Did you ever read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and wish that you too could visit a chocolate factory? I bet you did. I dreamed of stumbling across a Everlasting Gobstopper or Exploding Candy (both which would have been through rigorous testing by the Oompa Loompa’s and ready for safe consumption). A trip to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory back when I was pregnant with Master R furthered these dreams. Oh to take the kids to a chocolate factory!
When planning our drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles our kids came across a Jelly Belly advertisement and asked if we could visit. A little investigation and we discovered that it was an hours drive away in the wrong direction. On the quandary! It didn’t take us long to decide that we would visit and just lengthen our road trip by a day.
Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and waving goodbye to San Francisco was bittersweet. Although we had only stayed in the city for a few days it had quickly become my favourite so it was difficult to leave but exciting to be on the next leg of our adventure. The drive to Fairfield was largely uneventful although I finally caught sight of a racoon.
The Jelly Belly Factory not only offers a chance to grab Jelly Belly’s at a great price but the opportunity to tour the site on a FREE 40-minute walking tour with a Jelly Belly guide. I’m told the lines can be quite long, but again travelling in winter decreased this significantly. Actually, there was no line just a short wait while I guide prepared.
Unfortunately, a condition of tour entry is that cameras and phones are not to be used so I have no evidence of the actual walk around the site. You will need to believe me when I say it was amazing. Our guide presented us with a walk through of the creation of Jelly Belly in layers with sample testing at each step so we could see, smell and taste the process. It’s a real working factory so you witness this creation in real time.
At the first stop, which smelt like butter popcorn, we watched the creation of the inner core of a jelly belly. These tiny sweets were passed around and they were delicious. The next stop, the next layer was shown and so forth until we came to the last stop where the Jelly Belly is polished and sorted. The kids were quick to ask what happens to the Jelly Belly that aren’t perfect. Our guide revealed that they become Belly Flops which are sold at the factory alone. (of course we had to get some of those).
After our tour concluded we headed to the sample bar to try a number of different flavours. I instantly fell in love with the Valentine’s Day raspberry hearts. The kids, however, had a different agenda. They wanted to try the gross flavours: canned dog food, baby wipe and boogers to name just three! Disgusting! Master R decided to breathe on me after trying the canned dog food and it really did smell like he had eaten from the dog bowl. Ew! Luckily the Jelly Belly attendant quickly came to the rescue and provided toothpaste Jelly Belly to rid the smell. Can you believe we actually bought a packet for home!
Of course we then raided the Jelly Belly merchandise and stocked up on sweets we can not get back at home (or so I thought. Check out Jelly Belly Australia for a wide variety of treats). We also sampled the fudge bar and took home a box to share over the next week as we travelled south.
Our last stop at the Jelly Belly factory was their cafe. With a wide range of choices for lunch we thought we would refuel here before heading down to Monterey. Yum! This factory was almost like visiting Willy Wonka!
If you are going to head to the Jelly Belly Factory I recommend trying for a weekday when the factory is open for tours. Besides some of the big holidays, the site is open 9.00 am – 4.00 pm and is free with ample parking.
Wow awesome tour!!