RECENTLYWhat is small, bean shaped, fruit flavored, and sweet to eat? Did you guess the jelly bean? If you did, you are correct. The jelly bean is a semi-soft candy shaped like a bean and generally fruit flavored. No one knows it’s exact origins, although it is suspected that the soft center was based on the Middle-Eastern treat Turkish Delight, while the sugar shell is almost exactly like the shell on Jordan Almonds that dates back to the late 1700’s.
The jelly bean was first introduced in the early 1900’s along with other shaped candies. Because of it’s small size and long shelf life jelly beans were sold as penny candy especially during the Great Depression. By dividing jelly beans by color, candy companies were able to sell them for specific holidays. Today, jelly beans are mostly sold at Easter, probably because of they’re resemblance to Easter eggs. Most people associate jelly beans with the Easter bunny. However, Christians can use jelly beans to witness to Christ with the poem Color’s of Christ:
Orange is for Heaven so bright (2 Samuel 22:13-14)
Yellow is for God’s perfect light (Revelation 21: 23)
Black is for the sins we’ve made (Romans 3: 23)
Red is for the blood He gave ( Romans 5: 8 )
White is for our cleansing from sin (Psalm 51: 1-2)
Green is for our new life in Him (Colossians 1:10)
Pink is for His free gift to share (Matthew 28:19-20)
Purple is for the crowns we’ll wear (2 Timothy 4:8)
The witness of the jelly bean is true,
Trust in Jesus because he loves you! (Romans 10: 13)
Sarah A. Keith, a Sunday school teacher made this poem to teach children about the true meaning of Easter; that Jesus died for our sins and rose again three days later. Thereby conquering death for our sakes.
In 1976 Herman Goelitz Candy Co., Inc., now known as Jelly Belly, created the first gourmet jelly bean and ever since then jelly beans have been considered a delicacy. One of the jelly beans most famous fans was former President Ronald Reagan. He liked them so much he always kept a large jar of them on the Cabinet Room table so he could enjoy them during meetings. And did you know, he even kept a secret stash on Air Force One.
All jelly beans start out in a chemistry laboratory. In the lab each new favor and color combination is made in small test batches. After the samll batch is made it is then tested again, this time for visual and taste appeal. If the jelly beans passes these tests then they are sent to stores on a trial run. If the flavor becomes popular it will be a new product. However, before the beans make it to the store and then your mouth, they need to be manufactured.
The shaping of a single jelly bean begins with a process called starch casting. First, a machine called a mogul deposits a layer of corn starch in a plastic tray and moves the tray to a machine die. The machine die presses dents into the corn starch. Each tray holds several hundred to 1,200 of these tiny dents, each of which is the exact size and shape of a jelly bean’s center. The mogul then moves the trays to the filling station where hot candy syrup is squirted into the tiny molds. From the mogul, conveyers carefully take the trays to cooling rooms where the temperature and humidity is carefully controlled. There the candy syrup cools and hardens into the jelly beans soft chewy center.Next, the trays of candy centers are dumped out into large tumbling pans. The corn starch from the molds absorbs the moisture during the cooling process and fortunately, is recycled; it is dried, reprocessed, and reused for more jelly beans. Obviously nothing goes to waste! The centers, which are all the same flavor in each batch, are placed in stainless steel vessels called pans. The pans are globe shaped and hollow with an opening at one end of the globe. Like regular globes, the pans are tilted on their axis. This makes it easy to put the candies in and for workers to add the other ingredients, such as coloring and additional flavoring, through the openings. At the bottom end or “axis end” the pan is attached to a rotating power source. The pans turn the jelly beans several hundred times per minute.
Sugar is added through the opening, which gradually builds around the soft centers. This forms the harder outer coating. Workers add these colors and flavors throughout the process by pouring beakers of syrup into the pan. At this point the jelly beans are almost done. All that is left is adding the glaze that gives the jelly beans their distinctive shine. A confectioner’s sugar glaze is added while the jelly beans are still turning in the pans. Finally, the jelly beans are now done. What started out as a mold full of sugar syrup is now a full fledged jelly bean! The panning process gives the jelly beans their flavor, color, hard sugar coatings, and shiny glaze and takes six to ten days, depending on the kind of jelly beans and their manufacturer.
So next time you see jelly beans at your grocery store, please, stop and remember the humble beginning of the this classic treat!
