Read about Jelly Bellys
Jelly Belly History A Family making candy since 1869
Our beginnings are traced back to a family named Goelitz.
Jelly Belly History A Family making candy since 1869 Our beginnings are traced back to a family named Goelitz. When two young brothers emigrated from Germany to make their mark in America, they set the family on its candy making course. In 1869, just two years after arriving in America, Gustav Goelitz bought an ice cream and candy store in Belleville, Ill., and his brother, Albert was sent out in a horse drawn wagon to sell their sweets to nearby communities. Then the second generation of the family jumped on the band wagon of candy innovations by making a new type of candy, then called "buttercream" candies, including Candy Corn, a sweet we've made since about 1900. These candies carried the family through the Great Depression and two world wars. Today, the great-grandsons of Gustav Goelitz, the fourth generation, are still carrying on the tradition of making candy. Jelly Beans, an American original The great-great jelly bean ancestor first appeared in the 1800s, but jelly candies of one kind or another have been around for thousands of years. "Turkish Delight," a citrus, honey and rose water jell, has been putting smiles on kids' faces since biblical times. When the penny candy craze came along in America during the late 1800's, candy makers began experimenting with tricky sugar candies. The jelly candy inspired by Turkish delight was shaped into a bean and given a soft shell using a French process called "panning." The first jelly bean was created by an American candymaker whose name has since been lost in time. Although the penny candy boom waned a bit when America fell in love with chocolate in the early 1900's, there was a real chocolate shortage when most chocolate went to overseas troops during World War II. So patriotic Americans once again discovered their urge for non-chocolate sweet treats like the common candy store jelly beans.