOM , this Middle Eastern jelly candy covered in powdered sugar or cornstarch has been around since biblical times.
Over time, jelly beans would become more popular than their predecessors…but not until , when Boston confectioner William Schrafft urged people to send his jelly beans to soldiers in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
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