How does a humble penny candy end up in The White House, The Space Shuttle, and eaten enough each year to circle Earth six times?
Meet the Jelly Bean.
No one knows where it began. Food experts believe it was the love child of Turkish Delight – a jelly candy covered with powdered sugar that’s been around for thousands of years – and seventeenth century hard-shelled Jordan Almonds served to French Royalty.
The “parents” came to America. One story says that William F. Schrafft of Boston (the “bean town”) combined them into small, bean-like candies with a chewy center and hard shell. Schrafft called them “Jelly Beans,” encouraging people to send the beans as gifts to Union Soldiers in the Civil War.
While Schrafft expanded into restaurants and motels, eventually bought out by larger companies, there was another enterprising kid on the block.
Gustave Goelitz.
Goelitz was a German immigrant who opened a confectionary business with his brothers, Albert and George. The Goelitz Confectionary earned its fame with candy corn. They eventually went into producing Jelly Beans.
By the early 1900s, the Jelly Bean was a popular penny candy sold in sweet shops across America.
Jelly beans became an American icon. They were even found in slang. A “Jelly Bean” was an attractive, shallow, useless man. In 1922, author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a short story, The Jelly Bean:
Jim Powell was a Jelly-bean . . . he grew lazily all during Jelly-bean season, which is every season, down in the land of Jelly-beans well below the Mason-Dixon line.
In the 1960s, the third and fourth generations of the Goelitz family were running the company. They introduced an updated Mini Jelly Bean, infused with natural flavor, inside and out. President Ronald Reagan discovered them when he was trying to quit smoking. “We can hardly start a meeting or make a decision,” the President wrote in a 1973 letter to the company, “without passing the Jelly Beans.”
Jelly Beans in The White House
After his two terms, Reagan welcomed President-Elect Bill Clinton to The White House with a jar of red, white, and blue Jelly Beans. Encyclopedia Britannica reported that the President mused, “you can tell a lot about a fella’s character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful.”
President Reagan made sure the Space Shuttle Challenger Astronauts had Jelly Beans on their 1983 mission. They caught them in their mouths as the Jelly Beans floated in weightlessness.
Check out the Jelly Bean portrait of President Reagan below.
A few years later, candy-maker David Klein revolutionized the bean. He created tiny Jelly Beans infused with quirky natural flavors like cream soda and root beer. He named the candy Jelly Belly after his favorite folk and blues singer, Lead Belly. Klein dubbed himself Mr. Jelly Belly.
In 1980, Mr. Jelly Belly sold his rights to the Goelitz Company for $5 million. In 2001, Goelitz renamed itself Jelly Belly Candy Company.
Today, the food conglomerate, Ferrara, owns Jelly Belly Candy Company. Jelly Bellies report an annual revenue of over $190 million.
Not bad.
There are over 100 different Jelly Bellies from classics like buttered popcorn, very cherry, and top banana to collections, mixes, and assortments. Mixes include Sunkist Citrus, Snapple, Cold Stone, and Boba Milk Tea. Flavor collections include jewels, kids, super fruits, cocktail classics, and sports.
A Jelly Belly Factory, compliments of Grendelkhan, Creative Commons
Meet the Belly Flop.
Belly flops are imperfect beans plucked off the production line. They’re still good but not always what you expect. Jelly Belly suggests that “when you’re feeling adventurous and are open to whatever tasty goodness happens your way” give belly flops a try – at half the price.
Purists might go for strange flavors in Bertie Botts (Harry Potter) like dirt, earthworm, and liver or Krispy Kreme Doughnuts like chocolate iced custard filled and original glazed.
If you’re not sure, try your hand at BeanBoozled, a Russian roulette flavor game. There are 10 identical colors and 20 flavors. Hit the spinner and you might get moldy cheese or caramel corn; black licorice or skunk; toasted marshmallow or stinkbug.
Risky food play.
If that’s daunting, check out the Fiery Five or join a Jelly Belly Factory Tour. Search the skies for a Jelly Belly airplane or the streets for a team car. Try one of the official Jelly Belly recipes, like Mud Pie (2 chocolate pudding + 1 very cherry) or coffee cake (cappuccino + buttered popcorn + French vanilla). You can check them out at jellybelly.com.
Have lots of yummy fun!
Wow! Once again, you take a ubiquitous, every day treat that I certainly take for granted, and probably many people do, and infuse it with a life of its own: a rich history that ties into world events and evolution in a fascinating and surprisingly complex way. I will now look at the humble jellybean, which I am quite a fan of, with new appreciation !
What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & assist other users like its helped me. Great job.