When: July 31
Jump for Jelly Beans Day on July 31st celebrates one of America's most beloved small candies. The jelly bean has been around since the Civil War era and became a cultural touchstone through its association with Easter baskets and Ronald Reagan's presidency. Its exterior shell — a hard candy gloss — and chewy interior are made through a surprisingly time-consuming process.
Ronald Reagan kept a jar of jelly beans on his desk throughout his presidency — the Jelly Belly company made 3.5 tons of blueberry-flavored beans specifically for his 1981 inauguration.
Jelly beans first appear in American advertising in an 1861 candy catalog from Boston, making them one of the oldest mass-marketed American penny candies. They were reportedly sent to Union soldiers during the Civil War as shelf-stable sweets for shipping. The technique behind them — a gel center built up with a hard shell through repeated sugar coating — combines two older traditions: Turkish Delight's cornstarch gel interior and the Jordan almond's layered hard candy shell. What America did was combine the two into something you could buy in bulk for a penny. Making a jelly bean takes between 7 and 21 days. The centers are formed from a mixture of cornstarch, sugar, and flavoring, shaped, and dried. They then go through a process called "panning" — placed in a rotating drum while sugar syrup is applied in thin coats that dry before the next is added, layer by layer, until the shell reaches the correct thickness. The final gloss coat goes on last and gives the distinctive shine. The...