Todays review is a face off...well...a jelly baby off between the new Tropical flavor Jelly Babies from Maynards Bassetts vs the Original Jelly Babies. It seems incomprehensible that a new variety could beat the originals, so this will be interesting!
Firstly, I must mention the new name: Jelly Babies were originally labelled as Bassetts, but Mondelez have put both the Maynards brand (which is on things like Wine Gums and Sports Mixture) and Bassetts (which includes the likes of Liquorice Allsorts - who can forget the character Bertie Bassett?) I'm not sure it's a good idea to lump two brands together like this, but I guess it fits with Mondelez' marketing strategy of making everything the same.
First up, the Tropical Jelly Babies. These come in mango, pineapple and BANANA (ooh!) flavours so straight off they are at a disadvantrage of containing less variety than the Originals, despite the fancy flavours. But are they good flavours? Yes, they are as it turns out! They are all fruity, tropical and lovely, and make for a nice change from regular Jelly Babies. The banana is interesting and if you like banana sweets you're bound to love them...it's a bit less artificial tasting than foam bananas. The mango and pineapple are both lovely, fitting the tropical theme perfectly. I really enjoyed these! 8 out of 10.
The originals are...well, the originals and the best! They have a wider variety of flavours, with citrus as well as berry, giving a nice contrast. The berry flavours distract a bit from the overly sweet citrus ones, and strawberry is always a winner. Overall, a fantastic and classic selection that has stood the test of time. 8.5 out of 10.
Overall then there's a clear winner - original Jelly Babies! The Tropical ones certainly make for a nice change and I've always loved tropical sweets in general - I used to love the tropical Fruit Pastilles available when I was a kid, more so than the originals. These Tropical Jelly Babies don't quite beat the originals, but they are certainly very tasty. And they get extra points just for including a banana flavor...because we need more banana flavor sweets on shelves!
Which ones did you prefer? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
