Remember these from the first few Harry Potter books? The jellybeans that come in flavors like earwax, vomit, grass, and dirt?
They make them as a novelty product. Jelly Belly does it. They make good jellybeans, so when my mom gave me a box I thought I’d give it a try.
First one I picked out was a sardine, according to the flavor guide on the back. It’s pale white. Nobody would make a jellybean that tastes like canned fish, right? I figured it would be coconut, or toasted marshmallow. So I put it in my mouth and bit down.
By God, that damn thing tasted like a sardine. I really tried to chew it up and swallow it, but it was too much. Spit it right into the sink.
Next were a few normal flavors. They’re not bad.
And then comes black pepper. Wary due to my experience with the sardine, I sniffed it. Not bad. I put it in my mouth, and bit down.
Ever taken a spoonful of black pepper and bit into it? Me neither, but I guess that’s what it would taste like.
Now, I’m a responsible person. I’m not going to suggest that these would make a wonderful practical joke, because I know what you guys would do. It would be a disaster, and it would be my fault.
But I am going to buy these for each and every one of my friends.
A friend of mine got a box of those as a Christmas present. She passed some of the more odd flavors around our calculus class that day. The more macho guys of the class were betting each other to try the sardine. (“Man, that’s soooo nasty! I can’t believe anybody would eat that! Here, try it!”)
Wisely, the teacher turned down the offered jellybean.
I thought only the Chocolate Frogs had trading cards. I got a McGonagal!
The Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans I got were imported from the UK, and didn’t have sardine in them, or anything nasty. Quite yummy, actually. I bought mine at British Delights.com – expensive, but great holiday presents for HP fans.
I, too, have tried the sardine. And the earwax (which, IIRC, is the flavor Dumbledore mentions in the book). I spit them out, but not before getting a good taste of them.
Three or four weeks ago the wife and I paid a visit to the Jelly Belly plant. What a hoot! They give tours of the plant and you get to watch them make the jelly beans. It’s quite a process, takes 7-10 days - depending on the the flavor. There is a gift shop where, I say with some confidence, you can easily meet all your jelly bean needs.
The Jelly Belly brand beans are far better than any other jelly bean I’ve ever tried.
The plant is in Fairfield, California. It’s on I-80 a few miles east of San Francisco.
My brother and I, after buying a box, were playing “Potter Roulette”.
We would shake out a bean, not look at it, and pop one in the mouth. Chew, swallow.
Booger tastes like slime. It’s soo gross.
But vomit actually made me gag. It tastes like bile. Honest to god… bile. And the flavor just doesn’t come out of your mouth. It was the nastiest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
These are sooooo cool, I wish we would have had them when I was a kid…I have a huge package that I got as a gift (someone knows me too well) and I decide to try ALL of them.
Grass: is good, tastes green
Spinach: Rather tastes like spinach with sugar
Booger: mostly just gelatinous kinda like the real thing, or so I’ve heard…
Pepper: tasty and peppery, I rather like them
Ear Wax: Not sure because I don’t know what the real thing tastes like…but gross
Sardine: fishy, nasty
Dirt: It tastes like dirt. No, really. Remember when you were a kid making mud pies and you’d accidentally eat a bit…or if you just were weird and tried to eat dirt…well, yeah, it tasted like that.
Vomit: gotta agree with the bile assesment…tastes like the semi-dry heaves.
I can’t wait to sneak them into the office jelly belly supply…Mwahahaha
My friends once (once) bought some of those. We drew out a green one (booger) and decided to give it to good ol’ mum, under the guise of a watermelon one.
The vomit and the sardine flavors were the only ones that really got to me. Earwax, dirt, boogers, spinach–nasty, but not that awful. I kinda liked the grass ones, actually.
