National Jelly Bean Day is observed each year on April 22. While candies made in a similar manner existed before the jelly bean, Boston confectioner William Schrafft made them popular during the Civil War. With their firm exterior, jelly beans were the first candies to be sold by the pound. Schrafft encouraged his customers to send them to Union soldiers.
During the 1930s, jelly beans became closely associated with the Easter holiday but are now enjoyed year round. Jelly Beans were Ronald Reagan’s favorite treat.
- They were President Reagan’s favorite candy and he used them to help him quit smoking when he was the governor of California.
- As part of his first inauguration in 1981, 7,000 pounds of jelly beans were ordered and distributed
- Each year in the U.S, there are 16 billion jelly beans manufactured just for Easter. This is enough to circle the Earth more than 3 times if they were laid end to end.
- The jelly bean is associated with Easter because of its egg-like shape.
- In the early 20th century, a “jelly-bean” was slang for a man of style and no substance.
- They were the first candy to be sold by weight rather than by piece.
- The first jelly bean was created by an unknown American candy maker in the 1800s. An 1861 advertisement recommended sending jelly beans to soldiers fighting in the Civil War.
- The original eight flavors of Jelly Belly beans introduced in 1976 were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape.
- Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when President Reagan sent them on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger.
- They use a process called “panning” which creates the hard outer shell while preserving the gooey middle.
- It takes 7 to 21 days to make a jelly bean.
- Most jelly bean assortments include eight flavors.
- They were originally sold by color and people would buy a bag of red or a bag of green.
- Each year in the U.S, there are 16 billion jelly beans manufactured just for Easter. This is enough to circle the Earth more than 3 times if they were laid end to end.
- Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans from the Harry Potter books and movies are manufactured by Jelly Belly and include flavors like ear wax, pepper, avocado, marmalade and caviar.
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