I've just been sharing my review of the fabulous 40 Flavour Gift Box as well as a recipe for Jelly Belly Easter Nest Cupcakes, but I thought you might also like some fun facts about the world's favourite jelly beans !
Did you know ... ? :
The founding fathers of the Jelly Belly Candy Company were two brothers who in 1869 opened a candy and ice cream parlour in Illinois, USA. The company today is run by the fourth, fifth and sixth generations of the same family and is still at the cutting edge of candy manufacturing.
Jelly Belly beans were created in 1976. They were the first jelly beans to be sold in single flavours and to come with a menu of flavours. The original eight flavours of Jelly Belly beans introduced in 1976 were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Liquorice and Grape.
Blueberry flavour was created to match the blue in the American flag so the company would have red, white and blue. For Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration in 1981 over three tons of red, white and blue Jelly Belly beans were consumed during the festivities.
Very Cherry remained the most popular flavour of Jelly Belly beans for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn moved into first place. In 2003, Very Cherry moved back into first place.
Jelly Belly is now available in over 63 countries worldwide. Each one has their favourite flavours and they’re all different. The reigning number one flavour in the UK is Strawberry Cheesecake.
Currently, there are over 100 different flavours of Jelly Belly beans.
During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Jelly Belly beans were served in the Oval Office and Airforce One. A holder was designed for the first plane so the jar of Jelly Belly beans would not spill during flight. Liquorice was President Reagan’s favourite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavour. Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when President Reagan sent them on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger.
It can take 21 days to create a single bean! Each part of the process is incredibly important and designed to enhance the flavor and texture of the Jelly Belly bean. In between each stage there is a “resting” period to allow the flavours to develop. That is why it takes so long.
Over 2,000,000 Jelly Belly beans are created each hour and over 16 billion beans per year.
British fans are brilliant at creating flavours and register their idea all the time on http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/flavours/recipes/your-recipes/
Over 16,000,000,000 Jelly Belly beans will be eaten worldwide in 2014. That’s enough to circle the earth 4 times. If all the Jelly Belly beans eaten in the last two years had been placed end to end, they would reach further than the moon (roughly 366,000 kilometres).
If I've got you in the mood for jelly beans now, I have some great news for you. Jelly Belly have kindly offered to send a Mr Jelly Belly bean machine to one lucky Madhouse Family Reviews reader. Just fill in your details on the Rafflecopter widget to go in the draw.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
UK only. Closing date : 10/5/14
T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray !
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