Jelly Belly Factory Fairfield, CA

The Jelly Belly Factory...what is there not to smile about here! So colorful, fun and sweet! We had a super time at the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory in Fairfield. We arrived just before 11 and had a brief skype session with the 2nd grade classes at NSA. After saying goodbye to them, we got in line for our tour. Free tours take place all day, almost everyday.
Once we were in line, we were given our hats. All people entering the operations part of the factory have to wear a hat. We were very excited as we started our tour by heading up the candy corn staircase. After gathering briefly, and listening to a few rules about the tour (no pictures or video inside the operational areas and keep your hat on)...we headed through the swinging doors to the factory part of the building. First thing you notice, that sweet smell of jelly beans! Nice.

Yuck..Ashley just tasted Pencil Shavings!

We followed our tour guide through all of the main areas of the jelly bean making process (there is an excellent virtual tour of this process at jellybelly.com), in all, about a 45 minute tour. We were given samples at several different points in the bean making process. First sample was just the squishy center. Next, the outer shell was newly applied, and finally, a sample of a perfect, freshly made, finished product. We learned that it takes 7-21 days to make each jelly bean and that the 3 most popular flavors are Very Cherry, Butttered Popcorn and Licorice.

One fun thing we were able to observe was the bean sorter. A big, rolling barrel spins the finished beans. Beans that are not perfectly shaped, will not fall through the holes in the sides of the barrel. Therefore, these imperfect beans do not make the cut to eventually be bagged and sent out to the public. These beans are called Belly Flops! The company does sell those beans but only at their factory store.

All the Autumn Flavors! Yum!

Other fun stuff: the sample bar (just what it sounds like!), looking at all the neat bean products in the Jelly Belly store, and jelly belly shaped food in the restaurant!

And the most fun thing: Bean Boozled beans! They are ordinary jelly belly beans and flavors with look-alike wacky/terrible flavors mixed in! They say the only way to tell the difference is to taste them....and hope you made the right choice. These flavors include rotten egg, moldy cheese, skunk spray, toothpaste and pencil shavings just to name a few. Ewww!

Blahh, skunk spray!