Jelly Belly Factory Tour - Sweet fun in Northern CaliforniaYou will be treated to a sweet treat on this tour.... |
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The Jelly Belly Factory Tour was a great side trip to take during our visit to San Francisco. The factory that we visited is located in Fairfield, California.... about an hour drive north of San Francisco.
The Jelly Belly Factory tour is absolutely free, and lasts about 40 minutes. You are taken through the actual plant, and are treated to views form above the floor of the actual candy making process. The tour guides are extremely friendly and full or great trivia.
It takes up to 20 days to create each jelly belly jellybean. The tour takes you through each step of the process, and explains the process of "engrossing" - which is the process that is used to slowly "grow" each bean to its correct size and dimensions.
The tour begins in the visitor center with each tour participant donning the paper hat given by the tour guide (for health regulations purposes).
The first stop on the tour is the "mogul" station, where the centers of the jellybean are molded into shape. The centers are made from a recipe that includes cornstarch, corn syrup, fruit purees, and other ingredients. The centers are then given a sugar shower...
After the "sugar shower", the engrossing process begins. The engrossing process consists of placing the beans in engrossers, which look a lot like small cement mixers. The beans are tumbled in the engrossers, and as syrup and sugar are added in a two hour process. The beans are dried, and then the process is repeated.... six times. The final round of engrossing coats the beans with that shiny glaze.
After
two or three days, the official jelly belly tattoo is applied to each and every
jellybean. The tattoo is applied at the rate of 20,700 beans per minute.
The machine that applies the tattoo's by placing the jellybeans in a specialized
tray, and passes them through a roller that tattoos the beans in the tray.... it
is pretty amazing to watch.
The factory is staffed by several robots that are employed to stack boxes of beans to dry, to package and box beans, and several other jobs. The robots are programmed to wave at the people on the tour, and one of the even hold up a sign welcoming us. It is really cute.
The
tour ends back in the visitor center. All along the walls of the visitor
center are mosaics made from jelly belly jellybeans. The picture to the
left is of Ronald Regan.... it is not a very good picture, but you can get the
general idea. The mosaics are incredible. They are the work of
Peter Rocha.
The tour is definitely worthwhile.... we would make the trip again.
For times and directions, check the Jelly Belly Web Site.
Jelly Belly Factory Tour Reviews
Unbiased Fairfield Jelly Belly factory Tour reviews
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