If you’ve ever wondered what the ingredient is that makes jelly beans so hard and shiny, you may wish you never asked the question at all. So let’s not beat around the bush: Jelly beans are shiny because they’re coated in shellac, which is a resin that’s secreted by the female lac bug (laccifer lacca) after it drinks the sap of trees. http://mentalfloss.com/article/91129/jelly-bean-day-fact-jelly-beans-are-made-insect-secretions
If you’ve ever wondered what the ingredient is that makes jelly beans so hard and shiny, you may wish you never asked the question at all. So let’s not beat around the bush: Jelly beans are shiny because they’re coated in shellac, which is a resin that’s secreted by the female lac bug (laccifer lacca) after it drinks the sap of trees. http://mentalfloss.com/article/91129/jelly-bean-day-fact-jelly-beans-are-made-insect-secretions