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jelly beans

Jelly Beans: Do You Eat Them By The Handful Or One-By-One?

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Jelly beans: do you think they should they should come with a warning label, “STOP NOW or you’ll keep eating until they’re gone?”

Seriously – 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!

The Birth Of The Jelly Bean

The gummy insides of the jelly bean might be traced back centuries ago to the treat, Turkish Delight. Their outsides bring to mind the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jelly bean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers.

Jelly beans were the first bulk candy.  They became one of the staples of penny candy that was sold by weight in the early 1900s —

first mentioned in an ad in The Chicago Daily News on July 5, 1905 for bulk jelly beans at nine cents a pound.

Around 1930 they became popular as Easter candy because of their egg shape, which represents spring, fertility, and resurrection.

The Many Flavors And Colors Of Jellybeans

Standard jelly beans come in fruit flavors but there’s a huge number of flavors available — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola.  They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true).

Whatever your flavor preference, Americans eat a whole lot of jelly beans – around 16 billion at Easter — enough to circle the globe nearly three times if all the Easter jellybeans were lined up end to end.

Handfuls Or One By One, And What Flavor?

Do you go for handfuls at a time or pick and choose your colors and eat them one by one?

  • 70% of kids ages 6–11 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 (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it?).

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

  • 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
  • 10 large jelly beans (1oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
  • Jelly Bellies have 4 calories in each bean, or about 100 calories in a single serving (25 beans)
with approximately 1 gram of carbohydrate per bean and no fat.

Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

  • Jelly Bellies were invented in 1976. They were the first jelly beans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavor choices.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.
  • 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.
  • Some jelly beans do contain gelatin, Jelly Bellies don’t and, according to the Jelly Belly website, are suitable for vegetarians although strict vegans may have issues with the beeswax and shellac that used to give them their final buff and polish.
  • Jelly Belly doesn’t use wheat, rye, barley, or oats in the basic recipe for Jelly Belly jelly beans but does use cornstarch as the modified food starch.
  • Jelly Belly beans have been certified kosher for the last two decades by the Kashrut supervision of KO Kosher Service.  Since 2007 all Jelly Belly products have been certified by the Orthodox Union.
  • Also Kosher: Teene Beanee Jelly Beans and Just Born Jelly Beans are Pareve and OU.

Easter Candy Tally

Eating 25 small jelly beans, 5 Peeps, a 1 3/4 ounce hollow chocolate bunny, and 1 Cadbury Creme Egg, which is not an unusual amount of Easter candy, tallies 730 calories.

You’d need to walk 7.3 miles, 11.77 kilometers, or 14600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps to walk off that number of calories.  Sounds like a lot, but very doable over a few days.


Jelly Beans: What Kind Is Your Favorite?

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Don’t you love those little nuggets of jelly bean sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth?

Their gummy insides probably stretch back centuries ago from the treat, Turkish Delight.  Their outsides are just like the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jelly bean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers.  Jellybeans were the first bulk candy and they became one of the staples of 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 jelly beans come in fruit flavors but there are now a huge number of flavors — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, 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). Whatever your flavor preference, Americans eat a whole lot of them – around 16 billion at Easter enough to circle the globe nearly three times if all of the Easter jellybeans were lined up end to end.

How Do You Eat Them And What’s Your Flavor?

My preference (and my downfall) is to gobble up small handfuls (mostly reds and pinks) at a time — one reason I can’t have them in the house. How do stack up against these stats?

  • 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 Jelly Beans?

They’re primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin, 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 (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it).

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

  • 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
  • 10 large jelly beans (1 oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
  • 10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories, no fat, no protein, and 10g carbs

Some Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Trivia

  • Jelly Bellys were invented in 1976. They were the first jelly beans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavor choices.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.
  • 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 jelly beans in outer space – they were sent on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger by President Reagan.

 

Jelly Beans: What’s Your Favorite Color?

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Jelly beans —  little nuggets of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors.  Their gummy insides might have originated centuries ago from the treat, Turkish Delight.  Their outsides are basically the same as the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.  The modern jelly bean appeared during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers.  Because of their egg shape they became popular as Easter candy around 1930.

Although standard jelly beans come in fruit flavors, there are now so many flavors — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola.  They also now come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – wonder how many chemicals are in those).

What’s In Jelly Beans?

Jelly beans are primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin, 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 (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it).

They may give you Technicolor insides, but they are fat free.  On average:

  • 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs.
  • 10 large jelly beans (1 oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs.
  • 10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories, no fat, no protein, and 10g carbs.

Some Jelly Bean Trivia

  • Jelly Belly jelly beans were invented in 1976. They were the first jelly beans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavors.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jelly bean.
  • 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 jelly beans in outer space – sent on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger by President Reagan.
  • Enough Jelly Belly beans were eaten in the last year to circle the earth more than five times.

What’s In Your Easter Basket?

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Peeps, Jelly Beans, Chocolate Bunnies and Candy Easter Eggs

Easter candy nesting in baskets on beds of paper straw.  Brightly wrapped candy stuffed in plastic eggs for Easter egg hunts.  Chocolate smeared over little kids’ faces and indestructible peeps molded into weird shapes before being popped in the mouth.

It’s Easter candy time.  Face it – admit it – Easter candy is seductive.  I dare you to eat one jelly bean or unwrap and savor just one brightly colored mini-chocolate Easter egg.

If you are going to indulge — and sometimes a celebratory treat is worth it — you might as well know a little about your Easter candy sweet treats so you can factor their caloric punch into your eating plan.

Jelly Beans

Oh, those little nuggests of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors.  Primarily made of sugar, jelly beans also usually contain gelatin, 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 (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it).

The gummy inside of the jelly bean may have originated centuries ago from the treat, Turkish Delight.  The outside of the jelly bean is basically the same as the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17th century, for the Jordan almond.  The modern jelly bean appeared during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers.  Around 1930, jelly beans, with a shape resembling Easter eggs, became popular as an Easter candy.

Although standard jelly beans come in fruit flavors, there are also spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, and novelty flavors (popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, cola, etc,) available.  They also now come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true – wonder how many chemicals are in those).

Jelly beans may give you Technicolor insides, but they are fat free.  On average, 10 small jelly beans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs.  Ten large jelly beans (1 oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs.

Marshmallow PEEPS

These vividly colored marshmallow bunnies and chicks were hatched over 50 years ago. They are called PEEPS because the original candy was the yellow chick.  Now produced for many holidays – in seasonal colors and shapes, of course —  they continue to be the subject of numerous design contests (you’d be amazed what you can make out of peeps) and scientific experiments (some claim them to be indestructible). Just Born, the parent company of PEEPS, claims, on their website, to produce enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice.

For more than a decade, PEEPS have been the number one non-chocolate Easter candy in the U.S. Although yellow is America’s favorite color for PEEPS chicks and bunnies, they also come in pink, lavender, blue, orange and green.  Made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and less than 0.5% of potassium sorbate, natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax, they are gluten and nut free.  You can even get sugar free PEEPS made with Splenda.  Five little chicks (42g, listed as one serving size) has 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs.

People have definite PEEPS preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others leave them out in the air to age to perfection so they get a little crunchy on the outside.  They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can make quite a mess), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. They don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows – the sugar coating tends to burn. Newspapers have been known to run contests for best PEEP recipes and best PEEP pictures.

SocialDieter Tip:

Many of us have emotional and traditional ties to certain foods – especially ones connected to holidays.  If Easter candy means a lot to you, have some, in moderation.  Just add it into your caloric consumption for the day – or balanced out over the course of several days. The trouble lies with eating handfuls of jelly beans, whole Easter bunnies, crates of chocolate eggs, and barnyards of marshmallow peeps – and then continuing to eat them until the supply runs out.  Make up your mind that you’ll eat a certain amount, commit to only that amount, enjoy it, savor it, and then stop.  Give the extras away, get them out of sight and out of mind.  Dispatch them to where they are not calling your name and they are not within easy reach (the kitchen cabinet is too easily accessible).

My next post will give you the low down on chocolate Easter eggs.