National Jellybeans Day

Five Food Finds about Jellybeans

  • They were the first candy to be sold by weight rather than by piece.
  • The jelly bean is associated with Easter because of its egg-like shape.
  • They were President Reagan’s favorite candy and he used them to help him quit smoking when he was the governor of California.
  • It takes 7 to 21 days to make a jelly bean.
  • The first appearance of what would become the modern day jelly bean was promoted to Union Soldiers during the Civil War.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1802 Alexandre Dumas was born. French author (‘The Three Musketeers’, etc.) he was also well known as a gourmet. He also wrote ‘Grand Dictionnaire de la cuisine,’ which he finished a few weeks before his death in 1870, and which was published in 1872.

1910 The first publication of the Paul Bunyan stories of oral folklore, by James MacGillivray in the Detroit News-Tribune. A mythical hero of giant proportions who had an appetite to match his size. His camp stove had a griddle that was greased by men with sides of bacon strapped to their feet.

1936 The Army Subsistence Research Laboratory opened. It was devoted solely to developing foods for the Army. One of its first products was the ‘Logan Bar,’ developed by Paul P. Logan, used in the Army’s emergency ‘D Ration.’

1938 Nestle introduced Nescafe Instant Coffee in Switzerland.

1949 The largest muskellunge (‘Muskie’) caught with rod and reel weighed over 67 pounds and was caught in Hayward, Wisconsin.

1959 Then vice president Richard M. Nixon argued with Soviet Leader Nikita Khruschev while Khruschev was touring the United States. They were touring a kitchen at the time, and the discussion became known as the ‘Kitchen Debate’.