Jelly baby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Jelly babies are a type of soft confectionery that look like little babies in a variety of colors. They are very popular in the United Kingdom. There are currently several companies that make jelly babies, most predominantly Trebor Bassett (famous for their liquorice allsorts) and also Rowntree (Nestlé).

Jelly babies

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 as a mould. Jelly Babies of Australian manufacture generally lack this coating.

Like many sweets, they contain gelatin and are thus not suitable for vegetarians.

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.

[edit] In popular culture

Jelly babies were featured frequently on the science fiction TV series Doctor Who in the late 1970s, as they were a favorite confection of the Fourth Doctor. During his era of the series, "Would you like a Jelly Baby?" was a frequently repeated catchphrase.