Buttered Popcorn Is the Most Popular Jelly Bean Flavor in America

Published 04-15-2019

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For a sweet treat, jelly beans sure stir up a lot of controversy. Those who love black licorice beans, for example, really, really love their favorite flavor, and those who hate them tend to spit them out faster than the Easter bunny can hop. Some other varieties cause equally strong feelings. But when CandyStore.com dug into which jelly bean is our natural favorite, the answer was, well, a movie star.

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That movie star would be buttered popcorn jelly beans, an unusual hit of a flavor that may make you think of matinees rather than Easter baskets. Buttered popcorn took over the crown from controversial black licorice in 2018, and held on to it again this year.

The site utilized over 11 years of candy sales data, plus the results from over 23,000 surveys, to map out jelly bean preferences by state as well as rank the top 21 jelly bean flavors in the nation. The site also notes that "the results are not specific to any one brand of jelly bean."

After buttered popcorn, cinnamon jelly beans took the No. 2 spot overall, followed by black licorice, cherry and watermelon. Juicy pear, toasted marshmallow, orange, strawberry and green apple round out the top 10 most popular beans. Meanwhile, cotton candy and root beer flavors are rising steadily in popularity. Plan your Easter egg hunts accordingly.

State by state, things get interesting. Who are all these people in states like Ohio, Minnesota and Alaska who just can't get enough black licorice beans? Montana makes a rare play for cotton candy, and why is New York selecting "sour"? That's not even really a flavor! No matter what flavor you prefer, we can probably all agree that jelly beans are one of the best Easter candies of all time.
