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The Keystone state is either the cool place where natural fruit flavors rule, or a bumpkin stuck in the backwoods bushes. In a world where science has created jelly beans flavored like cotton candy, bubble gum and coffee, the favorite here in Penn’s Woods is, well, good old blueberry.
At least that’s what candystore.com claims, after purportedly poring through 10 years of sales data, multiple surveys and Facebook polls. The site — which brags it has been “serving your candy needs since 2007” — served up the top jelly bean flavor for every state and the top 30 flavors nationwide.
We are, apparently, a country currently boffo over “buttered popcorn” jelly beans, and we are half-hearted about fruit flavors, which make up less than two-thirds of the list, debuting at number four with watermelon. Black licorice and cinnamon were second and third.
The top preference in Pennsylvania, blueberry, is 13th on the national list, outdone by the fruitless flavors of cotton candy (12), and toasted marshmallow (9). For the record, the top 30 list ended with pomegranate, a bit of a surprise.
There are only 19 fruits in the top 30 jelly bean flavors, and that’s if you include “tutti frutti” as a fruit flavor (it came in at number 25). Which means pomegranate as a jelly bean flavor ranks 19th among fruits, even though pomegranate as a food doesn’t crack the national top 20 favorite fruit list compiled by the Produce Marketing Association. (Blueberries, by comparison, are the eighth most popular fruit on that list).
We apparently like the idea of pomegranates more than we like pomegranates.
Candystore.com compiled the jelly bean flavor list because a) Easter is coming and b) National Jelly Bean Day is April 22. Yes it’s true, Earth Day is also Jelly Bean Day. But the website does not stop there.
It has also listed each state’s favorite Valentine’s Day candy (M&Ms in Pennsylvania), Christmas candy (candy canes) and Halloween candy, (M&Ms again) making us consistent and/or boring.
Just for the heck of it, the website also asked people what the worst Christmas candy is. The national winner (or loser) was the Christmas Tree nougat. You know, little round squishy white things about the size of a quarter, with red stripes on the edge and a green triangle in the middle intended, presumably, to look like a Christmas tree.
Considering that buttered popcorn is the national jelly bean king, Candystore.com is silent on the obvious follow-up question.
What’s our favorite popcorn flavor?