What it is
A bean shaped sweet with a chewy centre and a hard polished shell. The shell cracks, the centre chews, and the flavour sits mostly in the shell, which is why they taste strongest at the start.
Taste
Where it comes from
Jelly beans combine two much older techniques. The soft centre comes from Turkish delight, which reached Europe in the nineteenth century, and the hard shell comes from panning, a process used for sugared almonds since at least the seventeenth century. They were first advertised in America in the 1860s, when a Boston confectioner suggested sending them to soldiers in the Civil War, and they became a fixture of American penny sweet counters before crossing back to Britain.
What it's made of
A starch jelly centre is made first and left to dry, then rotated in a revolving pan while sugar syrup is added a layer at a time until a shell builds up. Finally they are polished with carnauba wax to make them shine.
Ingredients and allergens
Ingredients
Sugar, Glucose syrup, Maize starch, Acid (Citric acid), Sunflower oil, Colours (Anthocyanins, Lutein, Carotenes), Flavourings, Stabiliser (Gum Arabic), Plant concentrates (Safflower, Spirulina), Glazing agent (Carnauba wax).
Allergens
No allergens in the ingredients
