Fiddlers Green: The Jelly Belly Factory

We had a terrific day. Anita, Nick, Samantha, and Justin arrived at our house right on time at 11:00am. Nicole decided not to go - too bad - she missed a good time and we missed her. Jim decided to stay home and work on taxes, but made us promise to bring him some licorice jelly beans. We went directly to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield and first had lunch. The food in the cantina there is barely edible and pricey, but for us, it was convenient. We probably should have done better planning and eaten elsewhere but we wanted to be certain everyone had at least some food before we became involved with the quantity of sugar that was to follow. The tours run about every half hour, so we didn't have to wait long once we had gotten in line. Wednesday was a good day to go - most of the schools are still in session, so it wasn't very crowded. There were a few elementary school field trips going on, but not the long lines we experienced last summer.

In order to go on the tour, everyone is issued a handsome Jelly Belly hat (see pictures below) - no one is allowed on the tour without one! Since it was a work day, we actually saw the jelly beans getting manufactured, flavored, finished and inspected and finally packaged. In addition to some amazing equipment and robotics, there were lots of mosaics done with Jelly Bellies. Ronald Reagan was the first mosaic made, followed by lots of others - Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Johnny Carson, Martin Luther King, Pope John, and many others. Each phase of the tour offered a different set of aromas - at first it was vanilla, later a tart aroma like sour ball candy. Other candies besides jelly beans are made at this factory - candy corn, gummy bears and worms and other jellies (the rat was the most disturbing). The Harry Potter jelly beans are made by Jelly Belly and feature some interesting flavors such as vomit, earwax, and rotten egg.
The tour took about 45 minutes to complete and at the end we were given samples of jelly beans and invited to shop in the gift shop. Quality control is a big deal at the Jelly Belly factory so any jelly beans that don't meet the precise standards of Jelly Belly are marketed as Belly Flops and can be purchased at huge discounts. The flavors are good - they may just be the wrong shape or have several stuck together. We really took advantage of the bargain! We spent about an hour in the gift shop - there's so many choices to make! It was a good time and I'm glad we could have that time together.

PICTURES OF THE DAY

Nick, Justin and Samantha having lunch before the tour.

Nick's hamburger and Samantha's pizza was jelly bean shaped - Justin's french fries were actually smiley faces.

Here's Anita looking pretty in pink. She looks like she's ready for spring!

Everywhere we looked there were easter decorations and signs of spring. There were giant easter baskets filled with jelly beans and other candies made in the factory.