Why do we have jelly beans on Easter?

The diet of most Americans in the 1800s was dominated by beans and vegetables from their own fields. Some clever candymaker figured out how to make a bean-shaped soft jelly. Perhaps it was the same candymaker who figured out how to put a shell on it so it wouldn’t stick. Hence the name “jelly beans.” Jelly Belly beans today retain that distinctive shape of a bean.

Jelly beans quickly earned a place among the many glass jars of “penny candy” in general stores where they were sold by weight and taken home in paper bags. It wasn’t until 1930s, however, that jelly beans became a part of Easter traditions, probably due to their egg like appearance in nests.

In 1965 the Herman Goelitz Candy Company began reenergizing this traditional candy by pumping up the flavors and their product was a favorite of the Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. Today the humble jelly bean is considered as American as apple pie! Source: Jelly Beans