Claire is Lifehacker's Senior Food Editor. She has a B.S. in chemistry, a decade of food journalism experience, and a deep love for mayonnaise and MSG. Recently, my stepmother made a batch of pepper ...

Yep, you read that right. Concocting jelly beans requires many steps. First, liquid sugar is heated and mixed with starch and glucose. This is poured into bean-shaped starch molds and left to dry ...