Parenting

These Are The Most Popular Jelly Bean Flavors -- And We Have FEELINGS

by Christine Organ
Photo by Cathy Scola / Getty

Since my parenting style is smack dab in the middle of wanna-be perfectionist and lazy AF, my motto is basically “good enough.” Holidays aren’t filled with Pinterest crafts and homemade treats; instead they’re chockfull of store-bought carbs and whatever candy du jour fits the bill.

For Halloween, we’re all about the fun-sized Kit-Kats and Reese’s peanut butter cups. For Christmas, it’s candy canes and cookies. For Valentine’s Day, it’s chocolate. And for Easter, it’s jelly beans, jelly beans and more jelly beans.

Now, I consider myself an equal opportunity candy fanatic (I’m not some candy snob who turns her nose up at Peeps and I never met a chocolate I didn’t like), but there are some jelly bean flavors out there that can best be described as WTAF.

The CandyStore.com just released information on the most popular jelly bean flavors, and I’ll admit, some of them had my shaking my head in dismay. Let’s just say, if these arrived in my basket, the Easter Bunny might be canceled.

I wasn’t necessarily surprised to read that the favorite of Illinois, where I currently live, is chocolate — though I was disappointed. I mean, talk about basic AF. Then again, Illinois is in the middle of the heartland so…

Source: 10+ years online candy sales data from CandyStore.com.

The favorite of my home state of Wisconsin, along with Oregon, Alabama, Alaska, and Florida is watermelon. Which also isn’t that surprising. I mean watermelon is a pretty solid, albeit kinda boring, flavor.

Personally, my favorite is this year’s #1 fave — buttered popcorn. It might sound kind of nasty, but mix buttery goodness, saltiness of popcorn and the saccharine sweet of jelly beans and you’ve got a winner. Of course, not everyone agrees. In fact, the Candy Store says the choice is super polarizing. “Thousands of people love this smooth, salty and savory jelly bean the best, while others scrunch up their noses when it’s mentioned. Some even write nasty comments about it in their survey form…” Well then.

But the real dark horse of the year is the #2 jelly bean flavor — black licorice. What the fresh hell is this? Black licorice is the plain wrong, and I can’t even believe we’re having this discussion. What’s even more shocking is that until this year, black licorice was numero uno on the jelly bean charts.

Other popular flavors include cinnamon, cherry, pear, green apple, toasted marshmallow, and coconut. yes, please. I’ll take a handful of each, thanks.

Bottom line: The best thing about any holiday is the candy. Always.

Even if it is a black licorice jelly bean.