Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans

Easter is one of my most favorite holidays. Not only is it associated with the end of the freezing winter, flowers, and cute bunnies; in my humble opinion, Easter is the best candy holiday. When I was little, me and my sisters would get the most awesome Easter baskets. And not those ghetto pre-packaged baskets they sell at K-Mart which are a pretty good sign your parents don't love you, these were the real deal, each piece assembled and hand chosen by my Mom. We'd wake up on Easter morning and search the house for our baskets, which were usually hidden behind the couch. They usually included a Barbie doll rising above a sea of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs and plastic Easter grass like Botticelli's "Birth of Venus", except of course Barbie was clothed, at least for the time being. For some reason when I think about my old Easter baskets I am always reminded of getting Goldmine Bubble Gum. They were those tiny, cloth drawstring sacks filled with misshapen chunks of yellow bubble gum meant to resemble gold. "Goldmine" gum is still sold, but for some reason I always think of them when I think of my Easters as a kid.


With that said, it's time to talk about Easter candy. One of the new treats I stumbled upon this year are Wonka Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans. To be honest, I'm not crazy about regular jelly beans. I love Jelly Belly beans, but the generic ones that you can get in 10 pound bags, don't really tempt me, which is why I was a little leary about trying these. I love Nerds (especially fruit punch flavor, yum), so I figured this bean was half way on its way to being good. These are made up of a clear jelly center encrusted by an entire shell of bumpy Nerds. There are five different color beans each matching a corresponding fruity flavor - lemon, orange, lime, grape, and strawberry (similar to the flavors found in a box of rainbow Nerds). Surprisingly, I do like these jelly beans. The crunchy Nerds shell provides a delicious punch of tangy, sweet flavor that compliments the gummy bean at the center. In fact, the shell is so crunchy it lasts pretty much throughout the entire chew so there is flavor all the way up to the swallow. Over all, this candy was a nice surprise. I have been eating them the whole time I've been writing this and I'm liking them more and more.