French Pastry School and Jelly Belly to take on "The Bean" to Benefit Scholarship Foundation

FAIRFIELD, Calif., Feb. 8, 2012­­ /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of all things chocolate, Jelly Belly Candy Company announced a culinary and artistic partnership with Chicago's acclaimed French Pastry School at Kennedy-King College of City Colleges of Chicago to adorn a 10-foot replica of the famous "Cloud Gate" sculpture (fondly known as "The Bean") that resides in Chicago's Millennium Park. Jelly Belly has provided more than 600 pounds of its Jelly Bean Chocolate Dips®, the company's new dark chocolate covered Jelly Belly beans, for the ambitious chocolate sculpture.

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The project benefits French Pastry School's For the Love of Chocolate Scholarship Foundation, which raises money to provide scholarships to students in specialized pastry arts programs.

The sculpture will be unveiled February 25 at the exclusive For the Love of Chocolate Annual Scholarship black-tie event at The Merchandise Mart in Chicago. To help complete "the bean" covered in chocolate-covered jelly beans, The French Pastry School will guide high school students participating in Chicago's After School Matters' Culinary Program to assemble the sculpture using approximately 250,000 chocolate-covered jelly beans all placed by hand. This exciting partnership between Jelly Belly and The French Pastry School gives the next generation of culinary artists the opportunity to gain experience working in the untraditional medium of jelly bean candy. 

After School Matters, a nonprofit organization that was started by Maggie Daley, offers an array of high quality, out-of-school-time opportunities for Chicago teens to help them explore their futures.

The Food Channel is producing a four-part series on the For the Love of Chocolate Annual Gala. A feature will document the process of creating the "Cloud Gate" in chocolate with Jelly Bean Chocolate Dips and Jelly Belly jelly beans reflecting Chicago's skyline. In the weeks following the event, The Food Channel will make the video available on its website, www.foodchannel.com.

Jelly Belly Candy Company has operated a manufacturing plant in North Chicago since 1912 making fine confections from Candy Corn to Jelly Belly jelly beans and the company's newest confection Jelly Bean Chocolate Dips.

SOURCE Jelly Belly Candy Company