View source for Jelly bean

{{Short description|Small bean-shaped candy with many different flavors}}
{{Other uses}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Infobox food
| image            = JellyBellyPile.JPG
| image_size       = 250px
| caption          = [[Jelly Belly]] jelly bean flavor and color assortment
| country          = [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
| region           =
| creator          = [[Schrafft's|William Schrafft]]
| course           =
| type             = [[Confectionery]]
| served           =
| variations       =
| calories         = 
| other            =
}}

'''Jelly beans''' are small [[bean]]-shaped [[sugar candy|sugar candies]] with soft [[sugar panning|candy shells]] and thick [[gel]] interiors (see [[gelatin]] and [[Gelatin dessert|jelly]]). The confection is primarily made of [[sugar]] and sold in a wide variety of colors. According to one common story, they existed as early as 1861, when [[Boston]] confectioner [[Schrafft's|William Schrafft]] urged people to buy them as gifts for soldiers in the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite news |title=A Bowl Full of Jelly Bean History |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/a-bowl-full-of-jelly-bean-history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417114004/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/a-bowl-full-of-jelly-bean-history |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |publisher=National Geographic}}</ref> A more definite reference appears in food testing records of the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] published in 1887.<ref>{{cite report|author=U.S. Department of Agriculture Division of Chemistry|title=Foods and Food Adulterants|year=1887|id=Bulletin No. 13|page=721}}</ref> Most historians suggest that jelly beans were first associated with celebrations of [[Easter]] in the United States sometime during the 1930s due to their egg-like shape.<ref>{{cite web |title= Jelly Beans: A Colorful History and Association with Easter |publisher= AT&T |url= http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=7733036&render=y&Table=&ch=fh&cat=hgarti&dcatid=2036&topcat=Article |access-date= 2011-05-10 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923175946/http://www.att.net/s/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=7733036&render=y&Table=&ch=fh&cat=hgarti&dcatid=2036&topcat=Article |archive-date= 2015-09-23 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

== Manufacture ==
The basic ingredients of jelly beans include [[sugar]], [[Tapioca#North America|tapioca]], [[corn syrup]], and [[pectin]] or [[starch]]. Relatively minor amounts of the emulsifying agent [[lecithin]], anti-foaming agents, an edible wax such as [[carnauba wax]] or [[beeswax]], [[salt]], and [[confectioner's glaze]] are also included.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gale-edit.com/products/volumes/jelly_beans.htm |title=How Products are Made – Volumes – Jelly Beans |publisher=Gale-Edit |access-date=2010-02-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516025711/http://www.gale-edit.com/products/volumes/jelly_beans.htm |archive-date=2010-05-16}}</ref> The ingredients that give each bean its character are also relatively small in proportion and may vary depending on the flavor.

== Slang ==
[[File:JellyBean1920.jpg|thumb|1920 sheet music cover]]

In United States [[slang]] during the 1910s and early 1920s, a "jellybean" or "jelly-bean" was a young man who dressed stylishly but had little else to recommend him, similar to the older terms ''[[dandy]]'' and ''[[fop]]''. [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]] published a story, ''The Jelly-Bean'', about such a character in 1920.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=df9vwsDDw2YC&pg=PA341 |title=Before Gatsby: the first twenty-six stories |first1=Francis Scott |last1=Fitzgerald|first2=Matthew Joseph |last2=Bruccoli|author-link2=Matthew Joseph Bruccoli|first3=Judith |last3=Baughman |chapter=The Jelly-Bean |year=2001 |page=341|publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=9781570033711}}</ref> While previously common, the slang word has fallen out of fashion as of 2025.

==In popular culture==
When [[Beatlemania]] broke out in 1964, fans of [[the Beatles]] in the US pelted the band with jelly beans (emulating fans in the UK who threw the British candy [[Jelly Babies]] at [[George Harrison]], who reportedly liked eating them).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/letter-reveals-the-beatles-fear-of-jelly-394038|title=Letter reveals The Beatles' fear of jelly baby fans|date=May 14, 2009|website=mirror}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090517055630/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6287594.ece "George Harrison's 1963 plea: stop throwing jelly babies at Beatles" ''The Times'' 14 May 2009]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/style/la-fo-jellybean19mar19-story.html|title=The secret life of jelly beans|first=Charles|last=Perry|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=19 March 2008}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Starch mogul]]
* [[Dragée]]
* [[Gummy bears]]
* [[Skittles (candy)]]
* [[Turkish delight]]
* [[Nerds (candy)]]
* [[Jelly babies]]
* [[Jujube (confectionery)]]
* [[Gumdrop]]
* [[Mint (candy)]]
* [[Jelly (preserves)]]
* [[Jelly (dessert)]]
* [[Jelly bean rule]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Jelly beans}}

{{Candy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:Candy]]
[[Category:Easter food]]
[[Category:American confectionery]]
[[Category:Food for children]]