candy

Jelly Beans: Little Nuggets of Sweetness

April 1, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you think a bag of jellybeans should come with a warning label: “STOP NOW or you’ll keep eating until they’re gone?”

It’s pretty darn hard not to love those little nuggets of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth!

Americans eat 16 billion jellybeans at Easter – if they were lined up end to end they would circle the earth nearly three times.

Where Did Jellybeans Come From?

The gummy insides of jellybeans are thought to have originated from the centuries old treat, Turkish Delight. Jellybean outsides are just like the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17^th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jellybean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged citizens to send candy to Union soldiers. Jellybeans were the first bulk candy and they became one of the staples of the penny candy that was sold by weight in the early 1900s. Because of their egg shape, which can be taken as representing fertility and birth, they became popular as Easter candy around 1930.

Standard jellybeans come in fruit flavors but there are now a huge number of flavors like spiced, mint, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola. They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – don’t you wonder how many chemicals are in those?).

Teenee Beanee jelly beans and Just Born jellybeans are Pareve & O/U; Jelly Bellies are certified OU Kosher.

Do You Eat Them By The Handful Or Pick and Choose?

Do you eat your jellybeans one at a time, or do you gobble them up by the handful? What about colors and flavors – do you pick out your favorites or just eat them altogether?

70% of kids aged 6–11 say they prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time
23% say they eat several at once
Boys (29%) are more likely to eat a handful than girls (18%)
Kids say their favorite Easter jellybean flavors are cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%)

What’s In The Hard Shelled Nugget Of Sweetness?

Jelly beans are primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin (Jelly Bellies don’t), corn syrup, modified food starch, and less than 0.5% of citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, confectioners glaze, pectin, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, magnesium hydroxide, and artificial colors.

The traditional jellybean has flavor only in the shell. In 1976, the Jelly Belly (Goelitz) Candy Company introduced their gourmet jellybeans, Jelly Bellies, which are smaller and softer than the traditional kind and are flavored both inside and outside. Jelly Belly makes about 50 different flavors of gourmet jellybeans.

Calories in jellybeans:

Even though they may give you Technicolor insides, jellybeans are fat free. On average:

10 small jellybeans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
10 large jellybeans (1 ounce or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories (4 calories a piece), or about 100 calories in a single serving (25 beans)

Jelly Bellies

Jelly Bellies were invented in 1976 and were the first jellybeans to be sold in single flavors and a menu of flavor choices.
It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jellybean.
Very Cherry was the most popular Jelly Belly flavor for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn took over. Very Cherry moved back into the top spot by only 8 million beans in 2003.
Jelly Bellies were the first jellybeans in outer space – they were sent on the space shuttle Challenger (1983) by President Reagan, a big jellybean fan.
Jelly Bellies don’t contain gelatin and are suitable for vegetarians, but some strict vegans may have issues with the beeswax and shellac used to give them their final buff and polish.
Jelly Belly jellybeans do not contain any wheat, rye, barley, or oats in the basic recipe. The modified food starch used to manufacture them is cornstarch and all ingredients are free of dairy.

If you want more fun facts about Easter Candy head on over to Amazon for Easter Candy Facts and Fun. It’s a lot of fun info for just 99 cents.

Memories Of Childhood: Heart-Shaped Candy With A Special Message

February 13, 2014 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Do you remember getting — or giving – those pastel candy hearts and secretly hoping that you’d get one with a special message? Maybe you still share them with those special to you – or help your kids pick the ones they want to share.

“Be Mine,” “Kiss me,” “XOXO”

The brightly colored hearts with familiar sayings — known as conversation hearts, motto hearts, and sweethearts — have been a Valentine’s Day treat since 1902. Their manufacturer, NECCO, the New England Confectionery Company in business since 1847, sells more than 8 billion candy conversation hearts a year.

How Did Candy Conversation Hearts Get To Be A Symbol Of Valentine’s Day?

Giving a gift of candy with an inscribed message can be traced back to the American colonists who shared homemade hard candy with messages etched into the surface with their sweethearts.

Years later after developing the process of printing red vegetable dye mottos on candy, the founder of NECCO and his brother turned this tradition into a business.

The candy’s original shape wasn’t a heart, but a seashell shape called a “cockle.” A message was written on a colored slip of paper that was wedged into the cockle’s shell.

NECCO started producing candy with mottos stamped on them in 1900, but the candy was shaped like horseshoes and baseballs that allowed for longer printed sayings like “How long shall I have to wait?” and “Pray be considerate.” The candy called Sweethearts wasn’t shaped as a heart until 1902.

The original candies with printed sayings were called “motto hearts.” The sayings and flavors have been updated over the years with new ones added periodically. Some of the newer flavors are strawberry, green apple, lemon, grape, orange, and blue raspberry and new sayings include “Tweet Me,” “Text Me,” “You Rock,” “Soul Mate,” “Love Bug,” and “Me + You.”

Candy Heart Facts

NECCO still uses the original recipe, process, and machines they used at the turn of the century to make the candy, producing 100,000 pounds a day. It takes about 11 months to produce the more than eight billion pieces — or about 13 million pounds – of colorful candy sweethearts that are sold in the six weeks before Valentine’s Day. The little hearts with messages account for 40% of the Valentine candy market, just behind – you guessed it – chocolate!

Although you’d be hard pressed to call them nutritious, the candy hearts are fat free, sodium free, and a caloric bargain at about 3 calories for each small heart and about 6 calories for each larger “Motto” heart.

How Much Halloween Candy Will You Swipe From Kids’ Trick or Treat Bags?

October 28, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Come on, ‘fess up. What do you do? Do you just randomly grab candy out of trick or treat bags – or are you more selective? If your kids go trick or treating, when they get home do you dump everything in the bag on the table and go through it to hunt down your favorites?

Like it or not – candy rules on Halloween. Adults may dread the easy accessibility of candy – it’s everywhere – but secretly, a whole lot of us can’t wait to get our hands on our favorite kid candy.

Americans buy nearly 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween. On average, we eat 24 pounds of candy a year, probably a whole lot of it right around this time. The most popular types of candy, in order, are: chocolate, chewy candies, and hard candy.

What Do You Go For First?

Trick or Treat Bags – plastic pumpkins and colorful bags loaded with a collection of sweet memories and some dental nightmares.

If you’ve ever swiped candy from your kid’s trick or treat bag, don’t feel guilty. According to the National Confectioners Association you’re certainly not alone. Ninety percent of parents confess they occasionally dip into their kid’s stash.

And they do it big time! Parents eat one candy bar out of every two a child brings home. Favorite targets are snack-sized chocolate bars (70%), candy-coated chocolate pieces (40%), caramels (37%) and gum (26%).

How Many Calories Are In That Rick Or Treat Bag — Or Pumpkin?

It’s been estimated that, on average, a child in the US collects between 3,500 and 7,000 worth of candy calories on Halloween night.

Mathematically, it takes around 3,500 calories to gain or lose a pound, so you’re looking at around a pound or two if you would choose to eat all of those mostly sugar and fat candy calories on top of your regular meals.

It’s Just One Night …

One evening of collecting (and eating) candy certainly isn’t going to make anyone overweight or obese. But a constant bombardment of candy, sweets, and other treats can certainly lead to weight and health challenges.

Try this. Have a talk with your family – or with yourself — ahead of Trick of Treating to plan on what to do the candy collection. Is it to be a one-day free for all and then the trash — or will the candy by doled out in measured amounts over a given period of time? Do what works for your family but it helps if the kids buy into the plan.

What’s amazing is that when kids are offered the option of choosing how much and what kind of candy to eat, most of them don’t go overboard – they make their selections, eat it, and that’s it. It then helps if the candy fades from sight. It can be doled out in smaller portions day by day – or it can magically diminish in quantity or disappear entirely – just not down the hatch of an all-too-willing adult.

In Case You Want To Pick The Least Caloric Candy on Halloween . . .

October 24, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Here are the calories in some popular Halloween candy in case you want to minimize the caloric damage (you didn’t read that wrong — candy has a big range of calories and fat grams):

Brach’s Milk Maid Caramels: 4 pieces; 160 calories; 4.5 g fat
Kit Kat: Twix Miniatures (3 pieces); 150 calories; 7g fat
Butterfinger: Fun size; 100 calories; 4g fat
Snickers: Fun size; 80 calories; 4g fat
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: Fun size; 80 calories, 4.5g fat
M&Ms: Fun size bag; 73 calories; 3g fat
Tootsie Rolls: 3 pieces; 70 calories; 1.5g fat
Brach’s Candy Corn: 11 pieces; 70 calories; 0g fat
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate: snack size .49-ounce bar; 67 calories; 4g fat
3 Musketeers: Fun size; 63 calories; 2g fat
Skittles Original Bite Size: Fun size bag; 60 calories; 0.7 g fat
Tootsie Roll Pop: 1 pop; 60 calories; 0g fat
Now and Later: 4 pieces; 53 calories; .5g fat
Peppermint Pattie: Fun size; 47 calories; 1g fat
Starburst Original Fruit Chews: 2 pieces; 40 calories; 0.8g fat
Dum Dum Pops: 1 pop; 25 calories; 0g fat

7 Things You Never Knew About Candy Corn

October 26, 2012 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

It’s candy corn time! Those little tri-colored triangles have celebrated over 130 birthdays and are still going strong. Here are 7 things you probably never knew about candy corn:

1. Candy corn was created in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Wunderlee Candy Company. It was quite popular among farmers who loved the corn kernel shaped candy that looked different than a lot of other candy. The Goelitz Candy Company, famous for their candy corn, began selling their brand around 1900. They still make candy corn today, but their company name has changed to the Jelly Belly Candy Company (guess what else they make).

2. Candy corn, a type of candy that’s over 130 years old, is a “mellow cream,” or candy that’s made from corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow kind of flavor. It tastes rich, but it’s actually fat-free.

3. The original three colors of candy corn: orange, yellow, and white, mimic a corn kernel although each piece of candy is about three times the size of an actual kernel. The wide side of the triangular candy is yellow, it’s orange in the middle, and the pointy end is white.

4. Although 75% of the annual candy corn production is for Halloween, you can find it year round in varying holiday colors. There’s:

Brown (chocolate flavored), orange, and white Indian corn for Thanksgiving
Red, green, and white Reindeer corn for Christmas
Red, pink, and white Cupid corn for Valentine’s Day, and
Pastel-colored Bunny corn for Easter

5. A serving of Brach’s Candy Corn – which can be found just about everywhere — is nineteen pieces and has140 calories (approximately 7.4 calories per kernel)., zero grams of fat, 70 mg of sodium, 36 grams of carbs, and no protein. Candy corn has 3.57 calories per kernel. A large bag of Brach’s candy corn is 22 ounces and has about 300 pieces. Ingredients in Brach’s candy corn: sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s sugar glaze, salt, honey, dextrose, artificial flavor, gelatin, titanium dioxide color, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3, blue 1, sesame oil.

6. According to the National Confectioners Association, candy makers will produce nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn this year; about 9 billion individual kernels of corn. It’s so popular that it has its own day; October 30 is National Candy Corn Day.

7. Originally candy corn was made by hand. Sugar, water, and corn syrup were cooked into a slurry (a thin mud consistency) in large kettles. Fondant (a sweet, creamy paste made from corn syrup, sugar, and water) and marshmallow were whipped in to give it a smooth texture and make it soft to bite.

The hot mixture was poured into “runners,” or hand-held buckets that held 45 pounds of candy mixture.

Next, men called “stringers” would walk backward as they poured the steaming mixture into trays coated with cornstarch and imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. They made three passes; one each for the orange, white and yellow colors.

Today, the candy recipe is still pretty much the same but the production is mechanized. A machine fills trays of kernel-shaped holes with cornstarch to hold the candy in corn triangle shape. The holes are partially filled with white syrup, then orange syrup, followed by yellow syrup. The mold is allowed to cool and the mixture hardens for about 24 hours. Then a machine empties the trays allowing the kernels to fall into chutes. A big sifter shakes loose any excess cornstarch and finally the candy corn is glazed to make it shine.

Candy Corn Flavors

Candy corn and candy corn flavors are big – apparently, according to Time, appearing in booze, bagels, cookies, and beyond. Nabisco released a limited-edition of candy-corn Oreos, exclusively for Target (but they also can be found on Amazon). They have yellow-and-orange cream filling sandwiched between vanilla wafers. Wal-Mart has candy corn yellow, orange, and white jumbo M&Ms with white chocolate filling.

For more holiday eating tips, strategies, and information check out my book, The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.