Jelly Belly
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- For the disease, see pseudomyxoma peritonei.
Jelly Belly makes many varieties of naturally flavored beans, including pear, watermelon, root beer, very cherry and buttered popcorn. The success of their brand led to a jelly-bean renaissance, particularly in the 1980s, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan began keeping a jar of them on his desk in the White House.
The product is considerably more expensive than most retail candies, costing around $16.60 USD for a 2.2-pound box.
Factory
The Jelly Belly Factory, located in Fairfield, California, was named "Best Factory Tour in America" by a 2005 Reader's Digest article. The daily tours, which are free for anyone, take visitors along suspended walkways over the rooms where the candy is manufactured, stopping them from time to time to watch video segments about what is going on below. Free samples are then distributed afterward.
The Fairfield Visitor Center also hosts birthday parties which include a tour of the factory and other entertainment.
Jelly Beans
The person responsible for the creative invention of Jelly Belly jelly beans was David Klein (1946). He created the concept of a new kind of jelly bean and hired Goelitz Candy Company to manufacture it, where candy manufacturer Marinus van Dam was employed at the time.
Marinus van Dam was born in Ooltgensplaat a township in Oostflakkee, Netherlands, on October 24, 1929. He immigrated to the United States after obtaining a candy manufacturing degree in the Netherlands and soon went to work for the Herman Goelitz candy company after arriving in the United States. He rose to the level of vice president before moving on to other companies and finally starting his own business Marich Confectionery.
When Marinus was asked how he developed the manufacturing of the Jelly Belly, he answered that most jelly beans at the time were cheap candy that had a 56% sugar content and were sold as penny candy. All jelly beans started out with plain, uncolored starch centers that were merely sweetened with sugar. Only the outer candy coating was colored and flavored. He wondered how he could bring this candy to the adult market, and his solution was to enhance the jelly beans so that they would appeal to everyone. The centers for the new jelly bean were colored and flavored with real fruit juices and natural flavors. This flavor enhancing process was also used on the outer candy shell. The finished Jelly Belly contained about half the sugar of the regular jelly bean, was more flavorful, and consequently healthier than the generic jelly beans sold in stores. David Klein sold the first Jelly Belly jelly beans in a small ice cream parlor in Alhambra, California in 1976. The first flavors were Very Cherry, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Grape, Licorice, Root Beer, and Cream Soda. Marinus died on January 6, 1997, but the candy he helped create continues.
Official 50 Flavors
Jelly Belly officially has fifty flavors that are made all year. Seasonal flavors such as Candy Cane are only produced at specific times of the year. Additionally, Jelly Belly frequently produces "rookie" flavors that sometimes replace beans in the 50 official flavors if they become popular enough. Here is a list of the current 50 official flavors:
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Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans
Another Jelly Belly product of note is Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which are based on a product featured in the Harry Potter series of children's books. As in the books, the jelly beans are produced in many different flavors, such as sardine, spinach, black pepper, and vomit, as well as more conventional flavors like green apple, popcorn, and watermelon. Flavors are routinely introduced and removed from the sets. The two newest flavors are Bacon and Rotten Egg. There are currently 20 flavors being sold:
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Sugar-Free Jelly Beans
Jelly Belly also produces sugar-free beans that come in ten flavors:
In addition to sugar-free beans, most varieties are Kosher certified by the "[KO]" Kosher service, which would make the product considered suitable for strict vegetarians as well.
Sport Beans
Sport Beans are a line of jelly beans specially formulated for athletes to consume during training or sports activity. They contain electrolytes and other chemicals that the body needs during such events. Currently, they come in four flavors:
JBz
JBz are a candy manufactured by The Jelly Belly Candy Company. They are chocolate candies with a flavored shell, similar to M&M's. The shell flavors are all based on Jelly Belly jelly bean flavors. They come in two varieties.JBz 20-Flavor Shell Flavors
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JBz Chocolate Assortment Flavors
The chocolate assortment was released after the 20-flavor JBz and contains flavors designed to pair with the chocolate filling. There are only five flavors:
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