The Good: Decent bulking, Good flavor
The Bad: Sour is a bit much in some of the beans.
The Basics: Sour Blueberry Jelly Bellys are good and realistically blueberry flavored, making them a good one to stock up on!
For those who might not follow my many reviews, I tend to rail against the manufactured tastes of many products when that flavor differs from the actual flavor of the food. This comes up in fruit flavors a lot; we are conditioned to believe strawberry and raspberry taste like something very different from how it actually tastes. Another flavor where the assumed flavor is very different from the actual fresh fruit flavor is blueberry. There are very few replications of the flavor where blueberry items have the sweet and sour taste of actual blueberries. Even the Jelly Belly Blueberry jelly beans (reviewed here!) are imperfectly blueberry. Ironically, the Sour Blueberry flavor captures both the sweet and sour aspects of the little fruit.
For those who might never have had Jelly Belly jelly beans, these are easily the best jelly beans on the planet, packing a lot of flavor into a very small size. Unlike most jelly beans which are only vaguely flavored and are more based on colors, Jelly Belly jelly beans have a wide variety of actual flavors, like Mixed Berry Smoothie, Candy Cane, Sour Lemon, or their signature flavor Buttered Popcorn.
Who needs ten pounds of Sour Blueberry flavored Jelly Bellys? Anyone who loves blueberry pie or who misses the blueberry patch at their old house will find hours of pleasant reminiscing in this bulk box of Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly jelly beans. Anyone who might like Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly jelly beans will likely find that this is the best way to get them in bulk in an environmentally responsible way for the least amount of money.
Basics
Sour Blueberry is a flavor of Jelly Belly jelly beans from the Sour line. Jelly Belly jelly beans are approximately one half inch long by one quarter inch wide and they are roughly bean-shaped. These little candies are marketed to taste precisely like Blueberry, with a sour twist, and they live up to that very well.
Sour Blueberry flavored Jelly Bellys are available in a wide array of quantities, but the largest quantity available is the ten pound bulk case. This is a decent-sized box with a plastic lining and while some might wonder why anyone would need a ten pound box, I ask, "Do you know how many blueberries it takes to make a blueberry pie? Do you know how many blueberry jelly beans it takes to make a blueberry jelly bean pie!?" I suspect that for most people, a ten pound case is a year's supply of these jelly beans.
Sour Blueberry flavored Jelly Bellys are fairly easy to recognize and distinguish from other Jelly Bellys, especially in the Sour Assortment. There are only ten Sour flavors and the closest within the assortment is Sour Grape, which is a duller blue color, whereas the Sour Blueberry is a bright blue color. There are no jelly beans in the common assortment that come close to looking like the Sour Blueberry, so the Sour Grape is the only one one is likely to mistake for this. There is little consequence in that as if one is prepared for Sour Grape, they are prepared for sour and this ought not to come as a shock.
Ease Of Preparation
These are jelly beans, not making a blueberry pie when the in-laws are coming over! In the case of the ten pound box, one might want to put them in a candy dish of some form as opposed to always going into the box. Then again, there is no law against eating them right from the box and it's not like they become less sour if you do! Eat them freely from the box or however you please!
Taste
Sour Blueberry Jelly Bellys have no real smell to them. In fact, opening the box, I was overcome by a scent that reminded me of Nerds candy instead of the scent of blueberries. As a result, when one bites into the Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly, they are unprejudiced by any nasal preconceptions.
The Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly jelly beans taste like actual blueberries and this is a real treat for those of us who like blueberries. As a result, they burst on the tongue with a flavor that is sweet and fruity before turning slightly tart. The surprise to fans of the blueberry will be in how the Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly does not have a taste that spreads. Blueberries, being somewhat fluid inside tend to spread their taste with their juice when they pop. Sour Blueberry Jelly Bellys may be split, but the flavor remains concentrated on the tongue wherever the jelly bean is.
Sour Blueberry holds up remarkably well over many beans as well, so it is one of the better flavors in that they are both fruity and sour mouthful to mouthful.
Nutrition
Again, these are jelly beans, so anyone looking to them for nutrition needs to understand they are designed to compete with Sour Patch Kids and other sour candies, so they're not going to be terribly nutritious! Jelly beans, even Jelly Belly jelly beans, are not a legitimate source of nutrition. These are a snack food, a dessert, and are in no way an adequate substitute for a real meal. A serving is listed at thirty-five beans, with each Jelly Belly jelly bean having approximately four calories. This means that in a single serving, there are 140 calories, which is 12% of your daily recommended intake.
The thing is, Jelly Belly jelly beans are not as bad as they could be in the nutrition area. They have no fat and no protein, but for those who have ever dated a Vegan, these are Vegan compliant because they contain no gelatin! Some Vegans consider the wax in the coating in the Jelly Belly jelly beans to be not Vegan compliant. I suppose it depends on just how strict a Vegan your Vegan is, if this matters at all. Generally, they are animal free! Jelly Belly jelly beans have only one percent of the daily sodium with 15 mg and they are gluten free! The main ingredients are sugar, corn syrup and modified food starch, so it's not like this is an all-natural food, but they could be far, far worse.
Storage/Clean-up
Jelly Belly jelly beans have a shelf life of approximately one year and I have yet to run across a stale Jelly Belly (though that could have something to do with a package never surviving a year around me and this flavor isn't going to last six months, whatwith Blueberry season beginning locally). They remain freshest when they are kept in an airtight container (the bag in the bulk box is sufficient if it is kept closed) and they ought to be kept in a cool environment. Storing them in hot places is likely to make the beans stick together and be gross. Kept in a cool, dry place, the beans retain their flavor perfectly.
As for cleanup, unless one allows the Jelly Belly to get hot to the point that the waxy coating on the bean melts, the dyes on these do not bleed or denature, so there is usually no cleanup necessary, not even washing one's hands after eating them (fortunately, these are not sticky like actual Blueberries!). I've never had Sour Blueberry Jelly Bellys stain anything.
Overall
Sour Blueberry Jelly Belly jelly beans have a more truthful blueberry flavor, which is why the ones that are more sour become surprisingly unpleasant. Still, this is one of the better flavors in Jelly Belly's Sour line and one that is likely to please anyone who loves sour candy.
For other Jelly Belly flavors reviewed by me, please check out:
Orange Crush
Sour Raspberry
Cafe Latte
8/10
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© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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