What Kind of Machines Are Used to Make Jelly Beans?

History

The roots of jelly bean production stretch back to the production of a candy known as Turkish delight, according to Candy Favorites. The Turkish delight was first produced in Istanbul, Turkey and consisted of a hard outer shell covering a soft center to the candy. The production process for jelly beans is based on the panning technique developed in 17th Century France for the confetti candy, where raw almonds were covered with a sugar and syrup outer shell. This process was developed using a pan filled with sugar and syrup, into which the almonds were placed and agitated until covered with the sugar syrup mixture, the confetti was then left to dry and harden. This process was altered for use with jelly beans with the first known advertisement for jelly beans created by William Schraff during the U.S. Civil War, according to Candy Favorites.

A slurry is created by master confectioners with flavorings used to create the jelly bean. This slurry is passed through a machine called a mogul that pushes the correct amount of the slurry into jelly bean molds. Each mold contains about1,260 jelly bean molds that are filled with corn starch before being filled with the flavored slurry center of the jelly bean. A conveyor belt is used to shake the excess corn starch off each jelly bean after it has been coated before being coated in sugar to prevent the centers of the jelly beans from sticking together through the rest of the production process.

The production process continues with the jelly bean centers being placed in specially designed spinning drums, into which flavored syrups and colorings are added, this process is completed up to four times and takes approximately two hours. Following the addition of flavorings and colorings into the drums granulated sugar is added to the spinning drums to speed up the drying process for each jelly bean.

Each jelly bean manufacturer places their own logo or name on individual jelly beans during the production process. This process is completed by a stamping machine that places the logo of the manufacturer on about 20,000 jelly beans over a five-minute period.