This is getting downright ridiculous. $500 for a jar of jelly beans? A bit over the top, especially since NewsFeed isn’t so sure that coating candy with 24-karat gold actually improves the taste. Of course, we’re willing to give it a try, without the price tag.
David Klein, who was an early jelly bean innovator, wanted to make a mark with his new venture. What he calls “Beyond Gourmet Jelly Beans” come in crystal jars, sell for $500 and debuted at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago this week under armed guard. At least Klein knows how to generate publicity.
The taste of the beans won’t be exactly candy-like, as they represent deconstructed meals. While they get folks excited about the opportunity to enjoy exotic food-centered trips around the world—and the Thai Lemongrass Curry and Indian Mango Chutney tastes, among other worldwide flavors, that go with them—the little candies will crush palate-pleasers into one little bean. The promoters of the product want you to imagine an “explosion of taste that hits all your senses.” And your wallet.
(MORE: Other odd Klein creations)
By popping three or four beans in your moth, “exquisite, complex” fine dishes will burst, they say, making this jarful of beans an “experience” worthy of your cash. Just for the marketing pop of it all, the beans will get a 24-karat gold coating. Why not, right?
(MORE: How do the Sweetheart candies get their slogans?)
Correction, 5/27: The original version of this article identified David Klein as the founder and former head of the Jelly Belly brand. A press release says he was “the inventor of the Jelly Belly,” but the Jelly Belly Candy Company says its only interaction with Klein was a brief, informal one 30 years ago. Klein was never in the employ of Jelly Belly’s parent company, the Herman Goelitz Candy Company, which changed its name to the Jelly Belly Candy Company in 2001.
