Wednesday, September 26, 2007

TREATS MADE IN THE US

Buying industrial cakes or cookies and sweets is not really my thing as I believe that what is homemade (with love) not only tastes better, but is also a lot healthier (since you choose what you use). Well, I must confess that there are times when I bend the law in order to test a few of the popular and most-advertized typical American treats...

That's how, I lately found myself queueing at my local supermarket with a box of "Oreo" biscuits and a pack of "Jelly Belly" jelly beans! I bought them, mainly to make my own opinion on those products, out of curiosity, although a part of me (my childish side) took them by pure and unashamed gourmandise.

JELLY BEAN is a naturally flavored gourmet confectionary made in California with real fruit juice and puree. This small-sized bean was invented at the very beginning of the 20th century. It has a soft gummy center (tracing it's origins back to Turkish Delights) and a hard shell. Back in the 1930's it became an Easter candy as it resembles an egg. "Jelly Beans" come in various flavors such as juicy pear, watermelon, coconut milk, chocolate, lemon, cherry, apple, orange, lime, raspberry, strawberry, grape, banana, manderine, peach, pink grapefruit, plum, etc...

Those sugary delights taste good because they are not chemically flavored. Of course, they are sugar-based, but at least, contrarily to many other sweets, they are relatively additive-free (colorings and glucose only). So, if you want to experience a strong and fruity taste explosion that makes your tastebuds go wild and leaves a pleasant lingering sweetness in your mouth, then the "Jelly Belly Beans" are for you!

OREO BISCUIT is popular chocolate sandwich cookie which consists of a sweet, white filling (commonly referred to as 'cream' or 'creme'), sandwiched between two circular chocolate wafers. This biscuit was first produced in 1912 and is now the best selling cookies of the 20th century. Like most industrial baked goods, "Oreo Biscuits" may contain a certain quantity of non-natural ingredients such as additives, glucose and flavors, but at least, they now contain no hydrogenated oils (trans fat)...

Although this cookie is labelled as being "the world's n°1 biscuit" or "milk's favorite biscuit", they are nonetheless very common/classic in flavor. While they might not taste bad, I would either not say that they really kick ass (as I expected they would after reading a lot of bragging about them). In fact, I consider them more like a "guilty and dirty pleasure/treat" rather than an item you'd die for, especially if you are a daring homebaker who knows what a real, good and natural cookie is. But I must point out that they are far from being the worst industrial biscuits I've tasted so far. In fact, they are quite better than the average ones I've had the opportunity (or unluck) to test...

28 comments:

  1. Je te laisses les bonbons, par contre je te prends tout le stock d'oreos !!! Bizzz Flo

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  2. je ne suis pas trop " bonbons " alors les jelly bean c'est pas pour moi , par contre les oréo biscuits j'ai déjà gouté et j'aime bien , mais je n'ai pas cherché a savoir de quoi ils sont faits
    un petit pêcher mignon de temps en temps , ça ne peut pas faire de mal ;-)

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  3. Moi j'aime les deux!!!! J'adooooooooooore!!!!!! Donc tu me donnes la part de Flo et Mounet!!! ;-)

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  4. Moi aussi je ma parttttttttttt

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  5. Bon ben moi je ne connais rien de tout ça! Alors je prends et les bonbons et les gâteaux pour ne pas mourir idiote! Et gourmande comme je suis, je suis certaine que j'aimerai!

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  6. Les Jelly Beans me font de l'oeil à chaque fois que je passe à la caisse de mon supermarché.

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  7. Je suis bien d'accord avec toi : rien de meilleur au goût et à la santé que les desserts et biscuits maison !

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  8. Tes photos sont ... enfin c'est digne d'un magazine !

    Bravo !

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  9. Moi j'accepte ce qui est naturel ! le reste je laisse, c'est ma devise.
    Donc je choisis les bonbons aux fruits.
    bises

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  10. oreo, je suis fan : y'en a au monop et je m'en fais une petite cure de temps en temps :op

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  11. Ben moi je ne connais ni l'un ni l'autre mais je prends les deux sans hésiter, tes photos me font tellement envie!

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  12. Jelly Belly's rock. I love that they also have "recipes" that you can make by combining flavors.

    Oreos, I've never been a huge fan of. I don't know what it is... I guess I tend to prefer vanilla sandwich cookies.

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  13. You've done a great job, not only with the photography but also making me want to go out and get some oreos and jelly beans :)

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  14. Hi there you have a great blog,lovely recipes. Feel free to visit my blog too :) we love oreo biscuits dip them in milk yummy

    Jeena xx

    click here for food recipes

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  15. I have to admit, although not a candy freak, I do like Jelly Bellies. I have only purchased them for treats for the kids at Easter and have received a big box for Christmas once. What was so fun about the box, it came with a recipe card on how to mix several flavors to get flavorful treats--like chocolate pudding, fruit salad, etc. Now, that was fun. The kids, however, do go crazy of Oreos. Go figure. xo

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  16. J'adore les jelly beans ... Et je suis contente que tu aies goûté les Oreos pour moi ! Je suis toujours très dubitative quand je passe devant, dans mon supermarché ! Leur aspect, je crois ... Eh bien je goûterai, la prochaine fois ! POur ne pas mourir idiote ! Et puis il y a plein de trucs pas transcendants que j'adore, moi aussi ! ;o))
    Bisous et bonne journée
    Hélène

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  17. les bonbons je connais j'en ai acheté récemment par contre les oreo je ne connais pas du tout, merci de nous montrer tous ces produits ;-)
    bizzzz

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  18. Je n'ai même pas vu de jelly beans aux USA! Ca sent l'arnaque!!! :( coconut, cherry, watermelon, banana, plum... j'aimerais tout, je le sens! Enfin bon en contrepartie je ne suis pas fana non plus des oreos, rien d'exceptionnel! Si ce n'est la notoriété et l'image de marque!

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  19. FLO: OK ;-P! Bises...

    MOUNET: Tu as raisons, une petite "cochonnerie gourmande" de temps en temps, ça fait du bien ;-P!

    CLAIRECHEN: Pas de problème ;-P!!!

    PAPRIKAS: Tu auras ta part ;-P!!!

    EOL: Tu as bien raison :-D!

    FLO BRETZEL: Je sais ce que tu veux dire ;-P!

    CATHERINE: Oui, ça c'est sûr!

    ERYN: Et bien, tu me flattes, merci infiniment :-D!!!

    MICHETTE: Une bonne devise! Bises...

    MARION: Ahhhh, ces supermarchés ;-P...

    MISSVAL: Merci :-D!

    MARCY: Thanks for visiting my blog and for leaving a comment! I'll have to find some of those recipes. I guess Oreos are just pretty looking, but very average taste-wise...

    CYNTHIA: Thanks for that great compliment ;-P!!!

    JEENA: Thanks for the kind comment and for passing by! I'm glad you like my blog :-D! xxx

    ROSA: Like you, I'm not a huge candy freak, but I enjoy Jelly Bellies... Yes, I don't know why they go crazy over those Oreos! xxx

    HÉLÈNE (cannes): Moi de même! Je suis passée plusieurs fois devant avant de les essayer... Tu as raison de vouloir te faire ton opinion en ce qui concerne les Oreos. J'aime aussi certaines choses pas très orthodoxes! Bises et bonne journée!

    DOMI: De rien :-D! Bises...

    $HA: Ils existe là-bas car tous les américains que je connais en ont mangé... Je les trouve plutôt cool! Comme toi, je pense que les Oreos ne cassent pas la baraque (à part avec leur look)!

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  20. Buttered popcorn flavored Jelly Bellys are the best!

    My husband and son like Oreos (my son only eats the middle) but they don't reallu do anything for me.

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  21. Quel intéressant article. Je ne connais ces produits que de nom. Il semble pourtant que les biscuits se vendent aussi ici. Si j'en trouve, j'essayerai, sinon je demanderai à ma poule californienne de m'en envoyer.
    Bien à toi
    verO

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  22. j'adore les oréos..les jelly beans bof..par contre ca fait du bien de se fair edes petotes plaisirs gourmands chimiques de temps en yemps

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  23. The best way to have oreo cookies, if you have some left, is to break them to small pieces and mix them with slightly thawed vanilla ice cream, put the “new” ice cream back in the freezer and enjoy a few hours later or… if you have a strong plunger-mixer, mix three broken oreos to a big glob of vanilla ice cream, ready to eat and very tasty.
    Did you know that the Harry Potter mania brought in crazy flavours of Jelly Bellies? Don’t know if they are available in your country, not even sure if you’d venture tasting them: dirt, spinach, booger, ear wax, grass and sardine are only a few of them!

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  24. You wait till you try tim tams! Now they ARE the world's best biscuit!

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  25. Jelly Bellys were my brother's favorite, and Oreos were always my husband's favorite. I personally was a Snickers gal. ;)

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  26. J'achete les 2! Je garde les Jelly Beans pour Easter, mais les Oreo, j'en ai toujours dans le placard, meme si la boite dure un certain temps... nous ne sommes pas si gourmands qu'on peut le croire ;-)

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  27. THECOOKBOOK JUNKIE: I'd love to taste those! I don't really understand why so many people crave Oreos...

    VERO: Tu devrais trouver les Oreos chez Coop ou Manor et les Jelly Bellies chez Coop ou Denner...

    SAB: De temps en temps, ça ne fait pas de mal ;-P...

    VIBI: Thanks for those recipes! I wouldn't mind testing the first version... No, I didn't know that. I'm not sure that I'd like to taste such terrible flavors ;-(!

    KIRIEL DU PAPILLON: I believe you ;-P! I wonder how they taste...

    SUSAN: Snickers tasted better in the past, though...

    CONFITUREMAISON: Ne t'en fais pas, la gourmandise n'est pas un vilain défaut ;-P!...

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  28. J'adore les deux. C'est rare que je craque pour des bonbons, mais les jelly beans, je finis le paquet. Les oreos aussi d'ailleurs. Completement accoutumants.

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