Chocolate-covered raisins are a candy consisting of individual raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate.
Varieties and brands
Raisinets, a brand of chocolate-covered raisin
In the United States, they are also known as Raisinets,[1] which is the earliest and one of the most popular brands of the product, currently made by Ferrara, a subsidiary of Ferrero SpA. Raisinets were introduced in the United States in 1927 by the Blumenthal Chocolate Company. Ferrero acquired the brand in 2018 from Nestlé, who had briefly expanded the brand to include milk chocolate-covered dried cranberries[2] and dried cherries[3] from late 2009 through 2013. A large number of other brands also exist, including:
In the United Kingdom, chocolate raisins are considered a classic sweetshop confectionery and can be found in many supermarkets in plastic sharing bags under supermarket branding and in corner shops. Around Christmas time, chocolate raisins are also sold with milk, white and dark chocolate coatings as a festive treat in boxed packaging.
In Canada, the Glosette brand was introduced in the 1930s by the Walter M. Lowney Company of Canada. It currently consists of various chocolate-covered candies, including Glosette Raisins, Glosette Peanuts, and Glosette Almonds. The candies are sold in small cardboard boxes rather than a typical plastic wrapper. Lowney was acquired in the 1970s by Nabisco. The Lowney brand, including Glosettes, was bought by Hershey Canada on July 1, 1987.
In Australia, these sweets are more commonly referred to as chocolate-covered sultanas, rather than raisins. In Australia, there are no particularly prominent brands in the market, although chocolate-covered sultanas are produced by some large local confectioners and also on the behalf of supermarket chains as store-brand versions.
In Peru there is a popular brand named Fochis which are chocolate covered raisin made by Compañía Nacional de Chocolates de Perú S.A
The Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc, the candy company that manufactures Welch's Fruit Snacks, also manufactures a Sun-Maid brand of chocolate-covered raisins.
A similar food, also commonly sold at movie theaters, is the chocolate-covered peanut. As described above, the two products are often combined for consumption in a mixture. Less common alternatives are the chocolate-covered almond or the chocolate-covered macadamia nut.
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
