Jelly beans

Jelly beans

Jelly beans are a type of small, sugar-based candies. A jelly bean has a soft, jellied center covered by a colored shell. Their size and shape are similar to uncooked shelled beans, hence the name. The centers are flavored, often with fruit or spices that match their outer color. They are commercially manufactured, not made at home.

It is generally thought that jelly beans first surfaced in 1861, when Boston confectioner William Schrafft urged people to send his jelly beans to soldiers during the American Civil War. It was not until July 5, 1905, that jelly beans were mentioned in the Chicago Daily News. The advertisement publicized bulk jelly beans sold by volume for nine cents per pound, according to the book The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites.

Today, most historians contend that jelly beans were first linked with celebrations of Easter in the United States sometime in the 1930s for their egg-like shape.^[1]

The American National Jelly Bean Day is on April 22.^[2]