Sugar Savvy

Jelly Belly candies easily classify as one of my desert island candies. They do a really great job of capturing flavors, probably due to their tendency to use all natural ingredients, if possible.

One of my favorite groupings of their jelly beans is the Sours. Originally the mix only included cherry, orange, lemon, apple and grape. It was only later that raspberry, peach, watermelon, blueberry, and strawberry were added. These are made with artificial flavors, so they’re more similar to the fruit-flavors that I grew up with.

The level of sourness is sour enough to be flavorful, but not give acid burn unless you eat too many. Here are my tasting notes:

Peach (pale orange): solid burst of peach flavor with a slightly soapy aftertaste
Raspberry (darker red, almost maroon): quick burst of raspberry fruitiness
Blueberry (sky blue): captures the delicacy of blueberry flavor, light yet sour
Lemon (bright yellow): very strong initial sourness, burst of lemon flavor reminiscent of the shell on a Lemonhead
Cherry (bright red): more of an artificial flavor, but not medicinal
Grape (purple-y blue): concord grape flavor, more purple grape juice
Apple (bright green): vaguely Granny Smith; like, though slightly artificial
Strawberry (pink): sour nondescript artificial strawberry flavor
Orange (bright orange): sharp, sour orange flavor
Watermelon (dark green with pink inside): very sweet, artificial watermelon flavor, vaguely like watermelon Bubble Yum

Like most fruit-flavored candies, I have an order that I like to eat… from least favorite to most favorite. My favorite is a toss-up between the strawberry, apple, cherry and grape.

Previous articles about Jelly Belly:
Jelly Belly-icious
A Jolly Time on the Jelly Belly Tour