A Love Letter to Jelly Beans.

The Jelly Bean. A staple ingredient to the Easter basket for decades, but often over looked and easily forgotten. Usually overly sweet and practically flavorless, it's easy to see how these shiny little candy jewels are often left to float down to the bottom of the basket until all the "good candy" is gone, only to make their way to the surface to be gobbled up indiscriminately or thrown away without a second thought. Recent years have brought us new and exciting jelly beans in the flavors of popular candies, and we have also seen the rise of the gourmet jelly bean.

If you are unfamiliar, gourmet jelly beans are basically the same as their average counterparts in both size and shape, but where they differ is in the flavors. These aren't your standard six flavor six color beans, there are a wide variety of colors and flavors. There are a few different companies that have their hand in the gourmet jelly bean jar, but in my eyes none can compare to Gimbal's.


There are 41 flavors of Gimbal's Gourmet Jelly Beans. 41 rich, vibrant flavors that explode in your mouth. Tangerine, key lime, perfectly pear and pomegranate are just a few of the fruity flavors. Then you have tiramisu, roasted marshmallow, java, and ice cream cake as a few of the more "adventurous" flavors. Those are just scratching the surface! What sets Gimbal's jelly beans apart from the other gourmet beans out there, is the fact that they use real fruit juice to make their beans. So you aren't tasting chemicals that some scientist in a lab decided tastes like a red delicious apple, you are tasting actual red delicious apple. That perfectly pear, came from a perfect pear.

I honestly and truly love jelly beans. I eat them all year, though Easter time brings the candy flavors so my bean eating picks up quite a bit, I always return to Gimbal's as my constant jelly bean supplier. My kids would think they were cheated if the didn't have Gimbal's in their Easter baskets. Mostly because mommy doesn't share her beans very well, and it's their only chance to have some.

That last line, was not a joke. I will hide in a closet so that I don't have to share.