Jelly Belly jelly beans under normal light ...................... and the same under ultraviolet light
Many common products, such as crayons, markers, paper and even T-shirts...
...are impregnated with dyes that absorb naturally occurring ultraviolet light and re-emit it in intense colors to make the colors appear more brilliant and give whites a brighter, whiter look. When viewed under artificial ultraviolet light sources in a dark room, these fluorescent dyes glow with brilliant intensity.
The food industry uses dozens of food grade, edible fluorescent dyes to enhance the colors of their products. The Jelly Belly company uses them in their jelly beans. Additionally, many normal coloring agents also exhibit fluorescent properties. The result is that many Jelly Belly jelly beans look completely different under ultraviolet light than they do under normal light. Here are a few examples:
In all of the following pictures, the image on the left is in normal light while the one on the right is under ultraviolet or UV light:
Blackberry Jelly Belly jelly beans turn from purple-brown to purple overlaid with turquoise swirls.
Berry blue turns translucent pink.
Blueberry transforms into greenish yellow.
Cappuccino turns bluish green. AW Root Beer exhibits a similar color change.
Strawberry daiquiri goes becomes a brilliant hot pink.
Chili Mango becomes a bland green.
Plum Jelly Bellies are my favorites not only because they taste so good but because they display one of the most extreme color changes.
Watermelon's color changes reflects a real watermelon: green on the outside and red on the inside.
Pina colada goes from yellow to greenish blue.
Mixed berry
smoothie turns an electric hot pink. Beautiful!
Look carefully
and you can see two eyes, a small nose and the hint of a mouth.
I think I've
discovered the first Jelly Belly emoji!
If you wish to explore the world of Jelly Belly jelly beans under UV lights, they are inexpensive to purchase. Plug-in fluorescent lamps and flashlight-type LED units can be purchased for as little as $15.
The following video is a live action version of this page:
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