A visit to the Jelly Belly factory

During the kid's spring break, I wanted to show them a factory and so I gave them two options the Jelly Belly factory or Mrs. Grossman's sticker factory. Without any hesitation the decision was made, the "Jelly Belly"! The kids wanted to see how jelly beans are made.

Jelly beans are thought to have their origin in the turkish delight.

It was about 1.5 hrs drive one way, through which both sat patiently. On reaching there we first took the 50 min tour. A factory tour departs every 15-20 minutes, so the wait is not long. We were each given a paper cap. Flash photography or video recording is not allowed in the factory.

There are 4 stages in the making of a jelly bean:

1.Making of the core of the jelly bean (this happens in a kitchen and you only see these jelly beans coming out on conveyor belt). This is smaller than the actual jelly bean size.

2. They are tumbled with a mixture of cornstarch, sugar, color, flavor etc. Here the jelly bean grows to its final size. They are rested after this stage so the shells grow hard.

3. They are glistened and polished in the rotating drums.

4. They are sorted (the ones with not the proper shape are removed) and packaged.

The tour is on an elevation so the entire factory floor is visible. The entire tour involves stops at 5-6 places and video's are played. Samples of jelly beans in intermediate stages are given out for tasting. On the walls and in many locations portraits of famous people like Ronald regan, Elvis Presley, MLK, Princess Dianna, mother teresa etc were displayed.(The Elvis Presley portrait was made from 10,000 jelly beans).

The kids most enjoyed to see the colorful jelly beans in trays. The huge robots that moved things like trays on the factory floor left the kids spell-bound. The huge mixers and conveyor bels were intriguing for the kids. A free jelly bean packet at the end of the tour, jelly bean tasting bar and some more jelly bean shopping were the happy endings of the tour.