Why Are Jelly Beans Sold on Easter

Jelly Beans were sold on Easter so that the number of real eggs used as presents would be reduced. This is probably due to the fact that eggs were scarce during WWI.

The Jelly Belly Candy Company has a collection of 100-year-old product listings that depict some of the candies made by the Goelitz family’s first generation of candy producers.

Jelly Beans
Jelly Beans

 

Vegetable shapes, such as chestnuts, carrots, and turnips, as well as seasonal shapes, such as Easter bunnies, were popular.

Beans and vegetables grown in their own fields were the staples of most Americans’ diets in the 1800s. A brilliant candymaker came up with the idea of making a soft jelly in the shape of a bean.

Perhaps the same candymaker came up with the idea of putting a shell on it to keep it from sticking. The term “jelly beans” was coined as a result of this. Bean-shaped Jelly Belly beans still exist today.

 

How Many Jelly Beans are Sold on Easter?

Over 20 billion jellybeans are sold worldwide on Easter.

During Easter, Americans consume 16 billion jellybeans, many of which are buried in Easter baskets.

It wasn’t until the 1930s that jellybeans became an Easter ritual. They were most likely invented in America by Boston candy maker William Schrafft, who advertised for people to contribute jellybeans to Civil War soldiers.

70% of children aged 6 to 11 say they prefer to eat one Easter jellybean at a time, while 23% say they eat several at once. Boys (29 percent) were more likely than girls to eat a handful (18 percent ).

Cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (7%), according to children, are their favorite Easter jellybean tastes (6 percent ).