Jelly baby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jelly babies are a type of soft confectionery that look like little babies in a variety of colours. They are very popular in the United Kingdom. There are currently several companies that make jelly babies, most predominantly Trebor Bassett (part of the Cadbury Group of companies, and famous for their liquorice allsorts) and also Rowntree (Nestlé).
Jelly Babies were launched by Bassett's in 1919 in Sheffield as "Peace Babies" to mark the end of World War I. Production was suspended during World War II due to wartime shortages and the fact that the name had largely become ironic. In 1953 the product was relaunched as "Jelly Babies". In March 1989 Bassett's were taken over by Cadbury Schweppes who had earlier acquired the Trebor brand.
Jelly Babies manufactured in the United Kingdom tend to be dusted in starch which is left over from the manufacturing process where it is used to aid release from the mould. Jelly Babies of Australian manufacture generally lack this coating.
Like many sweets, they contain gelatin and are thus not suitable for vegetarians.[1]
A popular science class experiment is to put them in a strong oxidising agent, and see the resulting spectacular reaction. The experiment is commonly referred to as: "Screaming jelly babies."
Each Bassett's Jelly Baby now has an individual name and shape, colour and flavour: Brilliant (red - strawberry), Bubbles (yellow - lemon), Baby Bonny (pink - raspberry), Boofuls (green - lime), Bigheart (purple - blackcurrant) and Bumper (orange). The introduction of different shapes and names was a new innovation, circa 1989, prior to which all colours of jelly baby were a uniform shape.
Jelly Babies are similar in appearance to Gummi bears, which are better known outside of the United Kingdom, though the texture is different, Jelly Babies having a harder outer "crust" and a softer, less rubbery, centre.
In 2007, Bassett's Jelly Babies changed to include only natural colours and ingredients.[2]
[edit] In popular culture
- In the early 1960s, after Beatles guitarist George Harrison revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, audiences showered him and the rest of the band with the sweets at live concerts and fans sent boxes of them as gifts. Unfortunately American fans could not obtain this soft British confection, replacing them with harder jelly beans instead. To the group's discomfort, they were frequently pelted with jelly beans during concerts while in America.[3]
- Jelly babies are popular with several of the Doctors in the television series Doctor Who, most notably the Fourth Doctor, but also the Eighth and Second. In the 2008 episode "The Sound of Drums", The Master is seen eating them.
[edit] Notes
- ^ See Vegetarian Society press releasefrom 2005; there is no ingredient list on the Cadbury/Bassett's website.
- ^ "Confectionery giants cut use of artificial additives". http://www.confectionerynews.com/The-Big-Picture/Confectionery-giants-cut-use-of-artificial-additives.
- ^ "A George Harrison Handwritten Letter to a Fan, August 1963". Beatles Autographs. 2008-08-20. http://beatlesautographs.com/george_harrison.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
