Of all the Easter candies, I have always like the jelly beans best. I don’t know why, but jelly beans mean Easter to me! I don’t eat them any other time of year, either. In fact, I doubt that most stores even carry jelly beans the rest of the year.

I was excited to find a bag of jelly beans on sale for 50% off at the grocery store, since they were trying to get rid of all the leftover Easter candies. I decided to get a bag and keep it as my secret stash of something sweet, and getting the bag for half price make me feel a little victorious, too.

After I got home, I broke open the bag and picked out a black jelly bean. The licorice flavor of black jelly beans has always been my favorite. One year I found a bag of jelly beans that was ALL black jelly beans. I was in heaven! But that was several years ago and i have not seen that again. Evidently it was not a big seller, but I would have bought a bag or two faithfully every year if I could find them at the store!

So, I picked out a black jelly bean from my discount bag of leftover candy and was expecting to taste licorice. It had no flavor at all – just an overpowering sweetness. I was crushed. In fact, none of the jellybeans had any flavor related to any of the colors. The orange jelly beans did not taste like orange. The yellow ones did not taste like lemon. and, worst of all, the black ones did not taste of licorice.

I have never heard of this brand of candy before, but evidently they do not believe that the colors are supposed to be associated with different fruit flavors. So, jelly bean buyers beware – don’t just grab a bag without looking for the brand and reading the packaging regarding flavors, or you risk a jelly bean rip off like I just experienced.