Sweetarts Jelly Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ
Sweetarts Jelly Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ
Sweetarts are one of my mother's favorite candies, so growing up we always had a theather-style box sitting in a pantry ready for movie-night munching. Between the three of us (my mother, my sister and I), we each had our favorites and we'd easily finish off the box. Since Sweetarts have a special place in my heart, I had to try these jelly beans to see if they were bean-worthy, or not.
Okay, so as far as packaging goes, this is fairly standard. We have a plastic bag filled with jelly beans. Nothing new or really interesting there. The plastic used for this packaging is oddly thin, you can see right through it in the photos, and I am guessing it's to save on plastic. The design and layout follow the classic pink and blue color scheme of all Sweetart products, and thankfully Wonka didn't feel the need to slap an Easter bunny on it. Instead of bunnies, chicks, or eggs, Wonka decided to go with some retro-shaped flowers and more of a seasonal Spring theme. I don't really care for the shapes to be honest. They looks very generic and clip-art-y. I prefer the patterns used in the background of other Sweetart products, but at least they tried.
The bag opened easily, so I poured some jelly beans into my little white dish, like usual, and the colors were pretty opaque. (Which you could see through the little plastic window. So I knew what I was getting.)
Even though they might lean a bit more to the pastel side, these colors are pretty vibrant and they photographed beautifully. I just love these colors! Sure, the Starburst beans were pretty in a translucent gem-kind of way, but these are just really fun and playful. Due to their really inconsistent size and shape they kind of look like rainbow aquarium pebbles, or giant Nerds.
All of the jelly beans have the same texture, so I'll tackle that first before I get into individual flavoring.
The outside of these jelly beans isn't like any other bean I've ever had. It's almost like a mixture between a yogurt coating and pixie sticks. I don't know how they do it! If you are a muncher, and you like to chew your beans right away, the shell falls to pieces in your mouth and instead of being crunchy, it's soft and crumbly with a sweet but tangy Sweetart/Pixie Stix flavoring. It's so different, and I really like it!
- Cherry (pink) - The crumbly outside tastes very similar to a red Sweetart, although I feel like it's a bit more sweet and mild than tart. The flavoring seems to be on the outsides only, because this center was generically sweet and mild.
- Orange (orange) - Tangy, delicious, and a bit zestier than it's Sweetart counterpart. I think the jelly bean allows it to be a lot juicier and authentic tasting than the Sweetart version. Normally I prefer red and blue Sweetarts, but this jelly bean was delicious and easily one of my favorites. I like this flavor a lot more in this form.
- Lemon (yellow) - These are kind of like the pink ones. They seem a lot sweeter than the
original version, and not as tangy. I would have liked this to be as
zesty and refreshing as the orange, but it just wasn't. This was was a
bit of a dud for me. .
- Green Apple (green)
- I hate green apple flavored things, so this (along with grape) are my two least favorite Sweetarts in the original mix. This version seems much juicier and a bit refreshing, but it still has that bright and tangy artificial apple flavoring. I wasn't a fan, but I did like this version better than the original.
- Blue Punch (blue) - These are one of my top two flavors in the original mix, but something went horribly wrong with it's conversion to jelly-bean-dom. This does not taste right. It's kind of like a blue Pixie Stick, or Sweetart, but it has this weirdly artificial flavoring that I just do not enjoy. These are normally my favorites, so that was a bit of a downer that it didn't taste the same in this mix.
- Grape (purple)
- I hate grape. I hate it with a passion. Grape Sweetarts are the closest thing to those chewable grape cold medicines I took when I was a child, and to this day I avoid them. Thankfully the Sweetart gods saw fit to give me a bag with as few purples as possible, and for that I'm very appreciative. These grape beans taste tangy, but there's still that artificial grape flavor that has me scarred for life. I was not a fan of this bean, but I hate grape flavorings. I am sure grape Sweetart lovers would enjoy this, I feel like it's tangier than the normal version, but I can't say for sure since it's been ages since I've eaten one.
Overall, these were really interesting and different from the other beans I've tried this year. Certain flavors are better than others, and while I can't say I enjoy the entire mix, I will be buying these again for Easter Sunday so that I can share them with my Sweetart loving family. I'm sure the three of us will be able to polish off this mix no problem, although the blues may be the last jelly bean standing. I was the only one who liked them, and since those beans taste different from the original candy version I'm not so keen on them.
Worthy of having it's own Jelly Bean
Version? : Sure! The texture is so unique, and even though every flavor might not be a winner, those of you who love to munch on Sweetarts will love this soft, chewy, but crumbly texture.
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