This year I took a mini “staycation” for spring break week…
to the Jelly Belly Factory!
I love taking factory tours.
I’ve been to Celestial Seasonings, Budweiser, and Hershey. I guess my first “factory” tour was in
elementary school with my Girl Scout troupe, when we toured the local Carl’s
Junior kitchen. It is fascinating to see
how things are made and where food comes from.
Maybe that’s also why I love gardening!
Although spring break week is the busiest week of the year
for Jelly Belly Tours, I still opted to brave the hour long line and hordes of
families with small children in order to indulge in the seasonal
festivity. I did, however, pass up the
opportunity to visit the Easter Bunny who was doing his rounds at the factory.
The tour was excellent.
The tour circles the factory on the upper level, so you can look down on
the staff and machines while they work.
The Fairfield factory is a smaller production site, but they still do
all the steps there. It takes more than
a week to create each bean, and the tour lets you to see the process while the
tour guides do an excellent job of explaining everything from the history of
the company to the flavors that are most popular in different countries.
All around the lobby, gift shop and tour route are the most
amazing food-art portraits, all made out of Jelly Belly beans. From Marilyn Monroe to the Pope, each large
portrait uses the bright array of bean colors to create the image, like giant
sugary mosaics. Nearly all of them were
created by one artist, who takes about six months to produce a single portrait.
Of course no factory tour would be complete without tasting
the product. The tour itself included
several samples: a new flavor (cantaloupe), several half-finished beans to see
what they’re like at different stages of production, and some freebies to take
home at the end (plus a cool paper hat).
Naturally, the tour ends at the gift shop, but that’s part
of the fun! Walls of colors of jelly
beans, a chocolate shop selling fudge in matching jelly belly flavors… I felt
like, well, a kid in a candy shop. And
of course I had to buy some Belly Flops: Jelly Beans that didn’t meet the
standards for shape, color, or were stuck together.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You are invited to join the conversation!
Please keep the following in mind when posting your comments:
- You do not need to register to comment
- You may comment anonymously
- You may post questions, and I will do my best to respond in a timely fashion.
- You may disagree. But please do so respectfully.
- I reserve the right to delete inappropriate or rude comments.
- You are the sole owner of your comments.
- You grant me license to publish your comments in another venue, royalty free and without limitations, including in a blog, book, video, or presentation.