# What's the deal with black jellybeans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363 "2003-02-02T21:25:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/21 "2003-02-03T00:32:29Z")
Black jellybeans are also a sort of tradition also. Those little quarter machines wouldn’t be the same without the black dots would they? Personally, I like black jellybeans but can’t stomach black licorice. I also really like the popcorn ones. In fact the last time I got jellybeans it was a mix of black and popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/22 "2003-02-03T01:00:35Z")
Well, everybody I know loves the black jelly beans. I’ve never even _heard_ of popcorn flavoured beans… sounds odd. I’d probably like them better than the green jelly beans though. If I wanted the taste of mint I’d go brush my teeth. :dubious: \<-- Hee. He looks like he just ate a green one. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/23 "2003-02-03T01:05:55Z")
The partiotism of all US residents who don’t love licorice jelly beans is being looked into by the Justice Department at this very moment. You have been warned! ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/24 "2003-02-03T01:08:57Z")
I admit it! I’m one of the people who are causing the popcorn jelly beans to be so popular. They are by far my favorite flavor of jellybean. I’m the only one I know who likes them, though, so whenever I’m in a group of people eating Jellybellys I get all the popcorn ones. Thus, the net level of popcorn jellybean consumption remains normal. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Tamerlane_ > I wonder if there is a positive correlation betwen licorice/cherry lovers and “popcorn” haters I like licorice and cherry jellybeans as well, so strike one against that theory 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/25 "2003-02-03T01:16:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Pontefract cakes. \*\* Thanks a million, **Mangetout** , that would be them. Found a source, too. Note to anyone who _really_ likes licorice; try these. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/26 "2003-02-03T01:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GloriaMundi \* > **I’m curious because I’ve heard that foreigners generally find that popular danish liquorice flavours are quite strange.** My boss is Danish and he sometimes brings anise candies back with him. They are vastly different than black licorice here in the states, I must admit. Far less sweet. But I actually liked them very much, though I can’t say I thought they were better or worse than the typical sweetness of a jellybean. I don’t know what they were, or if anything like that is even sold here. They were coin-shaped, I remember that. I just like the flavoring in general. I sometimes put some anise schnapps in my coffee. Mmmm… I must admit, this page is filled with more black jellybean likers than I have ever known IRL. **Absolutely** tangential to the thread, but while trying to search on the infamous black beast that is the licorice jelly bean, I found this: [Jelly Belly® Jelly Beans & Evolutionary Principles in the Classroom](http://www.nabt.org/sub/htdi/v62n01p042.asp). An absolutely fascinating read about teaching students about selective processes at work in nature given a normal distribution of jelly bean flavors! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/27 "2003-02-03T01:26:57Z")
**GloriaMundi** licorice jellybeans are sugary with a licorice/anise flavor. How strong it is depends on the brand. The idea of jellybeans being intentionally salty is… unAmerican. Even the “buttered popcorn” flavor of jellybean that a few people are mentioning is not salty at all, it is sweet and oddly butter-flavored. Better living through chemistry and all that. For one American review of salty licorice (these views are not representative of those held by the Chicago Reader etc.) read on: [http://www.bad-candy.com/old/bc3/doublezout/](http://www.bad-candy.com/old/bc3/doublezout/) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/28 "2003-02-03T01:31:51Z")
Are you talking about Aniseed? America doesn’t have aniseed sweets? Wow, you licorice (liquorice) lovers would like that, but the haters would throw up 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/29 "2003-02-03T01:32:14Z")
They aren’t my favorite, but I do rather enjoy the black jellybeans. _Just because everyone you know doesn’t like them nobody likes them_ ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/30 "2003-02-03T01:34:26Z")
Crap, the above sentence should read: _Just because everyone you know doesn’t like them dosen’t mean that nobody likes them, unless you know everyone on an intimate enough basis to know if they like black jellybeans or not_ ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/31 "2003-02-03T01:37:50Z")
I would say that most ‘normal’ jellybeans have a very neutral flavor that almost everyone likes. The black ones have a distinctive flavor that some people like and some don’t. That;s all I really have to say about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/32 "2003-02-03T02:17:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GloriaMundi \* > \*\*What does black jellybeans taste like? Are they sweet, strong, salty? > I’m curious because I’ve heard that foreigners generally find that popular danish liquorice flavours are quite strange. I’m thinking of flavours such as salt, sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride) and menthol. I personally like sal ammoniac very much, and I don’t really care for sweet liquorice. Most people that I know, prefers strong flavours too, in mixed bags, the sweet liquorice is never eaten. > > Is it true? Do you prefer your sweets sweet? 😉 > \*\* American black licorice is probably what you would consider sweet, although it tends to be less sweet than our other kinds of candy (which I understand are very sweet indeed by global standards). I don’t know if you can even get salt or sal ammoniac licorice in the US, at least not without a lot of searching. I had a Dutch student teacher in high school who loved salt licorice and was rather surprised to learn upon sharing with her students that Americans almost universally found it revolting, but I think she was probably happy not to feel obligated to share her precious supply with us any more! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by k2dave \* > \*\*I would say that most ‘normal’ jellybeans have a very neutral flavor that almost everyone likes. The black ones have a distinctive flavor that some people like and some don’t. > > That;s all I really have to say about it. \*\* You’re probably right, and much the same could be said about one of my favorite flavors, spicy cinnamon. But I have to go to a bit of trouble to make sure that I’m getting an assortment of jellybeans that contains cinnamon, while even the really cheap-o bags of store-brand jellybeans with only a few flavors always seem to have plenty of black ones. However, this thread is convincing me that there are enough people who really love black jellybeans to compensate (or more than compensate) for those who can’t stand them. I guess the same isn’t true of most other polarizing flavors. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/33 "2003-02-03T05:52:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamerlane \* > \*\*Frankly I find the “buttered popcorn” flavor infinitely more offensive ( I wonder if there is a positive correlation betwen licorice/cherry lovers and “popcorn” haters 🙂 ). However according to [www.jellybelly.com](http://www.jellybelly.com) , cherry was surpassed as the most popular flavor by popcorn in 1998. We’re losing the war :(. > \*\* Something weird happened to me with popcorn jelly beans. I used to _adore_ their flavour, buy whole bags of just them and toasted marshmallow. Then suddenly - one day - they started tasting of chemicals. Metallic and artificial and unpleasant. At first I thought I had a bad batch, so I tried again a couple of times. Same result. So I waited some weeks/months. Same result. It’s like my taste buds must have suddenly developed, or got permanent overload or something. Weird and disappointing. The further sad thing was that it sort of made me wary of all jelly belly beans, though I kept eating the other flavours for a while. Now however I don’t eat them at all, because they contain artificial colours which I now avoid in my diet. ---
**Author:** ![moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@moc.liamtoh\_rorrim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moc.liamtoh_rorrim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/34 "2003-02-03T06:37:31Z")
Life is like a bag of jellybeans… _not my belief… just a joke i heard_ ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/35 "2003-02-03T07:06:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Frankly I find the “buttered popcorn” flavor infinitely more offensive ( I wonder if there is a positive correlation betwen licorice/cherry lovers and “popcorn” haters ). Mmm… my three favorite flavors. So that’s a big **nope**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/36 "2003-02-03T14:09:27Z")
Has anyone tried the new buttered popcorn flavored Mike & Ikes? In my professional opinion as a former movie theater concessionist I think they’ve got a hit on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/37 "2003-02-03T14:22:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wearia \* > \*\* Personally, I like black jellybeans but can’t stomach black licorice. I also really like the popcorn ones. In fact the last time I got jellybeans it was a mix of black and popcorn. \*\* Me too, I love black jelly beans but wouldn’t eat black licorice if you paid me. I don’t think that _most_\* black jelly beans taste like licorice at all, so I’m not sure where the connection in people’s minds comes in. I tried Jelly Belly black jellybeans and found to my horror they do taste like licorice and nothing like “normal” black ones. My favorites are “normal” black ones and Jelly Belly Hawaiian Punch ones. Although my definition of favorites is “the only ones I actually like”. The most vile jelly bean is the white/clear one. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/38 "2003-02-03T16:09:06Z")
I love black jelly beans, but not black licorice. I prefer Jelly Belly licorice to the regular black jelly beans, although that could be because I’m a Jelly Belly snob. There is one flavor of Jelly Belly that is the most vile thing on earth–my entire family has decided that it tastes like used kitty litter; we have no idea what it’s supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/39 "2003-02-03T16:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*Are you talking about Aniseed? America doesn’t have aniseed sweets? > > Wow, you licorice (liquorice) lovers would like that, but the haters would throw up 🙂 \*\* To my knowledge the only specificly anise flavored candy in the US is the grey Necco wafer (the dark grey in the package is clove, as I understand it.) Both are divine, but as with the black jellybean, they are equally despised among some. I’m curious to know if the sour candy phenemonon has caught on as much in other countries as it has here in the states. (For those who might not know, it’s regular candy – usually of a “gummi” or chewy nature that has about twice as much citric acid in it, so it makes your face spasm and eats away half the skin inside your mouth. Mmmm, mmm! That’s good eatin’!) For the record: Black Jelly Beans - yum! Popcorn Jelly Bellys - BARF! Black Jelly Bellys - don’t think I’ve had one! Best Jelly Belly - The Sassy Sour line, especially the Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363/40 "2003-02-03T17:07:39Z")
I’m the youngest in my family (by a poultry 6 minutes) and am the only one who even had a partial taste for black jelly beans as a child. Every Easter, I could amass huge amounts of jelly beans by trading at a 10:1 ratio or more. I came to love the things. My older siblings thought they were screwing me over, when I was the one feeding a growing addiction. I love them. I’ll eat them till my mouth looks like something from a horror film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-black-jellybeans/152363.md?page=3)