When I texted Sarah that picture yesterday, she said something about me having too much free time on my hands. I swear I don’t. It was, at the time, a mindless activity while I was downloading some photos.
Every time I grab a bag of jelly beans (Brach’s tiny jelly bird eggs only), I look in the little cellophane window to see what colors I see the most of. I know it sounds silly, because I rationalized that the bags probably settle a lot during shipping and I was sure the colors were evenly distributed.
I was wrong.
Over the weekend, Nick grabbed my current open bag of jelly beans and went rooting around for a red one, which happens to be my go-to color. Even though the bag was nearly full, there were no more red. He started to get on my case about eating them all, but I told him that there were only a few in the bag to begin with. While I may have looked like the cat who swallowed the canary, that’s when I got to wondering… exactly how many WERE there? I took two bags apart and divided them up based on their colors. The first bag:
Green – 6
Orange – 14
Black – 40
Yellow – 37
White – 40
Red – 9
Pink – 36
Purple – 71
Seventy-one purple! Compared to only 9 red. Crazy. And the second bag?
Green – 21
Orange – 10
Black – 68
Yellow – 19
White – 47
Red – 6
Pink – 71
Purple – 8
My dad likes the black ones, so he’s going to be pretty happy about those stats, but really? Again, with the red. What gives? And then to go from 71 purple to 8? And 36 pink to 71? My mom thought that maybe the red color was more expensive to run, but what about the all the other inconsistencies?
Brach’s is the only brand of jelly beans that we eat, but I wish they would get with the program and even up the colors a bit. Or sell more than just the black ones by themselves. But then again, for me, maybe it’s good that they don’t. I’m likely to rot my teeth out otherwise.
Some things in life just aren’t fair. And Brach’s bags of jelly beans is apparently right up there. Brach’s, what gives?
Project 365
March 29, 2011, Photo #87
Every time he sees the picture of the Shamrock Shake, Nick asks for one, and I always say no. Tonight, on my way home from the gym, I stopped and got one for the kids to share. Neither of them had ever had one, nor any milkshake for that matter. They were excited beyond belief but lost interest about 25% of the way through. Love that.
*This post featuring massive quantities of jelly beans and a milk shake was not sponsored by our local dentist.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, I’ve never commented your blog before, but they decide which flavors are people’s favorites and then put more of those in each bag on purpose. That’s why whenever you buy a bag of something with different flavors, you’ll most likely get more of one color than another. (:
Hey Kyle. I totally get putting in more of what people want, sure. What I *don’t* get is the inconsistency. If purple is a hot flavor (71 in one bag), then why only 8 in the next, you know?
The heart of jelly beans is somewhere between fascinating and OMG-too-much-time-on-your-hands. But Brachs should listen up and even out the bags. It’s just too off.
The heart kind of just fell together, I swear. Now that Joanna has mentioned M&Ms…
Whoa that is crazy! I remember doing something similar with M+M’s when I was younger. You should write them a letter about the disparities…say it’s ruining your child’s Easter spirit.
Haha, they’re messing with MY Easter spirit!
I like the all black bags which are hard to find but when I do I buy ’em out!
I had to crack up when I saw the Shamrock shake. My husband has been picking one up every night now for the past few weeks on his way home from work…They are just too addicting!!!! They are definitely delicious!
I know it’ll probably sound crazy, but I sort of love the unpredictable nature of a Brach’s bag of candy — or any candy, really. Like you, the reds are my favorites — though I’d totally settle for a pink, too. It’s a lovely surprise when the bag is full of colors I love!
But only six reds in a big bag like that? Pssh. That would be An Issue.
Black and purple…ick! i like the orange and pink. that is a crazy out of whack distribution. they should really do better.
I actually complained to Just Born one time about how few reds there were in my Mike & Ike’s! They explained that the put all of the jelly beans into a big mixer, then fill the bags from the mixer. So it is pretty random. I think everyone likes cherry (red) so they should ALL put more red in to begin with, but I could be wrong. :-) I like the black ones. Even as a kid I didn’t like pink, purple or white jelly beans. Waste of good sugar, I say! Ha!