We’ve reviewed and spoken about jelly beans quite a bit round these parts.  Every year before Easter rolls around, it seems that there’s no end to the variety of bags of jelly beans you can find at the pharmacy or local Target.  They all have one thing in common though : they suck.  Except for Starburst beans, especially their sour ones, as we broke down for you in the past.  Aside from those, we recommend just sticking with the champs, Jelly Belly.

But things are a bit different now.  Yummy Earth has rocked it with their incredible, completely natural and delightfully sour beans, and  it seems that now the market has become rife with even more choices.

And then there’s Haribo.

Really, Haribo?  You’re gonna go for it?  Fine.  Trust me when I say I was optimistic yet skeptical.  At first look, they’re not too special.  But I particularly liked the shape of the beans: they’re not round and fat, but more long and curved, like a magical gherkin.  And shiny too!

Damn it if they’re not gorgeous.  But the taste: nothing matters but that.  I tried a few, and thought to myself, “Self” I says, “these are ayeet.  Nothing special”.  But as with my appearance, I was deluding myself.  I just needed to take my time with them.

These beans actually pull off carving a slightly different niche in the bean world: they’re not sour beans at all-but have a finishing slight tartness that accentuates the flavors.  These are really focused on the flavors, which aren’t listed anywhere, so they’re still sort of mysterious.  But there’s definitely pineapple, grape, orange, lemon, and apple.  And the chew on these bad boys is really nice- very chewy.  They’re bigger than Jelly Bellies, so you don’t feel like you have to eat three or four at the same time.

I like these.  I’m gonna buy these again, probably before Easter.  And Halloween.  And the World Series.  And Opening Day at the race track/boat harbor/local soup kitchen.  Oh, and Festivus!

They’re good, ok?