To live the life of a jelly bean taster
In the New Yorker food issue's piece on flavor makers:
In 2006, Jelly Belly, the candy manufacturer, produced a jellybean that mimicked the flavor of an ice-cream sandwich. When the company manufactured the prototype with a brown exterior and a white interior, people identified the flavor accurately during a trial, and said that it was a good representation of an ice-cream sandwich. Jelly Belly then made an all-white prototype; many trial respondents found it confusing, misidentifying its flavor as vanilla or marshmallow.
"Hmm, I think I'm going to need another handful, just to be sure…"
Flavors I'm seeing on the Jelly Belly website list and would like to try: Blueberry, Buttered Popcorn, Margarita, Mixed Berry Smoothie, Peach, Strawberry Cheesecake, Toasted Marshmallow, Top Banana, Wild Blueberry (to compare to the regular Blueberry), and everything from the Cold Stone collection — Chocolate Devotion ("combines the flavors of Chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, brownie and fudge," miracles maybe), Strawberry Blonde ("Strawberry ice cream, graham cracker pie crust, strawberries, caramel and whipped topping"), Birthday Cake Remix, Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Apple Pie. Which reminds me to eat more of the apple pie ice cream in my fridge…
Something I would like to try once? The BeanBoozled experience, where Jelly Belly for some reason wants to mess with your mind.
Wondering if the 7-10 day jelly bean creation process (as covered here previously) applies to the special beans as well. Do some take longer? Maybe the Toasted Marshmallow flavor takes extra time for toasting. Jelly bean toasting, if real, would be next best to jelly bean tasting.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Just finished this piece today, then read the WaPo piece on dining in the dark which gives a different take on sensory eating (cool when combined): http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/dining-in-the-dark.html
I now think that losing my sense of smell may be the worst sense I could lose.
PS — Im partial to toasted marshmallow. It always gets a bad rap though…
December 5th, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Good piece. Had no idea the Post had a food blog. (Feature creep, the hidden trouble of newspapers sites everywhere!) Why does toasted marshmallow always get a bad rap? Am new to liking marshmallows openly.