Jelly babies

Jelly Babies

Bassett's jelly babies
Alternative names	Peace babies
Type	Gummi candy
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Region or state	Sheffield, England
Created by	Bassett's
Main ingredients	Gelatin

Jelly Babies are a type of soft sugar jelly sweet, shaped as plump babies in a variety of colours. They were first manufactured in Lancashire, England in the 19th century. Their popularity waned in England before being revived by Bassett's of Sheffield, Yorkshire who were responsible for mass-producing Jelly Babies from 1918.

'Jelly Babies' are known at least since advertisements by Riches Confectionery Company of 22 Duke St, London Bridge in 1885, along with a variety of other baby-sweets including 'Tiny Totties' and 'Sloper's Babies'. But the pricing of these at a farthing each suggests that they were very much larger than the modern Jelly Baby.

Sweets called "unclaimed babies", which may pre-date Jelly babies, are known to have been produced by Thomas Fryer of Nelson in Lancashire, and seem to have been hugely popular in the early 20th Century. In 1939 it was reported that, of all the comforts sent to troops abroad, "the sweets which are in greatest demand are those which we all know as 'unclaimed babies'".

An uncorroborated, but widely reproduced, story is related in The History of Temptation by Tim Richardson (2002) that the sweets were invented in 1864 by an Austrian immigrant working at Fryers of Lancashire and that in 1918 they were produced by Bassett's in Sheffield as "Peace Babies" to mark the end of World War I. Production was suspended during World War II due to wartime shortages. In 1953 the product was relaunched as "Jelly Babies".

The most noted modern manufacturer of Jelly Babies, Bassett's, now allocate individual name, shape, colour and flavour to different 'babies': Brilliant (red - strawberry), Bubbles (yellow - lemon), Baby Bonny (pink - raspberry), Boofuls (green - lime), Bigheart (black - blackcurrant) and Bumper (orange). The introduction of different shapes and names was an innovation, circa 1989, prior to which all colours of jelly baby were a uniform shape. In 2007, Bassett's jelly babies changed to include only natural colours and ingredients.

There are many brands of jelly babies, as well as supermarket own brands. A line of sweets called Jellyatrics were launched by Barnack Confectionery Ltd to commemorate the Jelly Baby's 80th birthday.