YOU CAN'T EAT JUST ONE

April 22 is National Jelly Bean Day. Anyone who loves these delicious little sweets should treat themselves on this day. They should also share with family and friends. But be careful, as we all know, jelly beans are addictive.


Jelly beans are one of the oldest forms of candy we have. Historians say they date back to about 1860 and the Civil War era.

President Ronald Reagan, known for his love of jelly beans, took note of the way people picked the candy out of the ever-present jar on his desk in the Oval Office. "You can tell a lot about a fella's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful," Reagan once said.

When Ronald Reagan became Governor of California in 1967, he started eating jelly beans to overcome his addiction to pipe smoking. In 1981, for his inauguration, about three tons of jelly beans were delivered to the White House in small jars. The flavor of blueberry was invented to make them look red-white-and-blue for him to share. His favorite flavor was licorice. He had jars of jelly beans at every meeting at the White House.



There are so many things you can do with jelly beans, other than eat them. You can decorate a candle base to make it more festive, add color to a centerpiece, decorate cakes, or use them to make a flower vase look more colorful with single-color flowers.

Did you know that the flavors are: red - cherry - spiced with cinnamon; orange - orange - spice-ginger; green - lime - spice-spearmint; purple - grape - spice-clove; black - licorice - spice-licorice; white - lemonade - spice-mint; pink - strawberry - spice-wintergreen; and yellow - lemon.