Jelly Beans Were Originally Sold By Color (Video)

National Jelly Bean Day is observed each year on April 22.

• With their firm exterior, jelly beans were the first candies to be sold by the pound.
• They were originally sold by color and people would buy a bag of red or a bag of green.
• In the mid-1800’s, the Jelly Bean was developed, bringing these flavorful rainbows into our lives and much joy with them. It is thought that the original bean was inspired by the sweet candy known as Turkish delight, comprised of rich fruit and powdered sugar. Perhaps the development was someone trying to find a less messy and more portable version of this already popular treat.
• 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.
• They were President Reagan’s favorite candy and he used them to help him quit smoking when he was the governor of California.
• A portrait of President Ronald Reagan made from 10,000 Jelly Belly beans hangs in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• It takes 7 to 21 days to make a jelly bean.
• Most jelly bean assortments include eight flavors.
• In the 1930s, Easter became the most popular time for jelly bean consumption.
• In 35 jelly beans, there are about 130 calories and 37 grams of sugar.
• Jelly Belly can make 1,680 Jelly Belly beans per second.
• If you laid all those Jelly Belly beans eaten last year end to end, they would circle the earth more than five times.
• The top three Jelly Belly jelly bean flavors in America are Very Cherry, Buttered Popcorn and Licorice.
• 4 Calories is the Number of calories in one Jelly Belly jelly bean.
• Very Cherry remained the most popular flavor of Jelly Belly for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn moved into first place. In 2003 Very Cherry moved back into top position by a mere 8 million beans.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Gourmet Gift Baskets

Multivu

Jelly Belly

Tropical Foods

Mental Floss

YouTube.com/Alex Lo