Thursday, March 13, 2008

Smarties Jelly Beans

Smartie Jelly BeansAnother new brand of jelly beans from an old favorite, Smarties Jelly Beans.

Just to make things clear, the package says, “Tangy Fruit Flavors” ... just in case people thought they were some other assortment of flavors associated with Smarties. They never actually say which fruits they are, though.

Actually, I think Smarties are an ideal Easter candy, with their pastel colors and light flavors. I like Smarties. I like their lack of flavor, the way they dissolve so quickly and smoothly. I like their tiny tablet size, their light colors and complete indistinguishableness from one another.

These jelly beans were about the same price as others are these days, retail of $1.99.

Smartie Jelly BeansThe Smarties come in five flavors/colors.

The shell is a dry and a little crumbly and cool on the tongue (as dextrose usually is). The shells have a tangy and flavorful layer. The flavors aren’t very strong or complex. Grape is the most vivid, in that grape soda way. Green apple is pretty mild. Blue tastes like ball point pen ink smells (I think it’s raspberry). Cherry is very tart and then very sweet but less bitter than most pink/red cherry candies. Lemon was probably the sweetest of the bunch.

What was missing was the white Smarties, you know, that one that we all think is pineapple and is by far the best. (What? You don’t think so, too?)

The colors are bright and opaque, rather like highlighter pens. The funny part is that Smarties actually makes their lack of color in their compressed dextrose tablets a selling point. From their website:

Our candy is intentionally made in pastel colors so that our customers will be eating more candy and less artificial colors. Don’t be fooled by candies like ours with bright colors, you can taste the dye!

In the case of these little jelly beans, I think they’re using just as much dye as everyone else. Most of all I noticed the similarities between the Smarties Jelly Bean and the SweeTarts Jelly Beans.

Smartie Jelly BeansSo I gathered up an assortment of both and put them side by side. The SweeTarts Jelly Beans are on the left and the Smarties Jelly Beans are on the right. They are extremely close in colors, although the Smarties are missing the orange one completely.

The beans were essentially identical with the Smarties being slightly more flavorful, mostly in the tangy layer. The colors very little but the purple and the green are the easiest to tell apart by looking at them and the blue in the SweeTarts version is punch flavor, not raspberry.

I really don’t have a preference of one over the other. If you have a choice, I say go with whichever is cheaper or whichever brand you feel you prefer to support.

They’re both made in Canada and come in 14 ounce bags, though their ingredients label differs slightly ... so it’s entirely possible that this factory churns both out under contract with Nestle or CeDe Candy.

While all of the Smarties compressed dextrose products are gluten, nut and milk free, the Smarties Jelly Beans are made in Canada and are made in a facility that processes all the hit-list allergens: peanuts, nuts, milk products, soy products, wheat, eggs and sesame seeds.

Related Candies

  1. Wonka Nerds Jelly Beans
  2. Blueberry Hill Spice Jelly Beans
  3. Jelly Belly Deluxe Easter Mix
  4. Smarties Bubble Gum
  5. Starburst and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
Name: Smarties Jelly Beans
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Smarties (CeDe Candies)
Place Purchased: Walgreen's (Echo Park)
Price: $1.99
Size: 14 ounces
Calories per ounce: 92
Categories: Jelly, Sour, Canada, Smarties, Easter

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:53 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. >>Blue tastes like ball point pen ink smells (I think it?s raspberry)<<


    your best description of a blue candy flavor to date

    Comment by B on 3/13/08 at 2:34 pm #
  2. Bought these and was surprised at how good they taste. They really managed to capture the taste *and* feel of Smarties in a jelly bean. Not getting even an inkling of what “flavor” they all are though grin. A nice change but really is there any jelly bean in the world that can stand up to the mighty Jelly Belly? I think not.

    Comment by Jenn on 3/13/08 at 3:50 pm #
  3. I know this is terribly belated (over 2 years) but I just went to the Smarties website and discovered a flavor list. I’m first to admit that I was surprised and I’m not sure they concur with my own taste buds. I mean seriously, GREEN is strawberry??


    They say:
    We manufacture six (6) colors of candy tablets that are randomly mixed together.

    The flavor of each color is as follows:
    White = Orange/Cream
    Yellow = Pineapple
    Pink = Cherry
    Green = Strawberry
    Purple = Grape
    Orange = Orange

    Comment by Megan Samson on 6/30/10 at 12:24 pm #
  4. Just happened upon these jelly beans early in Mar, 2012 at Big Lots.  I bought 2 bags, on the basis of the tangy name.  I love sour things. They were great, went back, but to no avail, they were sold out.  I have looked else where but failed to find Smarties Tangy Jelly Beans
    anywhere else.

    Comment by becky on 4/05/12 at 2:29 pm #
  5. does anyone know where i can buy smarties jellybeans. my boyfriend has been looking for them for the past cpl yrs. found them at easter of 2013 i think, havent seen them since

    Comment by kim on 5/01/15 at 4:44 pm #
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