Who created National Jelly Bean Day, and why is it on April 22?

No documented founder or establishment record exists, and no credible source explains the April 22 date. The claim that Ronald Reagan declared it in 1981 appears only on holiday-listing sites and is not found in any Reagan record.

Is National Jelly Bean Day a public holiday?

No. It is an unofficial food observance with no government recognition, so it is a normal working day with no closures.

Did jelly beans really start in the Civil War?

Probably not. The story that William Schrafft sold jelly beans to send to Union soldiers in 1861 is widely repeated but unconfirmed; the name itself is not documented for the candy until 1886.

What are jelly beans made of, and how long do they take to make?

Each bean has a soft gel center and a hard panned sugar shell. A single bean can take from six to 21 days to make, since the center must set before the shell is layered on and cured.

Why are jelly beans linked to Easter?

Jelly beans were first sold as Christmas sweets and became primarily Easter candy in the 1930s, because they were cheap and looked like tiny eggs. They are now Americans' second favorite Easter treat.

What is the connection between jelly beans and Ronald Reagan?

Reagan started eating jelly beans in 1966 to quit pipe smoking, kept a 720-bag standing order in the White House, and ordered 3.5 tons for his 1981 inauguration, driving a national surge in the candy's popularity.

National Jelly Bean Day

Next celebratedThursday, April 22, 2027

A food observance on April 22 celebrating jelly beans, the small two-part candy of a soft gel center and a hard panned sugar shell.

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Last updated February 26, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEApril 22

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYFood

SUBCATEGORYCandy

ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Not documented

FIRST OBSERVED

Not documented

“The date is fixed on the calendar; the reason it landed there is not.

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A candy day with no documented author.

No documented founder or establishment record exists for National Jelly Bean Day. It circulates as an annual April 22 food observance, but no credible primary source names a creator, a first observance, or a reason for the date.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday

INTRO

The candy whose own backstory may be a 160-year-old tall tale

Almost every retelling of the jelly bean starts the same way: a Boston candy maker named William Schrafft, an 1861 advertisement, and a plea to mail the little beans to Union soldiers. It is a tidy origin story. It also may not be true.

Encyclopaedia Britannica looks straight at the Civil War tale and concludes that evidence for this story is lacking. The first confirmed use of the word jelly bean for this candy does not surface until 1886, a full generation after the war it supposedly served in.

So National Jelly Bean Day, every April 22, sits on top of a small mystery. The candy is everywhere, the holiday is on every calendar, and the most famous fact about both turns out to be a story nobody can prove.

ORIGINS

Jelly Bean Day history

CHAPTER 01

Two old candies, one missing inventor

The jelly bean is a hybrid, and both of its parents are older than the United States. The soft, chewy center descends from Turkish delight, the rosewater jelly popularly credited to the 18th-century confectioner Bekir Effendi. The hard, glossy shell descends from the Jordan almond, finished by a slow technique called panning.

That shell is a small engineering feat. National Geographic describes up to 30 layers of sugar syrup, each only about a tenth as thick as a human hair, built up one over another. Someone, at some point, married that almond shell to the Turkish-delight center and made the first jelly bean. Who that was, nobody knows.

CHAPTER 02

The Civil War story, told honestly

Here is the part that gets repeated as fact and should not be. Most accounts say Schrafft invented the candy or its name and ran an 1861 ad urging people to send jelly beans to soldiers. Britannica calls the evidence lacking. National Geographic is blunter, noting the Civil War connection is in doubt and that the soldiers more likely received Necco Wafers.

What can be confirmed is humbler. The word jelly bean shows up for the candy in 1886, and it lands in a dictionary by 1905. The candy is real and old. The dramatic war story is the part that will not hold.

CHAPTER 03

How a Christmas sweet became an Easter staple

Jelly beans did not start as spring candy. They were first sold as Christmas sweets, and only became primarily Easter candy in the 1930s. The reason was practical: they were cheap, and they looked like tiny eggs. A bowl of bright beans could stand in for a basket of dyed shells.

The Easter habit stuck so firmly that jelly beans now rank as Americans' second favorite Easter treat, behind only chocolate eggs and bunnies, in the National Confectioners Association survey of treat preferences.

CHAPTER 04

The president who made them famous

The jelly bean's biggest modern boost came from the Oval Office. Ronald Reagan started eating them in 1966, while running for governor of California, as a way to break a pipe habit. By the time he reached the White House, the candy was part of his public image. Jars of beans sat on the Cabinet table and in the Oval Office, and he kept a standing order of 720 bags from Jelly Belly to keep them filled.

His fondness drove a national jelly-bean surge in the 1980s, and the makers were happy to feed it. Jelly Belly had already trademarked "The Original Gourmet Jelly Bean" in 1976, a smaller, more intensely flavored bean built to have taste and color inside and out. A presidential habit gave that bean the best advertising it could ask for.

TIMELINE

Timeline

The unverified Civil War ad

The much-repeated date of William Schrafft's alleged advertisement urging people to send jelly beans to Union soldiers. No primary record confirms it, and historians treat the Civil War link as doubtful.

First confirmed use of the name

The earliest confirmed use of the word 'jelly bean' for this candy, a full generation after the Civil War it supposedly served in.

Into the dictionary

The word 'jelly bean' first appears in a dictionary, marking the candy's arrival as a recognized treat.

From Christmas to Easter

Jelly beans, first sold as Christmas sweets, become primarily Easter candy, prized for their low cost and resemblance to tiny eggs.

The gourmet bean

Jelly Belly trademarks 'The Original Gourmet Jelly Bean,' a smaller, more intensely flavored bean with taste and color inside and out.

Three and a half tons for an inauguration

Reagan orders 3.5 tons of red, white, and blue beans for his inauguration, and Jelly Belly creates a blueberry flavor for the occasion.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Jelly Bean Day by the Numbers

6-21 days: Time to make one jelly bean
~30: Hair-thin sugar shell layers
50: Official Jelly Belly flavors
~1,680/sec: Beans made at peak production
62M packs: US jelly bean packs sold, 52 weeks

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful.

Ronald Reagan40th President of the United States

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Jelly Bean Day

Easter

A bowl of jelly beans is, for millions of households, simply what spring tastes like.

Easter is the candy's home season, and the habit is nearly universal: 89% of people who build Easter baskets fill them with candy like these. A holiday on April 22 lands squarely in the weeks the jelly bean owns.

Craft

A reminder of how candy is actually made

The bean looks effortless and is anything but. A soft center set in a mold, a hard shell built up layer by thin layer, then days of curing to set the flavor. The day is a small invitation to notice the patience hidden inside a penny treat.

Memory

A shared American shorthand

Through a president's well-publicized habit, the jelly bean became a piece of national pop culture, the rare penny candy people associate with the Oval Office. Marking it keeps that quirk of history in circulation.

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