3 September 2010

Jelly Belly - Beanaturals (jellybelly-uk.com)



Beanaturals are Jelly Belly’s latest range of jelly beans, and all contain only natural ingredients. I have to say I’m not that keen on the name of these sweets, but I’m not a fan of portmanteau words (thanks @ dzheough ). Having said that I care far more about the taste than the name, and the name does certainly get the message across. It does sound like a definite free-from bean. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box to see nice bright colours within, and I found twenty flavours to tuck into.

If you are trying to match up the taste to the picture I work from left to right in rows.

Cherry – Warm Red
This had a lovely strong flavour, without being over sweet. It is amazing to have such a natural cherry taste! It is lovely and juicy too, so a really good sweet.

Tangerine – Orange
The tangerine sweet had a very mild citrus taste, it was a natural flavour with a gentle sweetness.

Lemon – Yellow
I was disappointed that this one was rather muted. It did have a nice sweet lemon taste, which was natural, but there is potential with this one to have more of a zing.

Fruit Punch – Pinky Red
What a great flavour, this was zingy and sweet, with a mix of fruit tastes, lots of cherry again, really nice.

Mango – Yellow/Orange
Another fab bean, it was really strong and sweet, with a good tropical fruity taste, and I really loved this one.

Wild berry – Dark Purple
I thought this one mainly tasted of black currant. This is a bit surprising considering they are from an American company but it had a really fresh taste.

Plum – Dark Red
I don’t think I’ve seen a plum flavoured sweet before. It does have that distinct fresh plum taste too, but is a little milder than expected but still very pleasant.

Pineapple – Pale Yellow
This one was primarily sweet, with a gently fruity pineapple aftertaste. Mild but pleasant.

Orange – Orange
This was a great sweet, full of flavour, with a great juicy orange taste. The citrus flavour also had a nice zingy after tang. Lovely.

Pina Colada – Yellow
The first taste was that of coconut, with a hint of pineapple that follows, it had a nice tropical taste which was fresh and fruity.

Coconut – White / Brown
This sweet had a lovely strong toasted coconut taste, which was creamy and sweet. It was very different to the other beans, and made a nice change in the box.

Lime – Light Green
This was strong and zingy, and although distinctly lime, it showed the potential that the lemon sweet could have had. The bean was wonderfully fruity and fresh, with a lovely lime taste.

Raspberry – Dark Pink / Purple
This was another mild flavoured sweet, there was a nice hint of berries, and a raspberry aftertaste.

Pear – Light Green
Okay, there has to be a least favourite in every sweet box and this was mine. The flavour, although obviously made with natural ingredients, just didn’t taste right to me. I didn’t think it tasted particularly like pear just a bit like a sweet made from a strange tropical fruit.

Strawberry Daiquiri – Pink / Dark pink
A light strawberry taste, sweet and nice but not wow.

Papaya – Yellow / Black
A proper juicy flavour, and so nice to see an unusual tropical fruit make it into the bean flavours. It had a good papaya taste, which was fruity with a juicy edge.

Peach – Orange / Red
This was another lovely strong fruity bean. There was a strong peach flavour, with an almost honey after taste, and the overall flavour was lovely and natural.

Barbeque Banana – Yellow / Brown
This had creamy flavour, with the mildest hint of banana. More like a banana custard, but certainly nice enough.

Strawberry Jam – Pink
This is a great bean, lovely strong zingy sweet strawberry. Much nicer than the Strawberry Daiquiri, and the one for the strawberry fans.

Passion Fruit – Yellow / Pink
It was nice to finish on such a tangy flavoursome bean. It was very distinctly passion fruit in taste, and a very nice flavoursome fruity jelly bean to finish on.

I was really pleased with this range of jelly beans. I thought the majority of beans were full of flavour and sweet and really enjoyable. The texture of each bean is identical to all previous Jelly Belly beans I’ve eaten, and at just four calories each, they are nice for a treat too. Well worth seeking out!

2 comments:

Anne said...

Funny coincidence. I just came back from a two weeks holiday on Orkney and on my last day there I bought my first ever Jelly Beans in a sweet shop in Kirkwall which had a great selection of flavours (the melone one being my favourite). And then I come back to find your review on these new Beans. :-) Again a great a extensive review, thanks!

cinabar said...

No probs, glad you like the review.

The nearest branch of Selfridges to me has a huge Jelly Belly pick n mix... its heaven, but I can never choose! :-)