Sugar Savvy

I was utterly delighted when I received a sample of these in the mail from Just Born. I first remember seeing them in my friend’s Flickr photos, then Cybele gave them a wonderful review. I had reviewed an assortment of spice beans by Just Born for CandyAddict at about the same time, and I realized that they were probably the same set of jelly beans, just different packaging. Still, the candy brat in me wanted to have the ones with the Hot Tamale branding because they seemed so much cooler in my mind.

The beans are a nice size. Not as small as Jelly Belly’s beans, but nowhere near as large as many of the pectin varieties you see out there. I’d say, well, they’re the size of a baked beans or a peanut. The panned shell is glossy and smooth with an even color. The texture is nice and chewy and doesn’t ever get sticky.

Peppermint (white): Very intense and fresh. It’s just lick sucking on a candy cane. Its powerful flavor is refreshing and sweet.

Spearmint (green): More sweet and herbal than the peppermint. It’s grassier and not as intense. It’s a good balance of flavor too, it’s not powerful like a stick of gum.

Cinnamon (red): Very punchy and spicy, true to normal Hot Tamales. It has that signature kick to it, along with a warmth from the spicy burn. Thankfully these are not as fiery as Red Hots, otherwise I wouldn’t have enjoyed them as much.

Clove (yellow): Oh, how I love clove flavored beans! These come across as very earthy and spicy. They have great woodsy accents that really capture the taste of cloves.

Wintergreen (pink): My favorite of the bunch. It’s very bright, sweet and pleasantly herbal in flavor. It has nice spicy notes that remind me of a nice mug of root beer.

These are great, and a nice change from the Brach’s beans I love so much. I wish I could find them year ’round, heck, even find them in stores near me. Maybe I can plead Just Born to supply me with more of them.