I like candy: JBZ

I like candy: JBZ

Some guys like trashy women; others dig B-movies. Me, I like cheap candy (and the other two as well, but that's for another post).

My parents never said no to my eating all the candy I wanted, so I can't rack up my current fixation on dime store sweets to early deprivation that I'm now making up for. It's not uncommon for me to have a little bag of Chuckles, Dots, Good n' Plenty and other traditional favorites close at hand. This is not great candy; it is, however, classic candy.

I now roam candy stores looking for sweets primarily because I find that when I keep candy in my office, it's more likely my kids will walk up several flights of stairs to see me now and again -- plus, I like candy.

Any how, it was during one of these recons that I found Jelly Belly's new JBZ, which is cheap milk chocolate in a thin shell flavored with traditional Jelly Belly flavas like Juicy Pear, Toasted Marshmallow and Buttered Popcorn.

Though analogous to M&Ms, which I also like a lot, each JBZ has a very distinctive flavor, and so should be eaten one-at-a-time (unlike M&Ms, which all taste pretty much the same, and so can be eaten by the fistful with no real loss of enjoyment). I enjoy savoring each colorful pillow, trying to suss out how white-coated candy technicians were able to synthesize tastes like Honey Graham Cracker and Cappuccino, neither of which, I wouldn't imagine, contain any cracker or coffee substances.

Though a little more expensive than most of the penny sugar wads I ram in my pie hole, JBZ are some of the best off-the-rack candies I've encountered in a long time.

http://www.jellybelly.com

Hammond,

Jelly Belly has recipes where if you eat a combination of certain flavored Jelly Belly's you have the taste as if you ate a cherry cheesecake, for example. Their website doesn't carry the full range of recipes I have seen: new recipes and classic recipes.

Sometimes these lists of recipes are available where you buy Jelly Bellys. Their plant in North Chicago according to a longtime resident used to be the location for making Indian Korn Kandy.

Ever visited the Jelly Belly in Pleasant Prarie,Wisconsin?We passed by last week on the way back from Kenosha and had planned to stop in sometime.

I picked up the JBZ's last xmas at Home Economist (to tie in with another thread). I liked them a lot, because of the nice deep chocolate flavor, but some of their coating flavors work, and some don't.

Strawberry cheesecake was my favorite, but coconut tasted a little artificial, cherry was pretty good, mint was great, orange outstanding. Some of the others I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole: hot buttered popcorn? Cinnamon? Just not for me.

JoelF,

Yes, "hot buttered popcorn" is a strange candy flavor -- even more strangely, Mike and Ike has just come out with exactly the same flavor.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:JoelF,

Yes, "hot buttered popcorn" is a strange candy flavor -- even more strangely, Mike and Ike has just come out with exactly the same flavor.

Hammond

The thing is, I remember reading somewhere that the Buttered Popcorn flavor is the *most popular* jelly belly flavor there is.

Jelly Belly Factory Tour

There are forty permanent flavors of Jelly Belly. Buttered Popcorn is the most popular, while not often acquired-taste, Jalapeno, is #40. The free sample bags, in fact, are "39 Flavor" assortments.

gleam wrote:[

There are forty permanent flavors of Jelly Belly. Buttered Popcorn is the most popular.

This flavor remains, to me, a mystery sugar-coated with a conundrum, kind of like the late President Reagan, who I credit with the popularization of Jelly Belly candy (he had a bowl on Air Force One).

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:

gleam wrote:[

There are forty permanent flavors of Jelly Belly. Buttered Popcorn is the most popular.

This flavor remains, to me, a mystery sugar-coated with a conundrum, kind of like the late President Reagan, who I credit with the popularization of Jelly Belly candy (he had a bowl of them always ready on Air Force One).

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:This flavor remains, to me, a mystery sugar-coated with a conundrum, kind of like the late President Reagan, who I credit with the popularization of Jelly Belly candy (he had a bowl on Air Force One).

Hammond

frankly, I agree that it's a little weird. However, popping a cinnamon and a buttered popcorn together is remarkably edible.

I kind of want to get a big bag of jalapeno jelly bellys now.

-ed

gleam,

For some amusing recipes, check out the link C2 posted above.

For a "Mango Tango Salsa," just pop 2 mangos, 1 lemon lime and 1 jalapeno. I wish these guys would come out with a tortilla flavor and maybe guacamole, refried bean and carnitas flavors so I could make a meal of 'em.

This is fun candy.

Hammond

I can tolerate the Popcorn Jelly Belly, in fact there's some downstairs in my jelly bean dispenser still sitting around from last Hannukah's blue and white assortment I put together (plum is awesome, by the way). It's just that, well, with chocolate it's just wrong.

On yet another hand, I don't have a problem with chocolate covered popcorn (the cub scouts sell that stuff at outRAGEous prices).

Did Jelly Belly increase their flavor count to get the Bertie Bott's All-Flavor Beans license? I could have sworn they actually had grass and earwax labeled on the box.

(brief pause for web searching)
Aha! They sell a 50-flavor assortment now (not 40), there are 20 flavors of JBz's, and 6 flavors of gum.

In addition to the 50, there are 10 sour flavors, and 10 extra flavors for the Bertie Bott's Beans: black pepper, booger, dirt, earwax, grass, sardine, spinach, vomit, spaghetti, soap and earthworm (the last three were just added).

Hi,

Just returned from lunch at a friend's house: freshly made egg rolls and turnip cake.

While I was sitting around watching her cook, I glanced over at an M&M's bag on her table. They now offer custom color combos and imprints for your cheap designer candy ambitions.

Reading the original subject heading, an old song immediately came to mind: "I Want Candy." Listen to a short clip I found on an album at Amazon.com here.

--The Snob

fastfoodsnob,

You know, I tried to remember this tune when I first posted, but what I heard in my head was "I like candy!" Thanks for the memory,

Hammond

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Just returned from lunch at a friend's house: freshly made egg rolls and turnip cake.

While I was sitting around watching her cook, I glanced over at an M&M's bag on her table. They now offer custom color combos and imprints for your cheap designer candy ambitions.

Not quite cheap, actually Beth and I noticed this a couple days ago and priced it out for fun. Custom imprints end up being $17/lb, 2 pound minimum. And that's if you buy the largest bags, at 8oz.

2oz bags (custom tied for weddings) are $3.50 ea, minimum order 16.

Personally I'm far fonder of fortune cookies with custom messages.

-ed

Count me as another JBz fan. I especially like the fruit flavors, which I think particularly suited to chcolate, but then I like the fruit-flavored Jelly Bellies best, too. Both candies are available in bulk -- in individual flavors so you can pick your own combinations -- at Woodman's Food Market:

2100 Randall Road, Carpentersville, 847/426-6758
7145 120th Ave., Kenosha, Wis., 262/857-3801

I was back at the White Hen today, trolling for candy, and I picked up another two small boxes of JBZ. When I got home, I found they were different assortments: one contained the standard 20 flavors, but the other was a special "Dessert Menu" edition, that had fewer flavors, but were all apres dinner oriented (Strawberry Shortcake, Toasted Marshmallow, etc.). I've said it before, this is fun candy.

Hammond

We truly live in a great age when brick dust can no longer be added to chocolate.

I feel like this is my first 12 step meeting. I admit to liking candy store candy Jelly Bellys, Junior Mints, Jolly Rancher, but especially Hershey's milk chocolate, kisses, bars, etc. And I know I am powerless over it.

My significant other snacks on dark chocolate made in Italy from Porcelana cacao. Yeah, yeah, only made on a small farm in Venezula. Or she has something from Criollo cacao, or Trinitario (I'm winging it here with spelling, so google away). She pines endlessly about the aroma, what wine goes best with it, describes the tastes like an amateur sommelier at Binny's. And its good, in a way that really pure cacao can be, but give me a large Hershey bar on sale and I'm happy. Perhaps its a guilty pleasure that goes back to some fond childhood memories involving Halloween and the comfort a child gets from a bag full of candy. But I too admit to liking cheap candy.
I'm assuming this post is hidden far enough away that my secret doesn't get out. I suppose its the equivalent of someone saying they secretly go to Olive Garden; LTH heresy. At least I'm not that powerless.

Figured this was the best place to post this- does anyone know of a place to get Jelly Belly beans in bulk in the northwest suburbs? Somewhere between Lake Zurich/Barrington and Arlington Heights? Des Plaines, Mt. Prospect and Wheeling are all okay, too. Thanks!

I like candy too. One of my favorites is snaps and its hard to find these. I was passing Candyality a few days ago on Southport and my son says they give you a candy personality profile based on what you buy.

Seems like they have most of the old stuff as well as things like Jelly Bellys too. They also have colored M and Ms.

http://candyality.com/about

abe_froeman wrote:Figured this was the best place to post this- does anyone know of a place to get Jelly Belly beans in bulk in the northwest suburbs? Somewhere between Lake Zurich/Barrington and Arlington Heights? Des Plaines, Mt. Prospect and Wheeling are all okay, too. Thanks!

It's not much further than that to the Jelly Belly distributon center in Pleasant Prairie, WI. That's about as bulky as you can ask for.

Jelly Belly Center
10100 Jelly Belly Lane
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
866-868-7522

This is for my co-worker who isn't as well-traveled as me, so I doubt she's going to want to drive up to Wisconsin.

I think some Dominick's use to carry bulk Jelly Bellys- do any of them still?

This makes me miss Mr. Bulky. There was tons of cheap crap that I loved, like "dark chocolate" raspberry jelly rings.

If you get to Arlington Heights, it's not much farther to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin?

I called the Dominick's in Lake Zurich (345 Rand Road), and confirmed that they do have Jelly Belly flavors in bulk dispensers there. Hope that helps your friend.

There are forty permanent flavors of Jelly Belly. Buttered Popcorn is the most popular.

The Pleasant Prairie location also does a few times in the summer a parking lot sale.
They put cases on pallets in their parking lot (under tents of course) and they sell outdoors. You would have to check the calender on their website to see when the next one would be.

You also cant go wrong with the Belly Flops, the candies that are slightly deformed. Its a big bag but it is assorted flavors per bag.

tboytony wrote:There are forty permanent flavors of Jelly Belly. Buttered Popcorn is the most popular.

I'm not sure I taste any popcorn element, just butter, but what's not to like about that? Might be my favorite JB flavor.